Valuable Facts About The Link Between COPD And Heart Failure

COPD is the acronym for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. COPD and heart failure (HF) are different conditions, but both can make you short of breath when you do something physical like climbing stairs, exercise, or walking for a long distance. With these conditions, breathing problems happen for different reasons. It’s hard to exhale all of the air in your lungs with COPD because of lung damage, often from years of smoking. You most likely breathe comfortably when you’re at rest with COPD. But with activity your breath starts coming in before air from your last exhale goes out, which causes shortness of breath.

Your ticker doesn’t pump blood efficiently if you have heart failure (HF), and you can probably breathe easily when at rest as with COPD. Blood flow must increase with activity, and your ticker must pump harder and faster. Blood “backs up” into your lungs if your ticker can’t keep up, and shortness of breath occurs because of this fluid congestion.

Link Between COPD And Left-Sided Heart Failure- It is high blood pressure or coronary artery disease that causes left-sided heart failure (HF), and it’s not directly associated with COPD, but the two conditions may influence each other.

An example that can be cited in this regard- low oxygen in the blood from COPD may put extra strain on your ticker, which worsens left-sided HF, and too much fluid in your lungs from HF can make breathing difficult if you have COPD.

Link Between COPD And Right-Sided Heart Failure- Severe COPD can cause HF in the lower right chamber of your ticker, or ventricle. This is a condition called right-sided HF that causes fluid to build up in your body, such as in your legs and belly area.

What Are You Suffering From?

It can be difficult to tell which condition is causing your breathing problems if you have both COPD and HF. Your doctor may give you:

Physical Examination- Your doctor is able to tell the difference between COPD and HF by listening to your lungs and ticker, and looking at your neck.

Chest X-ray- HF may cause fluid in your lungs to be visible on a chest X-ray. Your lungs with COPD are usually clear or may look like they’re over-inflated.

Brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) test- If you have HF, this hormone is usually at high levels in your blood, whether or not you also have COPD.

Echocardiogram- It is an ultrasound test of your ticker that can evaluate the ticker chambers, valves and pumping strength.

Cardiac Enzymes- This blood test can help diagnose a heart attack or too much strain on your ticker.

It should be noted that every case is different. Some people have severe COPD and only mild HF while others have severe HF and only mild COPD. In such cases, the more severe condition is more likely to be the cause of breathing symptoms. If COPD and HF are equally severe, healthcare providers must make their best guess as to which condition is causing your symptoms.

Treatment:

Your doctor will probably treat both together if he can’t tell which condition causes your shortness of breath. Treatments for COPD focus on your lungs and your airways with the main treatments for COPD being bronchodilators, which are inhaled medicines that help open the airways. Treatments for heart failure curb the workload on your ticker and help prevent unhealthy growth of heart muscle.

You may get other treatments as well if you have severe shortness of breath from COPD and HF including corticosteroids which can improve breathing in people with COPD, supplemental oxygen, antibiotics if any bacterial infection may be part of the problem, IV medicines to ease strain on ticker, non-invasive positive pressure ventilation, mechanical ventilation, or temporary life support through a breathing tube.

Quitting smoking should be a top priority for your health if you have either condition and smoke.

CPR Memphis offers CPR courses for both healthcare and non-healthcare providers. To sign up for a course, either register online or call on 901-438-4200.