Question: why does heart faliur occur

Sian Harding answered on 16 Jun 2010:

It starts with some damage to the heart, maybe a heart attack or drugs or a genetic disease. If the person recovers from the first problem they can feel all right for a bit. But the body is putting out signals (like adrenaline) which overwork the bit of heart that is left, Eventually it cant cope any more and symptoms of heart failure are seen. These are mainly due to water retention as there is not enough power in the heart to filter water at the kidneys – so breathlessness and feet swelling are often seen, as well as difficulty walking far