ABC Health Insider

I guess in our American Idol society everything has to be glamorized to get attention. How very sad! (and deadly)

My mom died three weeks ago from heart failure.

My sympathies silent.

I'm 60, female and have had heart failure since I was just 51. I'm considered a young heart failure patient. Most people can't believe I have this disease because I look younger than my years and I look very healthy. Four years ago, after not taking my meds as I should have been doing, I had nightly episodes of acute pulmonary edema. This is a life threatening condition in which the lungs fill with fluid when you lie down to sleep. This was intitially diagnosed as asthma, but my inhalers did no good. After research on the internet I went back to my internist and told her I thought my heart failure had worsened. Indeed it had. It took over six months on medication for me to begin to have any energy and normal breathing and not to feel like death warmed over. I got a cardio defibrillator last December because many heart failure patients die of sudden cardiac arrest. I don't have cardiovascular disease, nor have I ever had a heart attack. My cardiologist suspects a prior bacterial infection or a virus with damaging my heart, and my father died of congestive heart failure at just 53. Heart failure can be managed with a good diet, exercise and medication taken faithfully. A good
cardiologist is a necessity. I think there are probably a lot of people out there who may have the beginnings of this disease and not know it, so getting the message out is very important.

Boring article

Heart Failure isn't sexy enough for the public?

Give me a break!

The public just reads the media's drivel.

They are in no way responsible for it!

It's the media's job to disseminate vital public information. That's why the get the right to use the airwaves.

If they weren't so hell bent on "selling" the news like it was any other commodity, this would not be an issue!

Stop whining and perform your highly paid job like you are suppose to!

many thanks to our heroes at McDonalds,Burger King,Wendys,and all the rest of them. their sincere concern for high profits has been of great assistance to the development of heart disease in our country. i am sure they will remain diligent in offering the public their low cost,(to them) low quality artery clogging cuisine to the mostly indifferent,unconcerned public who know it is not the best for them but rather like their addiction to it.

Heart failure not only strikes the elderly, but also the young.

I hope none of you readers will ever know how heartbreaking it is to loose a loved one.

jeff m,

you coming over tonight for ribs and wings?

is the irony of this article apparent to anyone else? here's the media wistfully proclaiming that the media doesn't report on heart failure. shouldnt they fix it? As a heart failure researcher myself, i find this very funny.

i guess you dont want to report on it so we dont have it im in my 50ies and i have heart falure

Hey, e-wench I want some wings and ribs...lol...Anyway, heart failure is not something unheard of. The media is not covering it b/c they are too busy trying to predict "flu pandemic" (articl here this morning) and trying to tell people the economy is crumbling so stay home and freak out....If it werent for the role the media plays in a lot of things life would be smoother. Now we need to figure out how else to worry the public, oh lets run a story on the raising rate of heart failure. Generallly heart failure is due to an already traumatized heart. Therefore, if heart attacks and what not are popular then so heart failure will be popular as well....

There is a way to look at hemodynamic parameters, including estimates of cardiac output - one means to evaluate for heart failure; and it is called Dynapulse - http://www.dynapulse.com. If more primary care physicians such as myself used this gizmo then there would be more awareness of the possibility of heart failure at an earlier stage. You should look at primary care physicians who use this gizmo and how it helps them manage their patients with heart failure.

It is naive and unfair to totally blame the current obesity situation in America on the fast food chains. While admittedly they are partly responsible by providing high calorie foods at low prices, the consumer has the choice whether to purchase the product or decline and choose a healthier option. And for those who argue that some are forced to go with the less expensive food option due to a tight budget, water
is far more healthy than the sodas and juices that many indulge in at chain restaurants, as are nutritious and cheaper foods such as rice and beans.

This is the most poorly written article I've read in some time. It does a disservice to heart failure. Learn to write.

Mr. Sergal needs to have this discussion with his bosses and the rest of his colleagues at the ABC News Medical Unit. Health is one of the most poorly covered subjects by the media, and ABC News is no exception. Much of what passes as health news is actually thinly disguised (women's) beauty concerns or what would circumspectly be called human oddities. Journalists also like to fixate the public on health scares, like the TB patient who flew around the world or "mad cow" disease. The odd and unusual are covered extensively by the mainstream media, while the real killers (heart disease, cancer, stroke, and COPD) receive rare, perfunctory treatment. Journalists distort the public's understanding of heath concerns, allowing the real killers to continue on as if they were a natural part of life.

My dad had a massive, unexpected heart attack on July 20. He went into cardiac arrest 4-5, had an emergency triple bypass, kept developing abnormal heart rhythms so he had to be defibrillated (shocked) about 40 times. His heart sustained so much damage that it cannot pump effectively. The heart has to work harder to try and supply the body with oxygen, and this further enlarges and weakens the heart. That's basically what heart failure is-a heart pumping inefficiently due to damge or disease. The major problem is that since the blood isn't circulating that well, it just sits in your blood vessels.This is especially bad in the lungs, and clear fluid from the blood starts to seep into the lungs, literally "drowning" a person.What can be done? Mostly medications that help the heart pump more effectivly, and diuretics ("water pills")that keep the patient "dry" so there is less fluid in the body to seep into the lungs. Needless to say, if your lungs even have a little fluid in them it can be very difficult to breathe. This is why it is called "congestive" heart failure. Some people might be candidates for a heart transplant, but my dad is not. It's a serious, chronic condition that can turn life-threatening very quickly. Chances are you know someone with CHF. Pray you never have it because it's extremely debilitating.

Geez... what a lousy writer!

It is a horrible illness-my mom is 68, had rheumatic fever at 12=permanent heart damage. She has an artificial heart valve. We are blessed to live in an era where she has gotten excellent care. She has a bivent pacemaker/defib. and she faithfully takes her meds. She is doing well-praise drs and God. It is a tightrope to manage, but it can be done.

I was diagnosed w/congestive heart failure and attending cardiomyopathy at 50 years old. I have survived to 'catastrophic' cardia arrests thanks to a defibrilator implant my team of cardiologists, the bloody piles of pills that I have to take each and the look on my daughter's face after she found me on the floor in grand mal seizure caused by the discharge of the defibrilator are what keep me alive. It is a stupid, quiet killer. I have no cholesterol or blockage issues, nor have I ever had a heart attack. I just turned 60 and look healthy on the outside - inside I'm a balloon waiting to burst. More pharmaceutical research is needed, and lots, and lots of education needs to be provided. I was already in pretty bad shape when first diagnosed, but w/media-driven education people might be diagnosed earlier on - and the long-term survival rate improved.