Living My Life

Discover how to balance daily life while managing heart failure.

My Health

Self-Care

Along with the medical treatments recommended by your doctor for your heart failure, you play an important part in keeping well every day. Being an active participant in your health using self-care allows people with heart failure to live a fulfilling life.

Learning how to manage heart failure can help you keep doing the things you enjoy, whether it’s work, travel, hobbies, or spending time with friends and family.

Embeded Healthwise video “Heart Failure: Living Better by Caring for Yourself” (healthwise on myhealthalberta)

For more information on self-care, click here.

Nutrition

Maintaining a balanced diet and following heart healthy recommendations, like limiting salt, is an essential part of managing heart failure. Your healthcare team can give you recommendations and help answer questions about heart healthy eating.

View a heart failure nutrition guide.

For more information on specific diet adjustments, click here.

Maximize My Energy

It’s not uncommon to experience fatigue or low energy with heart failure. There are strategies you can use to maximize your energy so that you can do the things you want to do. This includes things like planning ahead, deciding what’s most important, pacing yourself, and taking breaks.

With a little planning and some simple tips, you can get things done more easily and have more energy for what you enjoy.

Click here to learn more (HFC handout- “Daily activities and heart failure” handout from yellow HFC folder or Conserving Your Energy)

Sleep and Restful Routines

Getting enough sleep is an important part of maintaining good health. To learn more about ways to sleep better, click here.

My Activities

Work

Work provides not only financial stability, but also a sense of personal and professional fulfillment. Changes in your heart function may affect your ability to work. How much you can work depends on how severe your condition is and what your job requirements are. Your healthcare team can help you figure out what’s safe for you. In some cases, a referral to Cardiac Rehabilitation can help guide and support you with this.

For tips on balancing work and your health, click here.

Link to “Work and Heart Failure” handout from HFC (can be found in yellow HFC patient folder)

For more information about working with heart failure, click here.

Travel

Having heart failure doesn’t mean you can’t travel. The key is to plan ahead to make your trip safe and enjoyable. Generally, if your heart failure is well-controlled and stable, you shouldn’t have any trouble with taking a trip. Remember to check your health insurance coverage beforehand for potential restrictions.

For a comprehensive guide on travel, click here.

Additional information about travel and heart failure can be found here.

Cardiac Rehabilitation

Cardiac Rehabilitation is an exercise and educational program that is offered to people with various heart conditions. If you have heart failure, you might feel unsure about exercising (or even told not to), but research shows exercise can be very beneficial. Cardiac rehab can provide individualized guidance about exercising safely. Their multidisciplinary team can support you with overall wellness, nutrition, social and emotional needs, and help you get back to the activities that matter most.

Wondering if cardiac rehab could help? Ask your healthcare team for a referral.

For more information on the program, click here or watch this video from myhealth.alberta.ca.

My Emotions

Mental Wellness

Not only does heart failure affect your physical body- it can also impact your emotions. It’s common to experience feelings of anxiety, sadness, anger, or even depression, which can be a normal part of adjusting to your condition.

Recognizing what impact heart failure has on your emotions is the first step in taking care of your mental health. Learning to manage your feelings and taking care of your mental health is an important aspect of managing your heart failure.

HeartLife Academy offers a free online course on the topic of mental wellness and heart disease. Click here to register.

To learn more about learning to manage your emotions, click here, or watch the video below.

For a list of mental health supports available to Albertans, click here

Intimacy and Sexual Activity

Sex and intimacy play a part in relationships and overall well-being. For those living with heart failure, a bit of planning and some special considerations may be needed when engaging in sexual activity.

To learn more about strategies for safe sexual relations, click here or visit “Sex and Heart Failure” for further information.

Talk to your healthcare team or request a referral to a Sexual Health Clinic for more individualized information.

Add “Sexual Activity & HF” HFC document (part of the yellow HFC patient folder)

Family and Relationships

The emotions you feel after learning that you have heart failure can also affect your spouse, partner, family members, and friends. Your relationships may also need to adjust as you make changes to manage your health.

Learn more about talking to your family about heart failure.

For tips on asking for help, click here.

My Support

Research shows that for those living with heart failure, having strong emotional and social support helps to improve health. Finding connections with others and building community helps to empower those affected by heart failure. Engaging within communities can help you to understand your journey, provide encouragement, and learn practical advice.

Embed Myhealthalberta video “Heart Failure: How Support Can Help”

There are various support groups and community organizations that can be accessed. Visit the Support Group page (link the page) for more information.

Learn more about different ways to connect with others.

Add HFC document “Feelings & HF” (can be found in yellow HFC patient folder)

Support For Caregivers

If you’re looking after someone with heart failure, you’ll likely be involved with lifestyle changes, medical appointments, providing personal care, and helping with treatment decisions.

Caregiving can affect employment. If this happens to you or the person you care for, you may qualify for assistance from the Government of Canada.

Review strategies for caring for someone with heart failure.

Learn more about signs of caregiver stress and ways to lower it.

Visit “Heart Failure Advice for Caregivers” and Caregivers Alberta for additional information.