Heart failure patients can live normal lives

They teach heart failure patients a thing called "MAWDS" at LDS Hospital. It's a pattern of self-help that lets patients take active roles in their treatment and quality of life.

It stands for Medications, Activity, Weight, Diet and Symptoms, the cornerstones to survival when the heart muscle is weak and doesn't pump properly.

Heart failure is a growing epidemic, already affecting more than 5 million people. Many of them will die. And while death can't be avoided, the goal is to have these patients die of something else. It is possible to live quite well with heart failure, according to Judith Sampson, an advanced practice registered nurse in the hospital's heart failure program.

Heart failure is the topic this morning on the Deseret Morning News/Intermountain Health Care Hotline. From 10 a.m. to noon, Sampson; Dr. A.G. Kfoury, cardiologist and medical director of the heart transplant program; and Amy Whipple, heart transplant nurse coordinator, all at LDS Hospital, will answer phoned-in questions on anything from prevention to treatment options.

"Our goal is to make it so you can live with heart failure, lessen symptoms and have a long, healthy, good life," said Sampson. "Most of the time, if you have cardiomyopathy (sick heart muscle), you always have it, but with proper management, patients are often asymptomatic. It's a chronic illness that's treatable for the most part."

"I want patients to be able to live as full of a life as possible and to be comfortable," Whipple said. "To not have difficulty breathing or walking stairs or walking distances. If they are on the right medications, followed closely, and watch themselves, they can. They can travel around the world if that's what they want. The sky's the limit if their heart function is good enough to let them." Watching weight is one of the most crucial tasks for someone with heart failure, Sampson said. Medication is often adjusted based on weight and it's a prime indicator of fluid retention, one of the most common symptoms of heart failure. Weight gain is one of the early warnings that treatment needs to be tweaked.

Diet is critical, especially for those who have heart failure caused by high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Salt causes fluid retention, too. It's also important to recognize the symptoms of worsening heart failure so that adjustments to medication and lifestyle can be made.

As for activity, even severe heart failure is not an excuse to sit down and stop moving, these experts say. Classification of severity is based on activity level and "the plan is to get them to the point where we may not always prolong life, but make it more enjoyable," Sampson said.