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Heart failure, or what many people are familiar with as “heart attack,” is a condition that we might think is far from us, without realizing that in reality, all genders and ages are at risk of this condition. For example, earlier this year, we often saw news of the passing of famous individuals due to heart failure even though they were still relatively young. But before discussing heart failure, let’s get to know the heart first.  
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<h2>The organ with the important function “Heart” </h2>
Our heart is an organ with an important function, mainly to receive blood from different parts of the body, send it to the lungs to receive oxygen, then receive oxygenated blood from the lungs back to the heart, and pump blood to nourish various parts of the body. Therefore, heart failure is a condition where the heart cannot perform the function of receiving and sending blood. It may start with the inability to receive blood, followed by the inability to pump blood, which occurs because the heart muscle cannot perform this function.  
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<h2>Types of Heart Failure </h2>
Heart failure is divided into 2 main types: inability to receive and inability to pump, as follows: 
<ol>
<li>Inability to receive means the heart cannot receive blood from different parts of the body because the heart must contract and relax, but most patients in the early stage cannot relax the heart muscle. This means blood cannot be brought back to nourish the heart.</li>
<li>Inability to pump means the heart cannot contract as required by the body, resulting in the inability to pump blood to nourish various parts of the body. </li>
</ol>
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<h2>Causes of Heart Failure </h2>
Heart failure is any condition that causes the heart muscle to malfunction, with 3 common causes as follows: 3 causes are as follows:  
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<ol>
<li>The blood vessels supplying the heart muscle become blocked, causing acute ischemia, which makes the heart muscle unable to function. </li>
<li>High blood pressure causes abnormal heart muscle contraction, leading to thickening of the heart muscle. Over time, the muscle stretches and dilates, resulting in poor contraction. </li>
<li>One component of the heart, the heart valve, becomes stenotic or blocked, causing the heart to pump blood out poorly or preventing blood from flowing backward, leading to heart failure. </li>
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There are also other contributing factors such as diabetes, overweight, smoking, inappropriate exercise, and genetic factors.  
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<h2>Who is at Risk of Heart Failure? </h2>
Heart attack or heart failure can occur in all age groups, depending on the cause. In younger people, it is mostly due to genetic factors, such as having a congenital heart valve abnormality that has never shown symptoms. Whenever there is a trigger, such as inflammation or infection causing valve inflammation and poor valve function, it can lead to heart attack or heart failure symptoms.
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Some people have thicker heart muscles than normal, which is a genetic factor from childhood, combined with lifestyle factors that trigger increased heart workload, such as infection, heavy or excessive exercise, high salt intake, and high blood pressure. This condition is often found in younger groups.
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In older age groups, there are usually comorbidities such as hypertension, high cholesterol, and diabetes. Most heart disease patients in the early stage have no symptoms and start to show symptoms as the condition worsens gradually.
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No symptoms are shown because the heart tries to adapt to keep the body comfortable and as normal as possible, so there are no symptoms. Therefore, when no symptoms are seen, do not assume there is no problem. Those with risk factors, such as genetic factors, should regularly check their health.  
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<h2>How to Take Care of Yourself to Stay Away from Heart Failure </h2>
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<ol>
<li>People with risk factors such as having family members with heart disease, being overweight, lack of exercise, high blood pressure, or high cholesterol should have health check-ups. Generally, if over 35 years old, it is recommended to have an initial heart check-up even without symptoms by blood tests for blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol, chest X-ray, and electrocardiogram, including treadmill tests to check heart condition. Lifestyle changes should be made to address these risk factors to prevent heart disease in the future.</li>
<li>People with congenital heart abnormalities should determine the type of abnormality, such as mild valve prolapse or mild valve regurgitation without symptoms who can live normally and should have annual check-ups. If the abnormality is severe and affects daily life, more frequent visits to the doctor are needed based on the severity of symptoms. Congenital heart abnormalities can be divided into 2 types.</li>
</ol>
<ul>
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="1" data-list-defn-props="{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:1500,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Congenital heart abnormality that has been surgically corrected to normal should have health and heart check-ups again after age 35.</li>
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="1" data-list-defn-props="{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:1500,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}" data-aria-posinset="2" data-aria-level="1">Congenital heart abnormality that has been surgically corrected but still has residual signs should be regularly monitored according to the findings to prevent recurrence.  </li>
</ul>
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Symptoms Indicative of Risk for Heart Failure Heart failure risk symptoms can be observed in 4 stages:  
<ol>
<li>No symptoms, mostly in the risk group. </li>
<li data-leveltext="%1." data-font="Tahoma" data-listid="2" data-list-defn-props="{&quot;335552541&quot;:0,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[65533,0],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;%1.&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}" data-aria-posinset="2" data-aria-level="1">Symptoms occur during heavy physical activity, such as intense exercise.  </li>
<li data-leveltext="%1." data-font="Tahoma" data-listid="2" data-list-defn-props="{&quot;335552541&quot;:0,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[65533,0],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;%1.&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}" data-aria-posinset="2" data-aria-level="1">Symptoms occur during normal daily activities such as eating, bathing, or brushing teeth.</li>
<li data-leveltext="%1." data-font="Tahoma" data-listid="2" data-list-defn-props="{&quot;335552541&quot;:0,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[65533,0],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;%1.&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}" data-aria-posinset="2" data-aria-level="1">  Symptoms occur while lying still, leading to heart attack or heart failure.</li>
</ol>
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The clearly observable symptoms in the early stage include walking as if weak because the heart cannot pump enough blood to nourish the body, easy fatigue during exercise or heavy activities, swollen legs and feet, inability to lie flat, pulmonary edema, and in some cases, abdominal swelling causing fullness and loss of appetite.
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Therefore, if symptoms differ from normal daily life, a check-up should be done to determine the risk of heart disease. Early detection may allow improvement by lifestyle changes without medication. Treatment outcomes are better when detected early rather than when the condition worsens and is left untreated for a long time.  
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Although there are various surgical innovations and medications to help treat heart failure, the quality of life after treatment is not as good as before symptoms appeared. Preventing oneself from this risk is better than treatment.
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Therefore, regular health and heart check-ups are recommended to prevent the disease before it occurs because this disease shows no symptoms at the beginning. If minor abnormalities are detected early, lifestyle changes can help maintain good health, avoid disease, and live happily as desired.  
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Dr. Parichat Karpluemjit  
Cardiologist  
Heart Center, Phyathai 2 Hospital

Heart failure, commonly known as a "heart attack," is a silent threat that can occur at any age. It does not show symptoms in the early stages, but if left unchecked, it can severely affect the quality of life. This article will introduce you to the symptoms, causes, risk factors, and ways to take care of your heart to effectively prevent heart failure.

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Heart failure...a silent danger that doesn't discriminate between ages

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