My fur baby just turned 14 and was recently diagnosed with CHF. The doctor put him on medications to help his heart but since the diagnosis I’ve been an emotional wreck. I cry every single day knowing the end is near but I’m not ready. He’s our first dog and I can’t imagine our home without him. He’s still active but of course because of his age has slowed down a bit. How do I make his time left happy when I can’t even keep it together myself. Any words Of advice or encouragement???
I just got back from the hospital, where a chest Xray confirmed that I have congestive heart failure, a diagnosis I've been putting off getting because of the whole pandemic making going to the hospital for *anything* a risk. (Had suspcisions for months now but A) didn't want to contribute to the overwhelming of the NHS, B) Covid likes hanging around hospitals.)
Here's the problem. I'm a US citizen in the UK as a Tier 2 Migrant, and have been since April 2019. Which means that the earliest I can apply for "can't kick me out for no good reason" is April 2024.
There's about a 50/50 chance I'll live that long.
(Ah, well, it's all downhill after 45, anyway, innit? But hey, at least I'll get to die alone!)
I'm just worried because my congestive heart failure might make it difficult for me to work. I'm a programmer, so no literal heavy lifting, but I get fatigued at weird times and have to lay down unexpectedly.
If I can't do my job - if I lose my job - I worry I'll be kicked out of the UK and sent back to the US. And healthcare is a nightmare in the US.
I'm not particularly looking forward to death, but if I was forced back to the US (a country that when I last visited in November, was looking like Austria right before the Anschluss), and where my medical bills would not only bankrupt me but also probably bankrupt my parents AND hurt my brother's half of the inheritence... it would be a kinder mercy for me and them to kill myself here on British soil for free instead of a prolonged painful (and painful to watch) death in the US.
This might be a question I might need a lawyer for, but does anyone know what happens if you're in the UK on a Tier 2 visa but you become disabled during it?
Congestive Heart Failure - When do we say goodbye?
Our 11 year old shepherd mix has CHF. He’s been doing great, but this last week he collapses every day multiple times a day. After he collapses he’s tired, but later he has lots of smiles and tail waggles.
We don’t want to put him down, but if he’s in pain or scared I’ll know it’s the right choice.
Any advice for our family? We’re pretty tired and devastated.
My sweet 13 y.o. doxie’s heart murmur has progressively worsened, and a month ago the vet said it’s progressed to stage 6. At the time there was no fluid in this lungs.
Beginning yesterday, seemingly out of the blue, his heart-related coughing has worsened. He’s been having long, frequent bouts of much more intense coughing. It appears painful. It’s continued through the night.
He’s still eating and drinking, and always sleeps a lot.
What I want to understand is when should I consider saying goodbye? I’m hoping the more intense coughing magically goes away, but if it doesn’t… I don’t want him to be in pain for weeks on end.
Can anyone advise here?
I have a 10 year old Bassett hound with a 6/6 murmur. She was diagnosed with congestive heart failure about 15 month’s ago and is on regular medication. She is having a very tough night. She is restless, her limbs are twitching, her heart is loudly out of rhythm, she is panting and passing a lot of gas. Is there anything I can do to comfort her or make it go away?
Anyone’s pup dealing with CHF? My girl, Winter, has/is in Stage C and she seems to be responding well to her medications (blood pressure, diuretic for fluid build up and Vetmedin for valvular deficiency). Just looking to hear some experiences from others. Thanks!
My 3 year old cat was diagnosed with moderate to severe cardiomegaly with left-sided congestive heart failure. Needless to say my partner and I are devastated. Apparently we caught it early enough that meds might help manage it but giving them to her has proven quite a challenge. Wondering if anyone has a cat with a similar condition who can offer any advice? No idea what the outcome of this might end up looking like 😞
My left leg is about an inch to inch and a half bigger than my right leg. I have had labs. D dimer is not elevated. Chest x-rays. EKGs. All clear. Ultrasound/Doppler on the leg was good. However I am still disturbed by the swelling and wasn't really giving an answer. Does this just happen sometimes? I do have spider veins in that leg...could that cause the swelling? The swelling is from my ankle all the way up to my knee. Not severe however. Been going on for months.
30F 250lbs No alcohol. Smoke occasionally.
I was diagnosed with epilepsy in late may of this year after finishing my first year of law school. After some awful symptoms that cumulated in me being barely able to breathe, an extremely high temperature, and racing heart I was diagnosed with congestive heart failure.
I’m 29 y/o. I’ve battled mental health stuff (depression and anxiety) since I was 12 due to my childhood. At 19 I was drugged and taken to a stairwell and assaulted and sexually assaulted. I’ve had up and downs since then. I just hate this. I’m pretty good at rolling with the punches, keeping things in perspective and staying positive, but this is getting old.
I don’t even know what to think anymore. I’m just so sad that my heart and my brain are broken. I just want to stand on the edge of a cliff, overlooking a canyon (or the ocean) and just scream FUCCKKKKKK!
Anytime you get a question on the USMLE about Congestive Heart Failure, make sure you identify if the question calls for the acute management of the disease OR the chronic management of the disease. From there you can determine best path to best patient care! See quick breakdown of drugs used for both in this quick lecture:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtM9Hi5A38s
Happy Friday!
In addition to irritability, sweating, and difficulty breathing with feeding, the symptom that is MOST indicative of congestive heart failure in a 3-week-old infant is
A. ascites
B. cough
C. cyanosis
D. diminished feeding volume
E. pretibial oedema
C?
Hi Vets, Just 2 nights ago, my 13 year old black Toy Poodle died, almost suddenly to me and my family. She suddenly struggled to breathe and had a breath rate of ~130 bpm. We immediately traveled to the nearest Vet Emergency Hospital, which was unfortunately 40 minutes away, and when we got there they told us within 5 minutes that she has horrendous crackling of lungs and that they think she has Congestive Heart Failure and has a 50% chance of survival. Within about 3 minutes they came back and told us that she passed. This was terribly devastating because it seemed so out of the blue. Previously during the day she was wagging her tail, and barking, and doing everything like a normal healthy dog.
My question, is why this could have happened so abruptly, if there were any signs that we could have missed that could have been considered, how common a situation like this is (everytime I looked up CHF it appeared to be a longterm problem), and how often does a dog survive a similar situation (vet said 50% chance but he seemed VERY pessimistic when he said that).
Some things to note that could potentially have been symptoms:
- She was more "hyper" at night in the last week. Normally if I stay up she lays down on the couch, but instead ever night she would jump on me and bark at me, which was more energetic than normal even for her during the day.
- She had regular seizures for the past 3 or 4 years. She used to have a seizure like once every 2 weeks, but a change in dog food seemed to have reduced that to something like once every 5 months.
- When she got overly excited she would basically start "quacking" like a duck instead of barking. She did this her whole life and I thought it was cute, but idk if it could explain anything
- A few minutes before she started to struggle to breathe, her feet slipped into a crack on the side of the bed, making her get stuck for a second until I lifted her out of the crack (was just her back legs falling in). Wasn't anything abnormal or concerning at the time for her to land incorrectly and struggle to get up.
The vet has her on 4 different pills to help with her heart. Enalapril, Furosemide, Pimobendan, and Pepcid. Which she takes morning and night.
At the moment she is going through a serious kidney failure. She has been throwing up stomach acid and refuses to eat. She hasn’t eaten in 4 days and she no longer will take her pills. I’m afraid that giving her pills on an empty stomach will mess with her kidney even further. She is also pooping soft/liquid stools that smell really rancid. She is still drinking water however which is great but she’s losing muscle mass quickly and is looking terribly frail.
Currently she is on a kidney diet at the moment (Hills Prescription k/d diet) which she refuses to eat.
I have tried to give her steamed boneless/skinless chicken with rice which she nibbles on but eventually refuses to eat.
Last night in desperation I gave her a few pieces of rotisserie chicken which she happily ate. But rotisserie chicken has too much sodium and will mess with her heart. I feel that having some sort of food (any food) is better than starving to death regardless of sodium.
So my question is. Should I continue to feed her rotisserie chicken until she has enough strength to get better? Or is that worse than just attempting to feed her boneless/skinless chicken which she will most likely refuse to eat?
So, I'm guessing you've seen the Project Veritas video, from the Native American hospital where someone in his thirties developed congestive heart failure after the vaccine and it wasn't reported as an adverse effect.
Well the thing you have to remember is that this problems happens at a large scale, across countries where they administer the vaccine. You can look at the excess mortality in the UK, to see what is going on. For the past few weeks they have consistently been reporting excess deaths.
You would expect that this is due to delayed treatment, but the strange thing is that you don't see excess cancer deaths. Rather, you see excess cardiovascular deaths and most prominently there's a big spike in excess deaths from heart failure:
The UK is the only vaxxed country that really keeps live track of what people are dying from. It's a protein that's toxic for your heart and we see these deaths show up in the excess mortality statistics.
Thank you
