Can anyone tell what it was like having left sided heart failure?
The most common symptom of left sided heart failure is shortness of breath, which can be mild or very severe, depending on how bad the heart failure is and what you’re trying to do (it’s worse with exercise). This is caused by fluid leaking out of the blood vessels and into the lungs. Lower extremity edema (swelling of the legs) and jugular venous distension (the veins in your neck stick out) are also common, but what people really notice is the shortness of breath and fatigue.
