Symptom 3: Shortness of Breath: The Invisible Hand Over Your Mouth
Have you ever run up a flight of stairs and felt your breath hitching? Like an invisible hand is slowly pressing over your mouth? That’s how breathlessness in heart failure can feel. Imagine this, you’re doing an everyday task, something you’ve done countless times. Suddenly, you’re panting. It’s like you’ve run a marathon, but all you did was walk up a flight of stairs or pick up a bag of groceries.
You might argue, isn’t it normal to be out of breath after exertion? True, but with heart failure, it’s different. The breathlessness is disproportionate to the effort. Plus, it doesn’t just occur with activity. It could strike even when you’re lying flat. Imagine gasping for breath while lying in your comfortable bed. That’s how devious heart failure is.
So, why does this happen? Well, the heart and lungs work in harmony. One supplies oxygen, the other pumps it to the body. When the heart struggles, the lungs too bear the brunt. Fluid accumulates in the lungs, a condition called pulmonary edema. This fluid takes up space, space meant for air. The result? That breathlessness, that gasping for air.
This symptom is alarming, yes. But it’s also a sign of the body’s resilience. Despite the heart’s struggle, the body fights back. It tries to rectify, to balance. This breathlessness is not a sign of weakness, but of strength. It’s the body’s cry for help, it’s way of sounding an alarm. (3)
