To gain the most from your treatment, it is important to understand your condition so that you can work effectively with your doctors and nurses. Heart failure is an illness in which the heart is not pumping effectively. In heart failure, people tend to retain excess fluid. Excess fluid increases body weight and can sometimes be seen or felt as swelling in the feet, ankles, legs, back, or abdomen. This will cause shortness of breath.
Posture can affect how excess fluid is held in the body.
When a patient is standing or sitting during the day, the excess fluid falls to the legs due to gravity. When a patient lies down at night, the fluid in the legs flows toward the lungs making it harder to breathe. There is no cure for heart failure. People with heart failure should avoid further damage to the heart from high blood pressure, cigarettes, or alcohol. Some drugs may improve the strength of the heart muscle and more medications are being tested.