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Communicating with your Doctor
I have followed this CHF forum for some time as well as some others. Most of the posts request information regarding medications and treatments. Most recieve (IMHO) excellent advice, take meds as directed, lose weight, exercise, no salt or smoking, etc, etc. I'd like to also emphasize the importance of communicating with your doctor, and anyone with CHF should be under the care of a cardiologist not a G.P.
Your cardiologist will evaluate your condition and prescribe a treatment usually based on his experience with an regime of drugs that have a histroy of success. This is great if you have no problems with side effects , but if you do, PLEASE let your Doctor know. I am a 12 year CHF suvivor, had an initial EF of 18% which is not up 45%. During my adventure with heart diease I found I could not, and in some cases refused to tolerate a number of the most commonly prescribed drugs. Among them were coreg, any beta blocker, lipitor and others. In each case my cardiologist insisted that it was aboslutly necessary that I contine the use of these drugs, however when I made it clear that I could not/would not put up with the side effects such as extreme fatigue, shortness of breath, dizziness ect., he found a different course of treatment. Sometimes it took some experimenting to find a drug that was acceptable to both him and me, but eventually we did.
My point is this; CHF is debilitating disease for most of us, and for most of us it can be treated with various degrees of success. Part of that success is predicated on our communicating effectively with our doctors. Help them to treat you, help them to provide you with with the best quality of life that they can. They need and want your input. Don't be afraid to ask questions or speak up if you suspect you are having problems with any of your treatments or medications. A good doctor will respect and appreciate your input, and if they don't find a new doctor
Your cardiologist will evaluate your condition and prescribe a treatment usually based on his experience with an regime of drugs that have a histroy of success. This is great if you have no problems with side effects , but if you do, PLEASE let your Doctor know. I am a 12 year CHF suvivor, had an initial EF of 18% which is not up 45%. During my adventure with heart diease I found I could not, and in some cases refused to tolerate a number of the most commonly prescribed drugs. Among them were coreg, any beta blocker, lipitor and others. In each case my cardiologist insisted that it was aboslutly necessary that I contine the use of these drugs, however when I made it clear that I could not/would not put up with the side effects such as extreme fatigue, shortness of breath, dizziness ect., he found a different course of treatment. Sometimes it took some experimenting to find a drug that was acceptable to both him and me, but eventually we did.
My point is this; CHF is debilitating disease for most of us, and for most of us it can be treated with various degrees of success. Part of that success is predicated on our communicating effectively with our doctors. Help them to treat you, help them to provide you with with the best quality of life that they can. They need and want your input. Don't be afraid to ask questions or speak up if you suspect you are having problems with any of your treatments or medications. A good doctor will respect and appreciate your input, and if they don't find a new doctor
Yes, I do communicate with my cardiologist. It is so scary when I am at my computer and I feel like I'm going to faint or get dizzy. It usually doesn't last long. Sometimes I feel like I am going crazy. I feel sad because I want to run or jog and I just can't. My body doesn't want to listen to me. One good thing is I am losing a lot of weight because I am on a water pill called Foursemide. Thank you for your input.
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