Exam Overview
Your medical history includes anything about
your past and present health—conditions you used to have or conditions you have
now. Tell your doctor about medical problems of any type, including any surgery
that you have had. When giving your doctor your medical history, be complete
and detailed in your descriptions. Even if an illness is completely gone or
does not seem important to you, knowing about that problem may help your doctor
diagnose
. Also, knowing all of your past
and present medical problems will help your doctor decide the best way to care
for your condition.
As part of your medical history, you should
also review with your doctor the medicines that you currently are taking. This
is best done by bringing an updated list of the names and dosages of all the
medicines that you are taking.
In addition to the medical
conditions that you have had or now have, your doctor will want to know about
several factors that increase your risk for developing heart failure. Since
(CAD) is a cause of
heart failure, risk factors for heart failure include the major risk factors
for CAD, such as smoking, diabetes, high total
or LDL cholesterol, high blood pressure,
advanced age, and being male. Drinking too much alcohol is also a risk factor
for heart failure. Your doctor will take into account all of the risk factors
you have when trying to determine whether you have heart failure. The more risk
factors you have and the more severe they are, the greater your chance of
having heart failure.
If other members of your family have
developed heart failure at a young age, you may be at risk for developing a
genetic form of heart failure. In addition, if several members of your family
also have had diseases that are risk factors for heart failure, such as
or diabetes, you may be at increased risk
for those diseases, which also increases your risk for developing heart
failure.
During a medical history and physical exam, the doctor
will ask about symptoms (such as shortness of breath, swelling, and coughing),
recent or past illnesses (such as heart attack, viral illness, high blood
pressure, and diabetes), physical activity, breathing, sleeping, eating, and
other routine activities.
The parts of the physical exam that are
most helpful in diagnosing heart failure are: