does anyone here have congestive heart failure?

[justanumber]

i am just 31 but i am diagnosed with CHF. it is awful,i walk and breath like a 70 year old man. but my question is,what do you guys do to reduce ankle and foot swelling? i have taken diuretics and i urinate often but at night my feet and ankles swell up real bad and my toes hurt at times also. is there anything else i can do to prevent the pain and swelling? i mean,i have changed my diet and i am taking a bunch of pills,but my ejection fraction is still very low and i also have left ventricular hypertrophy and very high triglyceride levels. can congestive heart failure just go away?

[jrbon]

If you have low EF, beside to watch the salt intake, try to lay horizontally at least 10 hours a day, make 5 or 7 very small meals a day.

Get a cardiologist that inspire confidence to you and follow strictly the medication. And exercise plan.

As grendslori mention, there are studies that indicates that Torasemide works better than furosemide although few cardiologist seems to know it. However I do not know what diuretics you are in. Remember that they work best first thing in the morning.

You might also check with your dr.Jesus the convenience of reducing your fluid intake.

[grendslori]

I don't know that CHF can "just go away", it is a chronic disease. It may not go away, but it can get better if you watch your diet, take your meds and follow your cardiologists instructions to the letter. And watch your salt!!! I don't mean: "Okay, the potatoe chips are no longer my snack option". Really LOOK at the sodium levels in ALL of the foods you eat. And then look at the serving sizes with those levels. To give you an example: a can of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup is about 800mgs of sodium......that is for a HALF a can, not a full can! If you eat the whole can of soup, that's 1600mgs of sodium. One beef pot pie is 800mgs of sodium. Anything that is processed food is very high in sodium, even your low fat items can be high in sodium. If you want a REAL shock, go to your grocery store and start looking at the levels of sodium in the foods you are eating; it will blow your mind. We did this, staying in the store for almost 4 hours just looking at lables. Both my daughter and I are on 2000mgs or less a day which means the meals we cook are set at 600mgs or less of sodium per meal. Weight Watchers and the new Taste Of Home cookbooks are great because they have great tasting meals that  tell you the sodium levels. We also take Torsamide for a diuretic and that seems to work better for us both as opposed to Lasix. Maybe a change in medicine may help you better; it did both of us. Take care