Andrew Lansley answers BHF question on future of heart nurses

In today’s live web chat with the Royal College of Nursing, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley answered our important question about the future of specialist heart nurses.

Via Twitter, we asked: Our specialist heart nurses prevent admissions & save money. How will long term savings be prioritised over short term cuts?

In his response, Andrew Lansley seemed to emphasise the important and “effective” work our heart nurses do. He also said the health service should recognise that our nurses could provide opportunities rather than extra costs in the face of the Government’s continuing drive to make savings.

But why did we ask the Health Secretary about the future of our nurses?

Over the years, specialist heart nurses have become a lifeline for those suffering from heart disease and patients and carers have come to trust them. Their expert clinical and emotional support helps people with cardiovascular disease regain control of their lives every single day.

For the last eight years we’ve trained and supported specialist heart nurses in NHS trusts up and down the country. We now support 426 nurses who provide invaluable care to more than 80,000 patients each year.

We know that tough decisions are going to have to be made in the current economic situation. But we’re worried that a short term view to savings might see cuts to specialist nurses and we think that would be a false economy. Our nurses keep people out of hospital, reducing the enormous burden heart disease puts on healthcare services.

Let’s talk about a specific example. As you read this around 720,000 people are living with heart failure and our nurses’ caring and expert help improves the lives of so many. Having heart failure can make everyday life a challenge for so many people as they require regular check-ups, need to manage complex medication regimes while many more experience disabling symptoms which leave them housebound.

And if you weren’t persuaded by the benefits to patients, then there’s a compelling business case as well. An independent evaluation in 2008 found Heart Failure Specialist Nurses saved around £1,826 per patient after the nurse’s salary had been deducted. That’s £8m in a single year. Our efforts helped cut hospital admissions by, on average, 35%. Why would we want to make cuts to a service which actually saves us money?

If specialist posts were put at risk as part of the Government’s latest efficiency drive, the quality of life for those suffering from heart disease would be greatly diminished, at a significant cost to the NHS.

Beatrice Brooke, Policy manager

Blood vessels don’t forget

Here BHF Professor, Mark Hanson, from University of Southampton gives us an insight into his research into blood pressure, and how we’re all a chip off the old block.

Blood vessels don’t forget

Like the plumbing in a house, our circulation is made up of a network of pipes. They deliver blood, oxygen and nutrients to every tissue in our bodies. However, unlike the rigid pipework in a house, our blood vessels are sensitive and responsive. They expand and contract to regulate our blood pressure and blood flow according to the needs of our bodies.

Our vessels control blood pressure day to day, month to month, keeping it surprisingly steady in each of us. But just like many other aspects of our bodies, people differ in their pressures and flows. So how do blood vessels know how to cope with our differences?

Part of the answer is that they learn on the job. What teaches them? It turns out to be growing up – our life in the womb before we are born, and then our early years as infants and young children.

As our bodies grow, so do our blood vessels. And as they grow they are exposed to many things - diet, hormones, stress, and more. Many of these things come from the mother, in signals which cross the placenta or in her milk. This is why a healthy lifestyle and diet is so important during pregnancy and childhood.

The settings our blood vessels learn affect how they respond to the challenges of our lives later – what we eat, how much we exercise, whether we smoke or drink too much alcohol, and so on. As we get older, these settings have a great influence on whether we remain healthy or get cardiovascular disease, and explain partly why the risk of disease varies between individuals.

We’re beginning to understand how the memory of our early lives is stored in our blood vessels. What happens in the womb doesn’t change the DNA we inherit from our parents, but it does appear to affect the way DNA works in the lining and muscular walls of our blood vessels. These changes are called epigenetic processes.

Our new knowledge about epigenetics holds out hope for future prevention of cardiovascular disease. Epigenetic changes occur in early life, so by measuring them we may be able to tell how large the risk of disease will be in a person many years later. Or we might be able to devise new treatments, personalised to each of us, and monitor how well they work.

Epigenetic ‘marks’ on our DNA are like memories of our early lives which stay with us for years – our blood vessels don’t forget.

Watch out for secret salt

Eating healthily isn’t supposed to be difficult, and when you are trying really hard to do the right thing it’s frustrating to find that your ‘healthy option‘has thrown you a curve ball. But that’s what a survey in the news a couple of weeks ago seemed to suggest with its findings showing that some salads were saltier than a burger.

Salt is a tricky one because it’s not always so easy to tell how much a product contains, if any - it looks the same whether there is salt in it or not. And because most of us adults are eating more than our recommended maximum daily amount of salt, which is 6g (about a teaspoon), we are often so used to the taste of it that we’re more likely to notice when it’s not there than when it is. So whereas we may be more alert to the fat or sugar in foods, it’s easy to forget about salt.

This is a problem, because over time, eating too much salt is linked to increased blood pressure. That’s why we believe it’s really important to have clear information on the front of food packaging. Traffic light colours and the words high, medium or low would mean that at a glance you can see what a product is like health-wise. When these two elements are combined with Guideline Daily Amount (GDA) information it’s the ideal combination to provide us with the information we need to make a real choice. At least then we know what we are getting into!

If you battling to understand food labels in your local shop, we have useful tips to help you get to grips with them.

But of course, the report shouldn’t put you off packaged salads entirely - they can be a healthy choice. Encouragingly the survey highlighted that a number of the companies had reformulated their products to reduce their salt content since 2005, which can only be a good thing. If some of the worst offenders also start to follow suit then it will be a real achievement.

For now though, the best way to really know what’s in the food you’re eating (and also to save money) is to make it yourself. Even the most reluctant cook can make a salad, but don’t get stuck in a lettuce, tomato, cucumber rut. Take a look at our recipe finder to add a bit of variety and try our flaked cherry tomato pasta salad or chicken rice salad – four green lights for both of them. Hearty, healthy and tasty - and without a salt cellar in sight!

Our free Heart Healthy Recipe Finder is available as an iPhone app, which even allows you to search for recipes suitable for people with high blood pressure or high cholesterol. You can also access it online through our free Heart Matters service.

What do my numbers really mean?

What do my numbers really mean?

I have my blood pressure checked fairly regularly. Generally, as long as my doctor doesn’t look worried by the digits he types into my medical records, I’m happy.

Sometimes I might ask what the reading is: “blah blah over blah” he replies cheerily. I nod my head and smile, none the wiser.

I’m familiar with the style of blood pressure readings, and know that there’s a big number ‘over’ a small number, but I wanted to find out what those numbers really mean…

Put simply, blood pressure is the pressure of blood in your arteries - the tubes that carry your blood from your heart to your brain and the rest of your body. You need a certain amount of pressure to get the blood around your body.

Your heart pumps in a regular rhythm squeezing oxygen-rich blood out of the big main artery – the aorta – which divides and branches into smaller and smaller vessels, nourishing every organ and tissue in the body.

The pressure of blood flowing through your arteries varies according to whether the heart is pumping or relaxing. Each time your heart pumps it contracts and blood is squeezed out, it creates a surge of pressure in the arteries. It’s this peak in pressure against the inside walls of your arteries that gives the top reading, which in medical terms is called your ‘systolic’ pressure.

After each beat/pump of your heart it has to relax to refill with blood, and the pressure of blood in your arteries falls, and this is the bottom reading. This is called your ‘diastolic’ pressure.

So, taking these two measurements give a reading of how much pressure your blood places on the inside walls of your arteries. This is blood pressure.

You should have your blood pressure measured so that you know what your target is. If you don’t have heart or circulatory disease, diabetes or kidney disease your target is to have a blood pressure below 140/85mmHg. (mmHg stands for millimetres of mercury, which are the units that are used to measure blood pressure).

However, if you have heart or circulatory disease – including being told you have coronary heart disease, angina, heart attack or stroke, have diabetes or kidney disease then your blood pressure should be below 130/80mmHg.

Ideally though your blood pressure would be quite well below these levels.

Know Your Numbers week starts today. We’ve got lots of booklets and info online about the ways to help your maintain a healthy blood pressure.

Cardiac rehab - giving heart patients their lives back

So, thanks to NICE publishing an updated guide on the management of chronic heart failure, we now know even more about the benefits of cardiac rehabilitation.

But so what? Why is cardiac rehabilitation so important to the thousands of heart patients out there?

Well the simple answer is it saves lives.

At the moment only 38 per cent of heart patients enjoy the benefits of cardiac rehabilitation - that figure should, and could, be much higher.

The term rehabilitation can actually be a bit misleading. Basically, it is a tailored program of information, education, exercise, lifestyle advice and help with medication.

Crucially it’s also advice and help with the worry, and sometimes depression, associated with this serious disease. In short, it puts you back in control of your life.

It could cost the earth but is doesn’t. Cardiac rehab can cost as little as £600 per patient. Not a lot when it comes to changing - or even saving - someone’s life.

After all, we already know the number of people who die from heart problems after their cardiac treatment is reduced by a quarter following rehabilitation.

It’s an incredible service and yet it is still available to so few.

The prize is improving people’s lives and using NHS resources better by reducing the burden on expensive hospital admissions.

This is a problem that we can fix. For the sake of heart patients and their families, the NHS needs to drive up the numbers benefitting from cardiac rehabilitation.

You can find out where your nearest cardiac rehabilitation programme is by visiting www.cardiac-rehabilitation.net or calling the BHF Heart HelpLine on 0300 330 3311.

By Dr Mike Knapton

New smoking figures - bitter sweet news

Today’s figures on the number of people smoking – and quitting – are bittersweet.

The latest NHS statistics show that while more people are kicking the habit, the percentage of smokers in England has remained the same. While it is great news that more people are successfully quitting, it sadly looks as though the tobacco industry is still able to recruit legions of new smokers to replace those who quit - or die from smoking related ill health.

We know the tobacco industry is trying harder than ever to find new recruits, which is why those firms are so opposed to new laws banning cigarette vending machines and tobacco displays in shops.

It’s a fact that two thirds of smokers start before they are 18, and we know tens of thousands of teenagers regularly get hold of cigarettes from vending machines because they are an easy source of tobacco where people rarely check for age identification.

We campaigned hard for this new law because banning vending machines would cut off this easy access to cigarettes by young people and getting rid of tobacco displays would close off one of the few remaining ways for tobacco firms to market their products to such an influential audience.

Everyone, even the tobacco firms, know that smoking is bad for you and the scientific case against it is long and well established. It’s a major risk factor for developing heart disease borne out by the depressing figure that 25,000 smokers die every year from smoking related heart disease. A total of 114,000 smokers die more generally as a result of their habit.

Yet tobacco firms are hard at work lobbying the Coalition government in the hope ministers will back down. We think we should be doing everything we can to protect children from smoking. You can help by writing to your MP asking them to make sure this law becomes reality. The health of our young people depends on it.

By Joseph Clift

Policy Officer

Live chat nurse Judy - the final question

Katie asks: “Hi, I am 27 years old and was born with my left coronary artery on the wrong side. I had this re-implanted at 10months old and also suffered a heart attack. I have since found out in October last year that my valves were leaking and they were going to replace them up until I had an angiogram in January and they discovered my heart was enlarged. Plus almost 1 1/3 of my heart is just scar tissue from having the heart attack as a baby. So I was told the only option for me was a heart transplant. So I now take 3 different meds a day and I am becoming more symptomatic showing breathless, limited exercise tolerance and chest pain. I have been referred to another consultant for a transplant assessment and wondered what this entails exactly? I am a mother of 3 and a wife, as you can imagine this is a very anxious time for us all. How long is recovery after transplant? How long will I be in hospital for? Look forward to hearing from you.”

Judy says:

I am so sorry to read of your very complicated medical history and of your need to have a heart transplant so young. I totally appreciate how hard it must be for you, your husband and your young family. The recovery period following a heart transplant varies considerably from one patient to another. You can read more about what to expect before and after the surgery in our BHF publication on heart transplants. I hope that you will be ok, that you will be accepted for the surgery and that you will be given a new heart soon. If you want to chat about this you might find it easier to call our HelpLine on 0300 300 3311 and talk to a cardiac nurse. I wish you good luck with everything and I hope that you have the support you need and deserve from family and friends.

You may also want to contact the heart transplant support network on 0800 027 4490 or the their website.

Live chat with nurse Judy

Frances asks: “My 16 year old son had open heart surgery last month to replace aortic valve. As a result of heart block, he has now had a pacemaker fitted. Once everything is healed, and he is fully recovered, what is the maximum weight he can safely lift? The reason for asking is that he is looking at career choices and wouldn’t want to choose something physical if it could affect his health.”

Judy says:

I hope your son is making a good recovery from his open heart surgery and his pacemaker insertion. It’s hard to give you a definitive answer to your question as I don’t know his full medical background and the type of heart condition he has. If he has congenital heart disease, he should have a chat with his cardiologist about career choices. Some young people with complex congenital heart disease are encouraged not to do weight lifting but others with more simple congenital heart disease do not need to be so careful. I hope that your son’s cardiologist will be supportive and give you him the advice that he needs. I wish him luck with his health and his career choice.

Live chat with nurse Judy

Denise asks: "Hi Judy I’m 42 awaiting valve surgery they have said I’ve got a tiny femoral artery it needs some electrical rewiring and there’s a hole. I’m just a bit worried about being on warfarin all my life they have said if it cant be repaired a metal valve will be fitted any info about the warfarin I’d be grateful thanks."

Judy says:

I am sorry to read that you need to have valve surgery and I understand your concern about taking warfarin for life. There are benefits and risks associated with taking warfain which you can read about here. If you have a metal valve replacement you will have to take warfarin for life as otherwise a potentially fatal clot would build up on the valve. When making the decision about surgery what you need to consider is what are the risks associated with the surgery (and with warfarin) versus the risks associated with not having the surgery in the first place.

It might be worth talking to your surgeon about this again if he or she did not explain the risks of not having surgery. You can read more about valve disease here. Whatever you decide I wish you good luck with it and good health for the future.

Live chat with nurse Judy

Eric asks: I had a minor heart attack in 2002 and have been put on ramipril, simvastatin, metoprolol tartrate and asprin for life. What evidence is there to prove that I will live any longer taking the pills. Being a scientist by training I like to evaluate evidence for myself and not do something because some government dept. thinks its a good idea! I run, go to a gym twice a week and have not had a problems since 2002. Have I improved my chances of avoiding HA or are the chances still the same as if I had put my feet up?

Judy says:

I am sorry to read that you have experienced a heart attack but it’s great that you have made a good recovery. It’s difficult to point you in the direction of the evidence which supports the use of the cocktail of medication used to prevent a second heart attack as this evidence is not in one place. As a scientist yourself I am sure you will appreciate that the vast body of evidence has been accumulated over many years from scientists and medical researchers across the world. If you have a look at the stats on our website you will see that the death rate from heart disease has been steadily declining and the medication prescribed post a heart attack will have contributed to this decline. Other contributing factors include more prompt diagnosis and better access to emergency treatment (clot busting drug) at the time of the heart attack.

But you are right when you point out that medication alone is not enough and a healthy lifestyle is a vital part of the post heart attack rehabilitation. Its great that you have taken control over your health by going to gym twice a week.

I hope that this has answered your questions and I wish you good health in the future.

Live chat with nurse Judy

Janie asks: “How does a Bivent work I understand the pacing and defib, but unsure about the other function, I have one fitted due to Cardiomyopathy”

Judy says:

The benefit of biventricular pacing is that it in addition to regulating the heart rate, it can help to improve the pumping function of the heart muscle. There are three leads, one in the atrium, one in right ventricle and one in the left ventricle. By pacing both ventricles it help to synchronise them and thereby helping to make the heart more efficient. This can help to relieve symptoms. You can read more about biventricular pacing in our booklet pacemakers and more about cardiomyopathy here.

Live chat with nurse Judy

Carey asks: “Hi Judy, I'm 31 and had a heart attack end of March this year. I was put on 1.25mg Ramipril once a day (amongst other things!), which last week was increased to 2.5mg. On the lower dose I felt fine, but since the dose being increased my heart misses a beat quite frequently; approx. 5 times an hour. Is this something to... be concerned about and should i go to see my GP to go back on the original dose? Thanks Carey”

Judy says:

I am very sorry to read that you have had a heart attack at such a young age. Ramipril belongs to a group of drugs called Ace Inhibitors. Those drugs can drop your blood pressure quite quickly when you first start taking them. So it is standard practice to start on a low dose and gradually increase. 1.25 mgs is usually considered to be too low for long term use so it is not surprising that your GP increased it to 2.5 mgs.

Your symptom of being aware of your heart beat or feeling that your heart misses a beat every now and then is not uncommon. It may be that you have a disturbance to the heart rhythm or it may be that you are just experiencing an extra beat every now and then which is harmless. It would be worth reporting it to your GP who could arrange for some tests to help you get to the bottom of it. Hope this helps. I wish you good health for the future.

Live chat with nurse Judy

Luke asks: “I recently had my cholesterol checked and it was high. 7.9 to be exact, but the HDL was high at 1.3. I am 33 years old, my mother and grand mother both have high cholesterol and take tablets. No family history of heart attacks before 50. I am fit and well, and very active. Gym 2-3 times per week, football twice a week. I changed my diet as I ate a lot of eggs, and now only have eggs once a week. I take benecol and use flora pro active butter. I have cut down on my saturated fat intake, and I eat more porridge, lentils, pulses, fish etc. I always have 5 a day in fruit and veg. I drink alcohol at weekends and probably consume between 20-30 units. I smoke 1-2 cigars at the weekend. I was surprised by my reading, as I am not over weight, and I have a good diet or so I thought. I have lowered it to 5.9 now, but I still need to lower it further. Is there anything more I can do?”
Judy says:

It’s great that you are doing lots of exercise each week and eating healthily, so it’s a shame that your smoking and drinking habits are so unhealthy. 20 to 30 units of alcohol over 2 to 3 days is excessive and way beyond the recommended guidelines of 2-3 units a day for men. Alcohol is very high in calories and binge drinking is potentially damaging to the liver and the heart. Smoking is also a significant risk factor for developing heart disease in the future. It sounds as though it’s the weekends that you struggle with – it might be worth trying to identify small steps you could take to change your weekend habits. Only you will know which steps are realistic and achievable but I recommend that you identify some tangible goals to reach as a starting point such as having one cigar instead or two, and take it from there until you have given up completely.

A family history of high cholesterol should not be ignored and it may be that you have a genetic condition called familial hypercholesterolemia. You can find more information on the condition here. Take this to your GP for further advice as you may benefit from taking a statin. But a healthy lifestyle is a vital part of reducing your risk of developing heart disease in the future. I wish you the best of luck in reducing our alcohol intake and with quitting smoking.

Live chat with nurse Judy

Karen asks: “My husband had a heart attack at the end of January, he had a stent fitted, he was off work 3 weeks. He is now back to playing football twice weekly and golf, I say he is doing too much and should be taking it easy, wasn’t this a sign telling him to slow down. How likely is he to have another heart attack, he is 55.”

Judy says:

Your concern is understandable and is very commonly experienced by partners/spouses of someone who has had a heart attack. When I first started nursing it was common practice to keep patients in bed for ages following a heart attack. Now thanks to research we know that regular exercise is good for the heart, and that it’s an important part of the rehabilitation programme for those who have had a heart attack.

Lots of people ask us to quantify the risk of having a second heart attack. It’s impossible to do this but what I can tell you is that a healthy lifestyle, including regular exercise, can help to reduce the risk of another heart attack. It’s also important that your husband takes the medication he has been prescribed.

Another benefit of regular exercise is that it’s great for mental health and well being and can help boost the confidence of the person who has had the heart attack. So whilst I can fully understand your concerns it would be best to encourage your husband to keep active. Obviously if he were to experience symptoms such as chest pain or shortness of breath on exertion he should stop and rest and report it to his GP. But if he has no symptoms on exercise he should continue to enjoy it and all the benefits it brings.

Live chat with nurse Judy - we're back!

Lindsay asks: "Hi about three months a go I had an ablation on my heart which my consultant told me was successful, since the operation I have not felt very well and have found it hard to get around without feeling dizzy and off balance, also I keep getting a severe headache pulsating at the back of my head, so I went back to my consultant and had a 24hr tape put on and he has now diagnosed me with Inappropriate Sinus Tachycardia and put me on a tablet called Ivabradine 5mg twice a day. I’m still feeling really unwell and wondered if anybody could help, thank you"


Judy says "I am very sorry to hear of your considerable symptoms – it must be difficult to tolerate the headache you described. Ablation treatment for heart rhythms problems is usually reserved for those people for whom medication did work. In other words it is used for people whose rhythm and associated symptoms are difficult to control. Unfortunately it does not always work and sometimes a second attempt is needed or other medication. I suggest you keep in communication with your cardiologist who can continue to monitor your symptoms and make adjustments to your treatment accordingly. Sometimes it takes a while to identify the effective treatment for some people with heart rhythm problems – I hope yours will soon be under control and that you’ll feel better soon."

Thanks for your question, we hope that has helped.

Live chat with nurse Judy - out to lunch

Hi everyone, thank you for all the questions so far today, we have been inundated! We hope that the answers have helped you all.

Our nurse Judy is now on lunch and we will be back at 1:45 to answer more questions. Please keep the questions coming and we will try to answer as many as we can.

Thanks, see you all at 1:45.

Live chat with nurse Judy

Christine asks: "Hi my husband has heart disease, he had a quadruple bypass 5 yrs ago but 3 have closed already and only has 1 doing all the work, how long can this artery last?"

Judy says:

I am very sorry to read that your husband has had such bad luck so soon after his surgery. It’s impossible to answer your question to be honest – no one can predict how long before his symptoms will return. The rate at which the disease progresses to the viable bypass graft can be reduced with a combination of medication and a healthy lifestyle. It would be advisable therefore for him to take the medication he has been prescribed and to avoid smoking, eat a healthy diet (low in saturated fat and rich in fruit and vegetables) and to take regular physical activity.

I can understand that its a concern for you so you might find some support by joining our free service Heart Matters. Members receive a free magazine where we regularly feature articles on caring for someone with a heart condition. You might find it comforting to know that a lot of spouses/partners are in your position. I wish your husband good health and I hope that he will remain symptom free for a long time.

Live chat with nurse Judy

Sarah asks: My son was born with Tetralogy of Fallots and dissconnected pulmonary artery. He had a Fallots Repair two years ago, having the pulmonary artery repaired and a shunt fitted after birth. We have been told he will need further surgery as he grows to replace tubes with bigger ones. Around what age is this normally done? Also he has a very loud heart beat, is this normal?

Judy asks:

The age at which a child with a ‘repaired’ Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) needs further surgery will vary from one child to another depending on the child’s symptoms as he or she grows. If you notice that he is playing less or complaining of being short of breath let your GP or paediatrician know. As a general rule, children with TOF will be seen regularly in clinic by their paediatrician so that their condition and symptoms can be monitored. We recently published a new booklet for parents of children with TOF. I’m not sure why his heart beat is loud – ask his GP for advice about this.

I hope your little boy is enjoying the summer with his friends and I wish him good look with any further surgery.

Live chat with nurse Judy

Barry asks: "How concerned should I be that my father's around 4 stone overweight - is this putting him at higher risk of heart trouble? Thanks"

Judy says:

You are right to be concerned about your dad’s weight – being overweight increases the risk of developing heart disease. If his weight is predominantly around his middle it will increase his risk of developing diabetes which in turns increases the risk of heart disease.

We may be able to help to motivate him to lose weight with our free Heart Matters service. On joining your dad would receive a free membership pack which includes a handy tape measure with instructions on how to measure his waist. The tape measure highlights the point at which an increased waist measurement increases the risk of heart disease – some of our members have told us that this motivated them to lose weight so that they went from the ‘at risk red area’ of the tape to the healthier white. Of course lots of people find eating healthily a chore so we have over 140 healthy but tasty recipes available to choose from our online recipe finder.

Our free heart matters magazine gives tips on staying active in ways that are both enjoyable and inexpensive. If you dad joins today he will receive our October issue of the magazine which has a fantastic article on dog walking. I hope he will give us the opportunity to support him in looking after his heart by joining Heart Matters.

Live chat with nurse Judy

Keri says: I am 31 and have SVT and up until few months ago was controlled by 50mg atenolol once daily. I had a major SVT event in june and since then I have minor ones daily,dizzy spells, am extremely fatigued and easily fatigued by simple things like housework or walking down stairs at tube station and have noticed fluid buildu...p which I brought up to my gp as we're waiting for my cardiology appointment in 3 weeks. He said my blood pressure is too low to give me anything for fluid its 102/80 and ordered blood tests and a 48hr holter test. My question is with the blood test and all the other symptoms is it possible I am entering heart failure? And what should I be keeping track of to tell cardiologist? At present its everything from svt events how often I get fatigued, dizziness etc.

Judy says:

I am sorry to read that you are so unwell at the moment. When the heart rate is fast and erratic it can lead to the symptoms you have described - low levels of energy on minimal exertion and shortness of breath. Whilst people with heart failure can experience similar symptoms those symptoms alone do not mean that you have heart failure. For most people, once their SVT is better controlled with medication they notice an improvement in symptoms. I hope that this will be case with you and your quality of life will improve soon. As for what you need to tell your cardiologist, what you’ve told us is what you need to tell him or her. A diagnosis will be made using information you give on your symptoms and the test results. Good luck and hope you’ll feel better soon.