Why Does Heart Failure Cause Sweating, Symptoms of Heart Failure

Why does heart failure cause sweating? If you are just searching for the symptoms of heart failure, check this guide to learn more about this disease, including definitions, symptoms, and treatments.

What Is Heart Failure

Before knowing the answer to “Why does heart failure cause sweating”, let’s learn what Heart failure is. Heart failure is a lifelong condition in which the heart muscle cannot pump enough blood to meet the body's blood and oxygen needs. When this happens, blood can become stagnant and fluid can accumulate in the lungs, causing shortness of breath, and other painful symptoms.

Heart failure can be life-threatening and is hard to cure. People with heart failure may have serious symptoms. Some people need a heart transplant or a device that helps the heart pump blood. Appropriate treatment relieves the symptoms of heart failure and prolongs life in some people. Also, those treatments can improve the life quality of patients and their families. Apart from treatments, try to lose weight, exercise, eat less salt, and manage your stress.

Why Does Heart Failure Cause Sweating

So, why does heart failure cause sweating? Excessive sweating is a commonly reported symptom by cardiac patients and may also be an early adaptation phenomenon or cardiac maladaptation in early heart failure (HF). By definition, patients with HF have reduced cardiac output, reduced blood supply to the kidneys, decreased arterial baroreceptor pressure, and activated compensatory mechanisms such as the RAAS and the adrenergic autonomic nervous system. Fluid retention caused by cardiorenal decompensation can lead to reactive hyperhidrosis and may even predict the development of decompensation to prevent overt volume overload.

In addition, overactivity of the sympathetic nervous system in heart failure patients increases fluid reabsorption in the kidneys. Meanwhile, signals are generated to the sweat glands to initiate fluid distribution, causing sodium and chlorine to be lost from the kidneys. Finally, the physiology of sweat gland production is altered during physical activity in HF patients.

Other Symptoms of Heart Failure

Now you may know the answer to “Why does heart failure cause sweating”.  Heart failure symptoms range from mild to severe. The most common symptoms are:

1. Shortness of breath:

Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath occurs even with minimal exercise or lying down and may be accompanied by wheezing and coughing due to fluid accumulation in the lungs.

2. Fatigue and Weakness:

Persistent fatigue and lack of energy often limit daily activities and may indicate reduced blood flow and oxygen supply to the body.

3. Swelling:

Edema, or fluid accumulation. It commonly occurs in the legs, ankles, feet, or abdomen. This reduces the heart's ability to pump blood efficiently, leading to fluid buildup.

4. Fast or irregular heart rate:

Palpitations and abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmias) cause a pounding, racing, or jumping sensation, possibly due to the heart's inability to pump properly.

5. Persistent cough:

Chronic cough with pink or white frothy sputum due to accumulation of fluid in the lungs or stimulation of sensitive receptors in the lungs.

6. Difficulty sleeping:

Heart failure may also cause you have difficulty in sleeping. Insomnia, or a feeling of choking due to shortness of breath, coughing, or rapid heart rate, can wake you up abruptly and disrupt your restful sleep. And furthermore, your mental healthy may be extremely influenced.

7. Chest pain:

Although not always the case, an inadequate blood supply to the heart, especially during physical activity, can cause chest discomfort and pressure similar to a heart attack.

As mentioned before, heart failure disease is life-threatening. To relieve those negative symptoms, you can try some effective treatments, like Qili Qiangxin Capsules. It treats both the symptoms and underlying causes of chronic heart failure. The traditional Chinese medicine qiliqiangxin reduced hospitalization for heart failure (HF) and cardiovascular death in patients with HF and reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), according to findings from the QUEST trial presented at ESC Congress 2023.

Conclusion

This guide answered the question “Why does heart failure cause sweating”. In summary, heart failure is a serious and potentially life-threatening illness that affects millions of people worldwide. It is characterized by an inability of the heart to pump enough blood to meet the body's needs, causing symptoms such as fatigue, shortness of breath, and fluid retention. Causing sweating is also one of its symptoms. Although the prognosis of heart failure has improved over the years due to advances in treatment, it remains a chronic and progressive condition that requires ongoing treatment and care.