Water in the Heart?

[jennyleo2000]

My dad has water in his heart, could that be? Apparently doctors are trying to avoid him  from consuming fluids.  He has been there since early in the morning, up till now later this evening.  Just wondering how dangerous this could be to his health? Will he be okay? What do we need to look out for? Concerned.  

[Barbarella]

anacyde is right.  In the old days they called it "drowning in your own water".  

[anacyde]

Pericardial effusion?  That's what leaps to mind for me.  It is an excess accumulation of fluid in the pericardial sac surrounding the heart.  It can happen for a variety of reasons.  I would want the cardiology consult.  I hope things improve for him soon, best wishes.

[Konopka1955]

Hi Jenny,

Sorry to hear about your dad.  There are things the cardiologist can do to help get rid of the fluid.  I have heart failure and there is alot a patient can do to help keep the fluid from your lungs.  A low salt diet and exercise are things a patient can do and it will help.  Meds help me as well.  Its a combination of many things to get better.  But getting all the right experts to teach him is important.  All to often some places are so busy - they just patch you up and send you home.  Well, some places do..  not all - a good 'heart failure specialist' is a good place to start.   I call them the plumber - as the pump in the heart isn't working so good.   I also recommend that he ask to have a 'dietician' assigned to him and have regular appts weekly or month to go over the foods that are high in sodium.   Almost all foods have sodium - so he needs to learn which ones are high - even without adding salt to any food - there is alot of salt in the foods today.  Knowledge is power.   Perhaps a good cardiac rehabilitation can help him to exercise safely.  Ask his doctor about this.   Just walking is good for the heart.   But of course that's probably something he has to talk to his doctor about.   But my doctors encourage me to do as much as I can and do alittle each day and build his strength up slowly.   I find it helps alot and I find swimming to be a great exercise with heart failure.   Be positive and think about all the wonderful things he's going to learn and how he can have input into his medical care.
  
Keep the faith and keep asking questions and follow up with medical questions.   Heart failure is a serious condition - but more people are living today with it than ever before.  :-)
Marilyn  

[Darcy Green Conaway, MD]

I think you are describing heart failure- which, basically is the backing up of things from the heart into the lungs, legs, etc. Heart failure is very serious and he very likely needs a cardiology consultation.