by Ft Wells

Created on: March 11, 2010   Last Updated: May 04, 2010

Every person has heard of heart failure. We all know individuals who have experienced heart failure. People with heart failure can't exert themselves, they become short of breath and tired. The older you get, it seems the more people you know! But do you know what it is, and what causes it?

For your body to survive on a day to day basis, all of your tissues need oxygen carried from your lungs through your bloodstream. For some people, the heart weakens to the point that it cannot keep up with the demand of their body's tissues for blood rich in oxygen. When this situation occurs, when their heart can't pump enough blood to their other organs, the condition is called Heart Failure, Congestive Heart Failure, or CHF.

Think of your heart as a pump that receives oxygen-poor blood on the right side from your veins, passes it through your lungs to get oxygen, and then sends the blood on to the left side of your heart.

From the left side of your heart the blood that is rich in oxygen is pumped out to your aorta (the largest of your arteries) and then on through many different arteries to the parts of your body that need oxygen.

CHF or Congestive Heart Failure most frequently results from the failure of your heart to pump sufficient blood out of the left side of your heart (called Systolic CHF or Left-Sided Heart Failure). However, it can also result from an inability of your heart to accept enough blood into the pump on the right side (called Diastolic CHF or Right-Sided Heart Failure).

Systolic (or Left-Sided Heart Failure) and Diastolic (or Right-Sided Heart Failure) often occur at the same time, especially in the later years of life.

The cause of CHF is most often a weakened or damaged heart.

However, CHF in and of itself is not a specific diagnosis, but the result of an underlying condition. Finding the underlying condition is important because the treatment often depends on what that condition is. Your physician needs to determine this underlying condition; your treatment may depend on that condition.

Many conditions can lead to CHF:

(1). Faulty Heart Valves

Valves control the flow of blood into and out of your heart plus between the chambers of your heart (anatomical terminology, Atria and Ventricles).

Valvular heart disease, that is damaged valve(s), can cause improper blood flow through your heart, increasing your heart's workload. In other words, it forces your heart to work harder, to keep the blood flowing properly. Over time, this problem can cause your

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