Heart failure can affect your quality of life by reducing your independence and ability to do some daily activities. As a result of these changes in your life, you may experience depression, anxiety, anger, loss of control, uncertainty, and feeling like a burden to others. Such feelings can be distressing and affect your overall wellness. By recognizing these emotions and where they come from, you can take positive steps to have better control. Understanding the emotions that result from a heart failure diagnosis will help you to manage life with this condition.
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It is common for people to feel depression, anxiety, anger, loss of control, uncertainty, and feeling like a burden to others after being diagnosed with a chronic disease such as heart failure. Some people’s feelings may decrease or even go away after learning more about heart failure. For others, however, these feelings may continue or worsen over time. For people struggling with their emotions, there are ways to take control and have a good quality of life.
Emotions can affect recovery from heart failure and also increase risk of future heart failure hospitalizations. For this reason, it is important to understand your feelings and get professional help if you need it. It is normal to experience intense emotions when there is uncertainty about how a diagnosis will impact your day-to-day living. However, lasting depression, anxiety, and/or anger can lead to an imbalance of hormones, which are substances produced by your body that can make heart failure worse.
Patients with heart failure often feel anxious and may experience symptoms of depression. Everyone feels anxious or blue sometimes. However, whenthese feelings do not go away, they can interfere with sleep, appetite, and energy level.
Although fatigue and loss of appetite are common symptoms of heart failure, they are more likely due to depression if accompanied by any of the symptoms listed below. Common symptoms of depression include having any of the following for more than two weeks:
Symptoms of anxiety are normal reactions to stressful situations. Common symptoms of anxiety are having any of the following for more than two weeks:
Despite increasing awareness about clinical depression, many people still believe a social stigma is associated with emotional problems such as depression or anxiety. As a result, some people may be reluctant to talk about how they are feeling. It is important for your health to seek professional help when feelings of depression or anxiety continue, rather than waiting for these feelingsto get better on their own.
Other emotions you may experience include feeling angry or upset, worried, a loss of control, uncertainty or fear, loneliness, or being a burden to others. Here are some examples of reasons why you may be feeling these emotions:
There are many things you can do to manage your feelings of depression, anxiety, and/or anger. Below are some suggestions to reduce negative feelings, increase positive feelings, build confidence, and ultimately improve your quality of life.
Starting the conversation…
Actively engaging in your health …
Make a list of things you can and cannot do. You can use this list as a guide for talking with your friends and family about your condition and understand how it may impact your life.
Get a good night’s sleep. Research has shown that people who do not feel rested or do not get enough sleep often feel depressed. If you have difficulty sleeping, ask your doctor or nurse about getting good sleep. You might discuss sleep hygiene, medications, or testing for sleep disorders like sleep apnea.
Try to get outside every day even for a few minutes. Getting fresh air can clear your mind and soothe the mood. Make sure to dress appropriately, especially during extremely hot or cold weather.
You can learn more about how to take control of your heart failure by reading the other modules in this series. You can get copies of these modules from your doctor or nurse. Or you can visit the Heart Failure Society of America web site at: www.hfsa.org.
The topics covered in the other modules include: