Once I Am Diagnosed With Heart Failure, What Things Should Be Assessed Or Reassessed On Follow-Up Visits To My Doctor?

Dr. Miller answers the question: 'Reassesments for Heart Failure?'

ByABC News
November 19, 2008, 4:24 PM

— -- Question: Once I am diagnosed with heart failure, what things should be assessed or reassessed on follow-up visits to my doctor?

Answer: Well, once you do have heart failure, it's going to be important to see how you do on a daily basis. And there are several factors to keep in mind.

One is how you're functioning mentally. Do you have good amount of energy? Do you feel overly tired? Does it take you longer to do your activities of daily living? Do you become more short of breath? Those would be concerning to us, and would necessitate perhaps further evaluation and identification of whether or not we need to modify some of your lifestyle or medications.

Another component would be the degree to which you may experiencing swelling in your legs.

So all of these factors come into play and something we certainly want to find out about when we see you as a patient for heart failure.