Weak Heart: A Cause Of Severe Diseases; Here’s How To Strengthen it – TheHealthSite

When the heart becomes weak, it becomes unable to perform its functions properly. Here is everything you need to know about a weak heart and what causes it.

Written by Arushi Bidhuri | Updated : August 13, 2021 11:43 AM IST

When the heart is healthy, blood is pumped from the right side of the heart to the lungs, where it collects oxygen. Then, it is then pushed out to the left side of the heart and provides oxygen and nutrients to the rest of the body. When the heart is weak and not able to perform its function properly, then the body fails to pump enough blood to meet the body's needs. But what leads to a weak heart? We asked Dr Santosh Kumar Dora, Senior Cardiologist, Asian Heart Institute, Mumbai about the causes, symptoms of a weak heart and how can you strengthen it. Here is everything you need to know.

There are several reasons that can cause the heart to weaken. According to Dr Dora, the following are predominant causes that can weaken the pumping of the heart.

Coronary artery disease is by far the most common cause of a weak heart. When a person suffers myocardial infarction (heart attack) due to artery blockages, then part of the heart muscle gets damaged and that leads to pumping dysfunction. Extensive coronary artery disease can lead to pumping failure even without any preceding myocardial infarction.

Valvular heart disease is caused by either narrowing or regurgitation of heart valves. It leads to pressure or volume overload on the heart muscles. When it is present for a long time, then heart muscle can get exhausted and that leads to a weak heart.

Hypertension is a common cardiovascular anomaly. If hypertension is significant and remains untreated for a long time, it can lead to a weak heart.

Dilated cardiomyopathy is a situation when heart muscles get weak and the heart gets progressively dilated. Alcoholic cardiomyopathy is a kind of dilated cardiomyopathy due to chronic consumption of alcohol. Peripartum dilated cardiomyopathy is a situation when heart muscles get weak during the peripartum period. Hear muscles sometimes get weak due to some viral infection. It is known as viral myocarditis. Sometimes it may get noticed long after the infection is gone.

Tachycardiomyoathy is a situation when heart muscles get weak due to a fast heart rate, which is present for days to weeks to months. Incessant tachycardia persisting for a variable period of time leads to exhaustion of heart muscles with energy drainage and leads to a weak heart.

Myocarditis is a heart muscle inflammation (myocardium). Inflammation can impair your heart's capacity to pump blood, resulting in fast or irregular heartbeats (arrhythmias). It is generally caused by a viral infection. Myocarditis can occur as a result of a medication response or as part of a larger inflammatory disease. Chest pain, tiredness, and shortness of breath are some of the signs and symptoms.

The infiltrative cardiomyopathies are a category of cardiac illnesses defined by the deposition of aberrant chemicals within the heart tissue, causing diastolic dysfunction or, less often and later in the disease's progression, systolic dysfunction in the ventricular walls.

"When the heart is weak, it cannot pump blood as per the body. That leads to forward and backward heart failure," explains Dr Santosh.

The expert further explains that when the heart is weak, it tries to compensate by beating faster, stretching or thickening the heart muscle. Both of these compensatory strategies exacerbate the heart's vulnerability. When the kidneys detect a lack of blood flow, they cause fluid retention. It makes the heart work even harder, exacerbating the issue. Here are symptoms because of heart failure are as follows:

In a more advanced state, it can be present even during rest. Breathlessness during lying down is known as orthopnea and is present in advanced heart failure conditions.

There will be swelling of both ankles and the lower part of the legs due to the accumulation of fluid. This happens due to the exudation of fluid from veins due to increased hydrostatic pressure, which in turn is because of heart failure. Water retention also leads to weight gain.

Due to decreased heart pumping, there is an inadequate blood supply to the muscles. So, the patients suffer from fatigue and tiredness even with minimal exertion.

Due to heart failure, the liver and the gastro-intestine system gets congested. This leads to a lack of appetite, nausea and vomiting.

A weak heart also leads to palpitation. This can be due to several reasons. Sinus tachycardia, atrial fibrillation, ventricular tachycardia are different types of tachycardia, which can result from a weak heart. They can have serious health consequences including stroke and sudden cardiac death.

The good news is that many times, the conditions causing a weak heart can be reversed. If there is a reversible factor, once that is treated, heart-pumping may improve and go back to normalcy. Some of the reversible causes are:

Lifestyle Factors: The single most important cause of a weakened heart is lifestyle factors. You can quit smoking, eat a healthy diet and engage in routine physical exercise.

Coronary artery disease: If the heart muscles are not irreversibly damaged due to coronary artery disease, the heart pumping gets back to normal once proper revascularization is done by angioplasty or bypass surgery.

Valvular heart disease: Once the valve function is restored, the heart pumping often improves.

Hypertensive heart disease: If blood pressure is effectively controlled with various measures, including drug therapy, the heart pumping gets back to normal.

Tachycardiomyopathy: Tachycardia can be treated by various means. Various drugs can control tachycardia. Some kinds of tachycardia need invasive treatment like electrophysiology study and radiofrequency ablation for effective control and cure of tachycardia. This leads to improvement of heart pumping.

In severe cases, when there is end-stage heart failure and heart-pumping cannot be improved by any means, then heart transplant or artificial heart implantation is advised. Do consult your doctor in case you notice any symptoms of a heart problem.

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Weak Heart: A Cause Of Severe Diseases; Here's How To Strengthen it - TheHealthSite