Congestive Heart Failure
Dr. Weyrich's Naturopathic Functional Medicine Notebook
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Overview
Congestive heart failure arises when one side of the heart fails to adequately pump blood, resulting in a build-up of fluid in either the extremities or lungs. If the right side of the heart fails, then peripheral (e.g. feet) edema may be observed. If the left side of the heart fails, then pulmonary (lung) edema may be observed.Etiology
While damage to the heart caused by myocardial infarction may lead to congestive heart failure, hypertension and hypothyroidism [Starr2005] also play a prominent role. According to one writer, "pulse rate and stroke volume are diminished in hypothyroidism, and cardiac output is accordingly decreased, often to one-half the normal value" [DeGroot1996].Treatment
Various practitioners have reported success treating CHF associated with concurrent hypothyroidism, with shrinkage of enlarged heart within weeks of treatment for hypothyroidism. In these cases, shrinkage of the enlargement is attributed to resolution of myxedema of the myocardium [Zondek1918; Fahr1925; Starr2005, pg 129].ICD-9 Codes
| ICD9-Code | Description | Comments |
|---|---|---|
References
Unless specifically noted above, references used in the construction of this web page include the following:[FDM] Lecture notes from Functional Medicine University.
[SCNM] Lecture notes from Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine.
[UT] Lecture notes from the University of Tennessee graduate programs in Chemistry and Biochemistry.
[DeGroot1996] L.J. DeGroot et al. The Thyroid and Its Diseases, Sixth Edition. New York: Churchill Livingston (1996). Cited by [Starr2005].
[Fahr1925] Fahr G. Myxedema heart. JAMA 84(5):345-349 (1925).
[Starr2005] Mark Starr. Hypothyroidism Type 2: The Epidemic. Columbia, MO: Mark Starr Trust (2005).
[Zondek1918] H. Zondek. Myxodemhertz. Munchen Medical WSCHR 65:1180 (1918). Cited by [Starr2005].
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