We are running our Heart Failure awareness campaign to help people across Northern Ireland learn more about the signs and symptoms of heart failure.
What is Heart Failure?
Heart failure (HF) occurs when your heart becomes too weak or stiff to pump enough blood around the body in the way it should.
When it is working normally, the heart relaxes to let it fill with blood, and squeezes to pump blood to meet all of the body’s needs. If it cannot fill and or pump properly, it becomes inefficient, and fails to do all the work that we need it to do. This causes symptoms such as breathlessness, fatigue and fluid retention.
Heart Failure is a long-term condition, and left untreated, symptoms get worse over time. However, with the right treatment, it can be managed, and the symptoms can be controlled for many years. Heart Failure does not mean your heart has stopped working completely – it just needs treatment and support to help it work better.
Symptoms of Heart Failure
The main symptoms of Heart Failure include:
Breathlessness
Exhaustion
Swollen Ankles
Make an appointment to speak to your GP as soon as you can if you experience any of these symptoms.
This is important because if you do have heart failure, the sooner it is diagnosed the sooner you can get started on the correct treatment and get the right care.
If you have sudden or severe symptoms, call 999 for an ambulance or go to your local Emergency Department.
Other symptoms can include:
A persistent cough, or a cough that gets worse at night when you lie down.
Waking up from sleep feeling short of breath
Wheezing
Feeling lightheaded or dizzy
Palpitations, or feeling aware of a fast or irregular heartbeat
Loss of appetite
Rapid weight gain
Gradual, unintended weight loss
A bloated stomach
Symptoms may develop quickly (acute heart failure) or gradually over weeks or months.
Make an appointment to speak to your GP as soon as you can if you experience any of these symptoms. This is important because if you do have heart failure, the sooner it is diagnosed the sooner you can get started on the correct treatment and get the right care.
If you have sudden or severe symptoms, call 999 for an ambulance or go to your local Emergency Department.
Did you know?
people are living with heart failure in Northern Ireland.
hospital admissions per year across NI are due to heart failure.
lives are lost to heart failure here every year.