If your heart failure is getting worse, small changes can make a big difference in helping you keep the disease under control. You'll often find these suggested lifestyle changes in your heart failure treatment plan from your doctor. These regimens typically include steps like weighing yourself every day, taking your medicine consistently, and noting any new or worsening symptoms.
Tracking these things may take some extra work, but with some helpful strategies, you can develop the habit of sticking with it.
Why Keeping Up With Your Heart Treatment Plan Is Important
When you have heart failure, a treatment plan can help you or your caretaker take the right steps for your health depending on your symptoms. Following this routine is important for many reasons.
- It can help you feel better overall.
- It may keep your heart failure from getting worse.
- It can help you live longer.
- By treating your symptoms before they become a bigger problem, you can avoid going to the hospital as often or shorten your stays if you do go.
Some of the directions in your heart failure treatment regimen may seem small or unimportant, but failing to stick with your plan can make a minor issue turn into a serious problem.
For instance, weighing yourself every day is important for tracking whether your body is retaining fluid, which makes your heart work harder. If you're not noting your weight every day, you could find out about fluid build-up too late rather than catching it early. This can cause your symptoms to get worse and cause a trip to the hospital.
Tips for Sticking to Your Heart Treatment Regimen
While heart failure treatment plans have many parts, they don't have to be overwhelming. There are a few general tips you can use to stay on top of your overall routine, as well as tips for sticking to key parts of the regimen.
Plan ahead
Following instructions for your self-care takes attention to detail and thinking ahead. It may be helpful to set reminders and take notes for things like:
- Prescription refills
- Extra time for grocery shopping so you can read labels
- Exercise time
- Incorporating treatment into holidays or travel
Ask for support
Don't be afraid to ask someone to help keep you accountable. If you find that you're struggling to stay on track with your meals or take your medications all the time, ask a family member or friend to help remind you. You might even involve them in some parts of your plan like cooking or going for a walk.
If you forget about a step in your regimen or fall out of your routine, don't see it as a failure. There's always time to start over and get back on your plan.
Tips for staying on top of your medications
Taking your medication as instructed is key to feeling better and living longer, but when you have so much to keep track of, it's easy for things to slip through the cracks. To make sticking to your plan easier, try these strategies for remembering your medicine.
Visibility. Use a pill box and put it somewhere you go to every day, such as on the sink near your toothbrush or at your seat at the dinner table. If you have a medicine cabinet, you can also attach your medicine chart to the inside for easy reference.
Consistency. Take your pills at the same time each day. It may help to set an alarm or jot down a reminder in your daily planner so you don't forget. Your pill box is likely the best way to help you remember to take your medications, but if you find it hard to remember to fill the box, consider asking a friend or family member to do it for you.
Tracking. To help you keep tabs on your prescriptions and refills, take pictures of your pill bottles or make a list of them. You can also use a medication tracker so you can easily reference your medicine schedule and details in one place.
Tips for following your exercise plan
While you may not be as active as you once were, and it may be harder to exercise, it's still an important part of your treatment regimen. Try these tips to make exercise a manageable habit:
- Start small and then slowly build up to the exercise level that’s best for you
- Add exercise into the rest of your daily routine, perhaps walking every afternoon after lunch
- Exercise with family or friends to make it more enjoyable
Tips for sticking to your meal routine
Changing your eating habits can be a big shift, from how you shop to what you cook. But there are a few things you can do to make sure you stay on track and make the process less stressful.
Shopping
Eating for a healthy heart starts with the food you buy. While your treatment plan likely outlines many kinds of food to eat and avoid, one big ingredient to pay attention to is salt. Salt can cause your body to hold in water and make your heart work harder, so you'll want to shop appropriately. Here are some tips on what to look for when you're at the store:
- Check labels and choose food with less than 140 milligrams of sodium per serving
- Pay special attention to bread, soups, salad dressing, cheese, cold cuts, takeout, frozen dinners, and fast food. These are often high in sodium
- Look for food labeled “low sodium” or “no salt added”
- Replace salt with other spices like pepper, ginger, garlic, or a salt substitute
Cooking
If you don't usually cook, try to learn a couple of techniques that you can use for simple daily meals that align with your plan's guidelines. You may enlist a friend or dietitian for help with this. If someone else in your family cooks, ask them to learn how to prepare the food you need or to teach you how to do it. You might even see if they'd be willing to join you in forming this new habit. This can help keep you on track and make the change easier.
Tips for keeping up with tracking your weight
This is important for checking in on your heart. Sudden weight loss or gain could be a sign that your heart failure is getting worse or that your medications need to change. To make sure you note your weight consistently and correctly, try to remember to:
- Weigh yourself at the same time each day, preferably in the morning before breakfast and after urinating.
- Wear the same types of clothes and don't wear shoes when weighing yourself.
- Use the same scale in the same location every day.
When to Get Medical Help
Your treatment regimen is designed to help you manage and lessen your heart failure symptoms as much as possible, but there are still times when you should call your doctor or even get emergency help. Depending on what you're feeling, you might be dealing with a small problem your doctor can fix or something more serious. Here's what to look out for.
Moderate symptoms
You'll want to call your doctor if you have the following symptoms:
- A new cough, an ongoing cough, or chest congestion
- Shortness of breath when you're active
- Increased swelling in your legs or feet
- Sudden weight gain of 2 to 3 pounds overnight or 5 pounds in a week
- More fatigue than usual that affects your ability to do everyday activities
- A loss of appetite
- Nausea
- Your stomach feels bloated or full
- Confusion or restlessness
- Dizziness or lightheadedness
These signs could mean that you need to change what you eat or your medication. It could also mean that your body is building up fluid and making stress hormones that worsen heart failure. Telling your doctor when you have these symptoms can help them manage or get rid of them.
Urgent symptoms
Some more serious symptoms worth a call to your doctor include:
- Increased shortness of breath or new shortness of breath when you're resting
- Trouble sleeping because you're struggling to breathe normally
- You need to sleep sitting up or on more pillows than usual
- Fast or irregular heartbeat that won't go away, making you feel dizzy or lightheaded
- Coughing up frothy or pink phlegm
- Feeling like you may pass out
Emergency symptoms
Go to the emergency room or call 911 if you:
- Gain more than 5 pounds in a week
- Can't lie flat
- Have shortness of breath while resting
- Have increased swelling and discomfort in your lower body
- Have a constant, hacking cough
- Have chest discomfort or pain for more than 15 minutes that doesn't go away with rest or nitroglycerin
Show Sources
Photo Credit: Moment/Getty Images
SOURCES:
American Heart Association: "Lifestyle Changes for Heart Failure."
Mayo Clinic: "What Is a Heart Failure Action Plan?"
Heart Failure Society of America: "HFSA Patient Education: Self Care—Following Your Treatment Plan and Dealing With your Symptoms."
Oregon Health & Science University Knight Cardiovascular Institute: "Living With Heart Failure."
