What goes wrong with my bodys efforts to compensate for heart failure?
Unfortunately, your body’s efforts to compensate for your failing heart only cause more problems and ultimately make your heart failure worse. Specifically, your body’s efforts to compensate can: • Damage your heart muscle further, which can lead to worsening heart failure, more compensation, and more heart muscle damage. The result is a vicious cycle that continues until the body can no longer compensate. • Increase your risk of serious complications, such as an irregular heartbeat. How does compensation for heart failure damage my heart? The table below explains why each of the ways that your body tries to compensate for heart failure can damage your heart and lead to heart failure that continues to get worse. How the body compensates for heart failure Compensation effort Short-term benefit Long-term complication(s) Increase heart rate Maintains cardiac output as stroke volume falls • Can directly weaken heart muscle • Decreases the filling time of the heart Get more blood into your
