heart failure patient question- please help!

happilymarried · Oct 13, 2009

Well, people with CHF have fluid on their heart making it pump less efficiently. This causes a back up in the blood returning to the heart. So the client basically has blood hardly moving in his/her extremities (usually the legs). So I would say the increased edema is from increased venous pressure but I'm not sure you can pin it down to only one thing. CHF causes a domino effect in the body.

polka-dot, RN · Oct 14, 2009

In left-sided heart failure, the heart is unable to receive the full amount of blood coming in from the pulmonary veins which leads to pulmonary edema. The capillary pressure in the lungs becomes elevated, so fluid is basically pushed from circulating blood into the interstitium, then into the alveoli, bronchioles, etc...if untreated the pt can suffocate and die.

In right-sided heart failure, the venous system is overloaded with blood producing congestion in the GI tract, liver, kidneys, legs and sacrum...voila...you have edema. This is due to increased hydrostatic capillary pressure as well...this high pressure overwhelms the opposing pressure of plasma proteins and fluid will shift out of the capillaries into the interstitial spaces...voila...you have peripheral edema.

So, the short answer to your question would be increased capillary pressure.

9livesRN, BSN, RN · Oct 15, 2009

https://www.google.com/health/ref/Heart+failure

lotsa good info here for ya

rachelgeorgina · Oct 17, 2009

Well, people with CHF have fluid on their heart making it pump less efficiently.

Isn't it more accurate to say that in inefficiency of the failing heart causes the build up of fluid, rather than the fluid suddenly appearing and putting strain on the heart?