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CHAPTER 5. GOING HOME
When you leave the hospital, in addition to your low-sodium diet, weighing yourself daily, and taking your medications, there are some other guidelines that you should follow that will make you feel better and prevent the CHF from getting worse. If you take an active role in your own care, you’re likely to live longer, stronger, and better.

You may need to make changes in your lifestyle that can lessen your symptoms of heart failure and improve your overall health and quality of life.

If you smoke, try to quit. Even if it was only an indirect cause of your CHF, smoking will definitely worsen your CHF and can cause lung problems. Most importantly, once you start to feel better, do NOT start smoking again because your CHF will get worse and you may end up in the hospital again.

If you drink alcohol, limit your intake. Drinking too much alcohol is not good for your heart, and it may interact with some of your medications. If you were told that your CHF is directly related to drinking too much alcohol, you should stop drinking completely.

Do not use illegal street drugs like cocaine and heroin. These can damage your heart and will make your CHF worse.

If you’re overweight, losing weight can help with the amount of stress on your heart and can help you to feel better. You should talk to your doctor about ways to help you lose weight.

Exercise can be important and make you feel better. Depending on the stage of your CHF and symptom management, your doctor will know what is safe and possible for you to do.

In addition to a low-sodium diet, you may need to reduce your fluid intake. Talk to your doctor about how many ounces of fluid you should drink in the morning, afternoon, and evening.

And finally, you should talk to your doctor about getting a flu shot and the pneumonia vaccine. These will help you to stay healthy while managing your CHF. Even if you do everything right for your CHF, getting pneumonia or the flu can push you over the edge and even kill you.

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