What happens if the medications for heart failure stop working?
If your symptoms of heart failure recur or worsen the first thing you should do is contact your health care provider. Your provider will evaluate you to be sure no new cardiac problems such as arrhythmia have developed, and to look for other conditions that might cause deterioration such as infections, uncontrolled hypertension, or the development of new diseases. Once those issues have been resolved, in all likelihood your drug regimes will be altered in an attempt to relieve the symptoms again. If this fails, there are a number of management options, depending on your health and the severity of your heart failure. One option is called “tailored therapy”. This involves having a catheterization of the heart to help your doctor adjust your medications. If appropriate, heart transplantation is another option for some patients, but given the limited donor supply this cannot be offered to the majority of patients with heart failure. Another option is the use of mechanical assist devices fo
