Your doctor will prescribe medicines to help improve your heart function and symptoms. The main medicines are:
Diuretics (water or fluid pills) to help reduce fluid buildup in your lungs and swelling in your feet and ankles.
ACE inhibitors to lower blood pressure and reduce the strain on your heart. These medications also may reduce the risk of a future heart attack.
Beta blockers to slow your heart rate and lower your blood pressure to decrease the workload on your heart.
Digoxin to make the heart beat stronger and pump more blood.
Specialized Care for Severe Disease
As the disease progresses, lifestyle changes and regular medications may not be enough to control worsening symptoms. Many people with severe heart failure must be put in the hospital from time to time for treatment. In the hospital, your doctor may prescribe new or special medicines. You continue to take your regular medicines during this treatment.
Your doctor will also order extra oxygen if you continue to have trouble breathing. The extra oxygen can be given in the hospital and at home.
Persons with very severe heart failure may be considered for a:
Mechanical heart pump
Heart transplant.
A heart pump is a special device placed inside the body to help pump blood to the rest of the body. There are different kinds of heart pumps. Some stay in the body for a short period of time, while others can stay in the body for a long time. Many people with a heart pump will also be considered for a heart transplant.
A heart transplant is surgery to replace the heart of a patient with heart failure with a healthy heart from someone who has recently died. A transplant is indicated in some people when all other treatments fail to control symptoms.
