One of the known heart problem that can occur both in infants and adults is heart failure. Heart failure, a condition which occurs more prevalent in infants today, doesn’t mean that heart stop working. It is the condition where one or more chamber of the heart is unable to efficiently pump blood to supply oxygen and nutrients to the rest of the body. Heart failure causes vary among infants and adults or it can be brought by some underlying diseases and heart problems. Mild heart failure in infants often shows no signs and symptoms which it difficult to be detected. In the severe cases, heart failure symptoms in infants are detected during an ultrasound or shortly after birth. It can be fatal if not diagnosed and treated on the earliest time possible.
Heart failure incident in infants and adults occurs due to many causes. Some of the common causes of this disease in infants include genetics, heart defects at birth, diseases that can cause damage to the heart and infections. In adults, heart failure is associated with diseases like diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure and coronary heart disease. There are also other factors which injure the heart muscle and lead to heart failures this include treatment for cancer, smoking, alcohol, use of illegal drug and too much vitamin E. Sometimes heart failure in both infants and adults is difficult to detect because heart failure symptoms may be subtle and often mistaken for normal signs.
Parents, especially the mother have instinctive feeling if something is not right with their baby. Infants showing heart failure symptoms may alert their parents. The primary symptom in infants with heart failure is poor growth and inability to thrive. Other symptoms that might show if infant have heart failure includes difficulty in eating, sweating during eating because of exhausted labor involved, excessive sleeping because of fatigue, difficulty in breathing and rapid breathing. These are just some of the visual symptom that might be notice by parents or caregiver if the infant is suffering from heart failure.
If you see your child suffering from heart failure symptoms you must not hesitate to consult a qualified physician. These symptoms can become worst if the problem is not treated. Treatment given will depend on what stage and type of heart failure your child is experiencing. There are many available treatments for heart failure problems today. The three mode of treatment available to infants to correct their heart failure problems include drug therapy, physical therapy and surgery.
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