It is very important recognize your symptoms of heart failure. Sometimes the symptoms get worse gradually and at other times they come on suddenly. Sudden worsening of heart failure symptoms is a medical emergency that requires immediate medical care.

Call your doctor for questions and concerns or if you have any of these symptoms or worsening heart failure. These symptoms need to be taken care of today: 

• You gain 2-3 pounds in 1-2 days or 5 pounds in a week 
• You are more tired and can't do what you did the day before 
• It's hard to breathe when you are doing something 
• You have to sleep on more pillows or in a chair so you can breathe 
• You wake up in the middle of the night and have to sit up to breathe 
• You have chest pain or your chest feels tight 
• You see more swelling in your legs or ankles or you feel bloated 
• You don't feel like eating most of the time 
• You have the flu or a fever 
• You start having leg cramps or the cramps are getting worse 
• You can't take your medicine or have problems taking your medicine

Call 911 if you have any of the following symptoms of sudden or severe heart failure or you feel you have a medical emergency : 

• You feel a new kind of chest pain that does not go away 
• The chest pain goes away but keeps coming back 
• You can't get your breath 
• You start coughing up pink, foamy mucus (phlegm) 
• Your heart feels like it is racing (palpitations) or you are dizzy 
• You feel like you could pass out (faint)