Heart Disease Discussion
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Heart Disease Discussion
Q1. Discuss the pathophysiological mechanisms that can lead to heart failure.
Heart failure is caused by the myocardium’s injury from several causes such as hypertension – increases the force of contraction required to pump the blood, ischemic heart disease, and diabetes. In heart failure, enough blood is not supplied in the tissues for metabolic requirements, and systemic venous pressure can lead to organ congestion. This situation may result from systolic abnormalities or diastolic function, or both.
The major pathophysiology of heart failure is the decrease in the heart muscles’ effectiveness through overloading or damage. Therefore, it may be developed by several other conditions such as myocardial infarction – the muscles of the heart get little oxygen and dies, and amyloidosis – misfolded proteins are left in the muscles of the heart leading to stiffening (Inamdar & Inamdar, 2016). Over time, these rises in work load will cause changes to the heart.
The heart of an individual with heart failure can have a minimized contraction force because of ventricles overloading. In a healthy heart, increased ventricles fillings leads to increased force of contraction and therefore causing a cardiac output rise. In heart failure, the mechanism fails, while ventricles has blood to the situation where contraction of heart muscles becomes ineffective this is because of the minimized capacity to cross-link myosin and actin filaments in over-stretched muscles of the heart.
Q2. Differentiate between systolic and diastolic heart dysfunction
The major difference between systolic and diastolic dysfunction are the existence of left ventricular remodeling and contractile dysfunction. For systolic heart dysfunction, dilatation of progressive ventricular or eccentric cardiac hypertrophy is evident whereas diastolic heart dysfunction shows remodeling of concentric ventricular with no dilation or concentric cardiac hypertrophy.
The Pathophysiology of the heart dysfunction has been recognized as a damaged systolic function condition of the heart followed by a reduced low cardiac output condition – “systolic heart failure” (Komamura, 2013). Even though systolic function may be preserved, filling of the left ventricular in diastole mat be hindered as a result of several factors. This situation may cause congestive heart dysfunction resulting from the increase in left ventricular end-diastolic pressure and the fall in cardiac output. Presently, diastolic heart dysfunction is known as heart failure preserved with ejection fraction whereas systolic heart dysfunction is known as heart failure with decreased ejection fraction.
The approved systolic heart dysfunction treatment aims at three things that should be done simultaneously and they include; regulation of risk issues for the progression and development of heart dysfunction, heart failure indicators treatment and teaching of patients (Komamura, 2013). However, diastolic heart dysfunction are grounded on pathophysiology of the disease, information on other aspects concerning cardiovascular disease, statistics from minor studies, and opinion of experts.
Q3. Discuss the causes of the patient’s shortness of breath, awakening in the middle of the night and the need to prop herself up on three pillows.
Shortness of breath in people with heart dysfunction may occur in several ways. One may feel they are unable to catch their breath, feel fatigued when walking, tightness in their chest, stop a lot when walking, and may become worse when they lie flat making them wake up at night.
The old woman experience shortness of breath in the middle of the night caused by several conditions that occur more often. Most conditions that prompt chronic shortness of breath connects to her heart, lungs, and mental health. It may happen with waking up wheezing and coughing, experiencing intensive heart rate, and feeling suffocated. This can be caused when her body does not sufficiently pump oxygen in to her blood. Besides, her lungs may be unable to process oxygen intake. Dyspepsia is the pathophysiological mechanisms that causes shortness of breath resulting from several receptors and signal interactions in the CNS, mechanoreceptors, and peripheral receptors chemoreceptors in the upper airway, chest wall and lungs.
The old woman may experience sudden breathlessness and wake up from her sleep. This may be caused when the fluid in her lungs flow with gravity making major parts of her lungs wet (Harvard Health Publishing, 2016). Insomnia is the pathophysiological mechanisms that causes awakening in the middle of the night as it is considered a condition of extreme activation of the brains arousal system. She can ease her breathing by using extra pillows to prop herself up.
Q4. Include two points of teaching for this patient
The old woman should be taught about changes in diet and lifestyle as part of her treatment. Some of the recommendations include weighing herself daily, decreasing her salt and water intake, avoid smoking and taking alcohol, and regularly exercising.
The patient will also be taught how to take her medication on time every single day. Most of the medicine frequently used in the treatment of heart failures have been proven to prolong life. If the patient cannot afford or has difficulty in taking her medicines, it is advisable that she talks to her health care provider.
References
Harvard Health Publishing. (2016, September 14). 5 warning signs of early heart failure – Harvard Health. Harvard Health; Harvard Health. https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/5-warning-signs-of-early-heart-failure
Inamdar, A., & Inamdar, A. (2016). Heart Failure: Diagnosis, Management and Utilization. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 5(7), 62. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm5070062
Komamura, K. (2013). Similarities and Differences between the Pathogenesis and Pathophysiology of Diastolic and Systolic Heart Failure. Cardiology Research and Practice, 2013, 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/824135