Living with Heart Failure

Managing your heart failure symptoms and feeling your best begins with establishing a healthy lifestyle.

Lots of things can make your heart failure better. Some things you cannot change, but there are some things that you can change to help you live a longer and better life with heart failure.

The list below are things you can change to help improve symptoms of heart failure.

Monitoring the Fluid you Drink and Eat

People with heart failure often have fluid (also called water or liquid) build-up in their body. This fluid builds-up because the heart can not pump strongly enough to get rid of the extra fluid through the kidneys.

Fluid can build up in different parts of the body; most often it builds up in the following parts:

  • In the lungs causing shortness of breath
  • In the ankles causing swelling
  • In the belly causing a bloated feeling

    • Monitoring how much fluid you drink and eat each day is very important. Remember that fluids are anything that has liquid in it or that is liquid at room temperature. Even the water you drink to take your pills should be counted.

    Examples of fluids are:

    Broths/soup Tea/coffee Alcoholic drinks
    Water Pop Ice cubes
    Ice cream Jell-O Fresh/frozen fruit
    Frozen yogurt Pudding

    Most people with heart failure should not have more than 6 to 8 cups of fluid per day (including the fluid in foods). Speak to your health care professional to know how much fluid you should take in.

    Dry mouth is common in heart failure patients with fluid restrictions. Here are some tips to help relieve dry mouth and feel more comfortable:

  • Brush your teeth frequently
  • Chew sugar-free gum
  • Suck on a hard candy or lemon wedge
  • Spread what you drink out across the whole day. Don’t drink it all at once.

    • Tracking your Weight

    Monitoring body weight is important in heart failure because it helps to see if you are retaining fluid. People with heart failure should weigh themselves every day because an increase in weight could mean that too much fluid is building up in the body.

    If you notice a weight increase or decrease of more than 2 pounds (1 kg) in 2 days, or 5 pounds (3 kg) in a week, contact your health care professional immediately as this is a sign of fluid build-up.

    Remember these tips when monitoring your weight:

  • Record it daily using a weight log
  • Weigh yourself first thing in the morning before eating breakfast and after you have emptied your bladder
  • Use the same scale

    • Click on the image below to print your weight log

    Physical Activity

    People with heart failure often worry that they can’t exercise because of their “bad heart”. In most cases, this is not true. Here are some tips to think about before starting out:

    1. Discuss your exercise program with your physician or nurse, and set realistic goals
    2. Plan your activities when you feel the most energetic, such as first thing in the morning, or after an afternoon nap
    3. Perform activities, such as stretching, while sitting down whenever possible
    4. Rest frequently between periods of physical activity.

    Engaging in physical activity most days of the week for 30 to 45 minutes is recommended for those with stable heart failure. Physical activity doesn’t have to be strenuous to be beneficial.

    Low to moderate activities are recommended for those with heart failure. Being physically active may help improve heart failure symptoms, quality of life and keep you out of the hospital.

    Depending on your heart failure, ask your doctor on what you can do


    Here are some helpful tips to get you started:
  • Begin with very low impact activities 5 to 10 minutes per day
    • Low impact:light walking, gardening, stretching

  • Increase the amount of activity gradually to 30 minutes, 5 times per week.Increase the impact to a moderate level
    • Moderate impact:raking leaves, dancing, biking

    Stretching

    After being physically active it is important to give you muscles a good stretch. Stretching helps to increase your flexibility which helps to improve posture and reduce injuries.

    It’s important that stretching be done after being active when the muscles are warmed up. In order to benefit from stretching, it’s important that they are done properly.

    Sexual activity

    Heart failure does not mean you can’t enjoy sex and being close to your partner. In general, you may continue your normal sexual activities; however, it is recommended that your heart failure be stabilized prior to engaging in sexual activity

    Some drugs used to treat heart failure could cause difficulty in achieving an erection. There are drugs available that help men achieve an erection, but sometimes these drugs interfere with heart medications. Please talk to your doctor if you are worried about this.

    Sex is a kind of exercise, so it should be avoided for the same reasons outlined earlier. Other times when sex should be avoided:

  • If you are tired or tense
  • After a heavy meal
  • After completing an activity that has already required you to use up a great deal of energy

    • Improving your diet

    Healthy food choices begin with knowing what is in the food you are buying. The nutrition information of most food can be found on the “Nutrition Facts” label found on the back of food packages.

    The Nutrition Facts label provides information on the amount of calories, fat, carbs (carbohydrates), protein, cholesterol, sodium and key vitamins found in the product.

    Below is an example of a Nutrition Facts label:

    Salt (Sodium)

    Salt (also called “sodium”) is a major cause of high blood pressure which makes heart failure worse. Studies show that the more salt you eat, the higher your blood pressure gets.

    But I don’t put salt on my food….
    Approximately 70% of the salt we eat comes from inside the foods we buy at the store, not from the salt (sodium) we add at the table. You can learn how much salt (sodium) is found in your food by looking at the Nutrition Facts label located at the back of most products.
    In addition to the Nutrition Facts label, some products have nutrition messages on the packaging. Below are examples of nutrition messages you may come across and what they mean:

    1. "No added salt/unsalted"= No salt added, and none of the ingredients contain a significant amount of salt.


    2. "Salt free/sodium free"= No more than 5 mg of sodium per 100 g of food


    3. "Low salt/low in sodium= 50% less sodium than their regular product or no more than 40 mg of sodium per 100 g of food

    How much salt should I eat?
    The general guideline for those with heart failure is to have less than 2 g of salt per day. Remember to include the amount of sodium in the packaged food that you eat. The TOTAL amount allowed ends up being less than 3/4 of a teaspoon of salt.

    How can I reduce the amount of salt (sodium) I eat?

    1. Throw away the salt shaker


    2. Separate the amount of salt (sodium) in the food you eat throughout the day:
      • Breakfast 400 mg
      • Lunch 600 mg
      • Dinner 600 mg
      • Snack 100 mg

    3. Choose products that have less than 10% daily value (DV) of sodium (salt)


    4. Eat fresh foods instead of processed or canned


    5. Add a serving of fresh vegetables and fruits to your lunch and dinner

    Another useful tool you can use to make better healthy food choices is Canada’s Food Guide.The food guide separates food into four major groups:
    1. Vegetables & Fruits
    2. Grain Products
    3. Milk and alternatives
    4. Meat and Alternatives
      5.

    Eating a variety of foods from all four food groups will help you get enough vitamins and minerals, reach or maintain a healthy weight as well as achieve overall health and vitality.

    To print a copy of Canada's Food Guide, click on the following images:

    Immunization

    The flu and pneumonia may seriously aggravate heart failure. Getting immunized against both can further protect you from becoming sick.. For more information about immunization programs, visit the Public Health Agency of Canada’s website

    Quitting Smoking

    People with heart failure should not smoke because it causes further damage to the heart (1). Smoking is a major killer of people with heart disease.
    Quitting smoking is the most effective way that you can improve your health. Quitting smoking will also save you money and improve your sense of taste and smell, as well as increase the amount of exercise you can do.
    Here are some useful websites to help you get started:
    Quit Now Canada
    http://www.quitnow.ca/
    Health Canada Online
    www.hc-sc.gc.ca/english/tobacco.html

    Quitnet
    http://www.quitnet.org