“Many people have heart failure and don’t know it.”

Heart failure is a disease that occurs when the heart cannot pump enough blood to meet the body’s needs. To publicize the symptoms, patients and heart transplant recipients from Aragon, together with several medical professionals, set up an information table in the hospital building. Michael Servetus Hospital, this allows you to identify it and thus know how to prevent it and see a doctor before serious complications arise. At night, the façade of the Aljafería will be illuminated to commemorate the anniversary.

The goal is to increase awareness of the pathology as “Many people suffer from it without even realizing it,” says Jorge Carrasco, president of an association that brings together sick people and transplant recipients. “When you’re tired, you can’t sleep because you’re short of breath or you’re holding a baby… there are people who attribute it to age, being overweight… but it’s important to get tested because it could be heart failure.” . Explain. He also makes clear that “it can be prevented” before it gets complicated and “becomes a much more serious heart problem.” What can be done? “What we all know: a healthy lifestyle, moderate exercise, not drinking a lot of alcohol, not smoking, controlling sugar, stress, etc.,” he replies.

In some casesComplications result in the need for transplantation. Last year there were three of them in Servet, and this year there are the same number. Such is the case for Carrasco, who suffered a “major heart attack” eight years ago. because two main arteries were blocked. When they told him they were going to transplant him, “you lose your breath and think you’re going to die.” But no. “It’s important to move forward, to live a healthy lifestyle, because you can lead a pretty good life,” he says, later adding that “when something like this happens to you, you will never get your life back, but you may very well survive.” “, he notes.

Marie Carmen Aldana also underwent a heart transplant 19 years ago (she is now 68 years old), and her first thought was: “I will not leave here anymore, but I will; and now I hope that at least 30 or 40 will pass,” he says with humor. For this reason, I was at Miguel Servet’s table this morning, so that “they would see me and want to live,” he explains.

Recognizing the symptoms is crucial because “many people confuse them with other pathologies,” explains Maria Pilar Gil, a nurse at the heart failure unit of Zaragoza Hospital. But education is also important. This means that they must “monitor the amount of fluid they drink per day, not just water, because if the heart is significantly weak,” it should be limited to 1.5 liters; for “if it is not eliminated, it persists in other parts of the body.” In nursing, they try to “help this knowledge and learn how to take care of themselves” through guidelines that are also followed in elementary school.

The Servet Heart Failure Unit treats approximately 500 patients annually, including hospitalized and outpatient clinic patients; But there are other services, such as internal medicine or geriatrics, where they also serve many people because it is “a pathology, especially for older people,” explains Teresa Blasco, head of the department, who notes that the prevalence is among people over 16 % is 16%. 75. years old; and 7% of people over 50 years of age. Blasko insists that the symptoms are related to other pathologies and the heart failure was discovered “as a result of hospitalization for bronchitis, pneumonia or anemia.” The specialist assures that there are risk factors such as poorly controlled high blood pressure, since in many cases it is believed that “taking medications is enough,” but the situation changes over time.