WATER RETENTION
Water collects in the bodies of people with CHF. And that causes problems. These are the places where water collects. (A word to the wise: The two kinds of medication that treat water retention are water pills and pressure pills. If you want to learn about them, take a look.):
- Swollen legs and feet: The most obvious place — that’s water in there. That water can also cause problems: 1) It stretches out the skin, making it thin and fragile, and 2) There are mean chemicals in that water that can eat away at that thinned, fragile skin, causing swelling sores (AKA, venous stasis ulcers).
- The lungs: The most dangerous place -- The air we breathe into our lungs has oxygen in it — When it gets to the bottom of our lungs, little hands grab that oxygen and hand it over to our blood -- Then our blood takes it all over to help make our muscles move, our brains think and everything else the body does.
