Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and heart failure are both serious health concerns. As they progress, both diseases can severely impact your mobility and quality of life. These conditions share similar symptoms but require different forms of treatment.
Proper condition management starts with the right diagnosis. In some cases, heart failure can be misdiagnosed as COPD, leading to ineffective treatments and worsening of the disease. Working with a knowledgeable cardiology team can help you receive the care you need.
What Is COPD?
COPD is an umbrella term for specific lung conditions that make breathing difficult. Patients with COPD generally experience chronic bronchitis and emphysema. In some people, severe asthma can be diagnosed as a type of COPD.
Patients with COPD have trouble getting air into and out of their lungs because COPD harms the airways.
This can happen in several ways, including:
- Damage to the walls between air sacs
- Blocked air flow due to excess mucus in the airways
- Loss of capacity in the air sacs when they become overstretched and cannot fill with more air
- Irritated, inflamed or swollen airways
Exposing your lungs to irritants causes COPD, which is why smoking and COPD are closely interconnected. Up to three out of four people with COPD smoke or used to smoke, and smoking causes as many as 80 percent of COPD-related deaths in the United States, according to Medline Plus. Exposure to air pollution, chemical fumes or secondhand smoke may also cause COPD.
Specific Symptoms of COPD
Many patients don’t experience symptoms of COPD until the disease has progressed. If they do have symptoms, they may be mild, such as:
- Coughing frequently (smoker’s cough)
- Excess phlegm or mucus
- Shortness of breath, especially with exercise or physical activity
- Tightness in the chest, trouble breathing deeply
- Wheezing
As COPD worsens, it can cause more serious symptoms, such as:
- Blue or gray lips or fingernails (a sign of low oxygen levels in the blood)
- Brain fog or difficulty staying alert
- Difficulty breathing while talking
- Racing heart
- Swollen feet or ankles (edema)
- Weight loss
In serious cases, COPD can cause death.
COPD and a Racing Heart: Is It Normal?
If you have COPD and a racing heart, it’s likely a sign that your COPD has become more severe. If you also experience weight loss, swelling in your feet or ankles, or difficulty catching your breath while doing normal activities, it’s a sign the disease is progressing. However, fast heartbeat or heart palpitations can also be a symptom of heart failure.
Heart Failure: The COPD Correlation
Heart failure is when the heart can’t supply the body with enough blood, causing serious side effects throughout the body. There are three types: right-sided heart failure, left-sided heart failure and congestive heart failure.
When the lungs don’t work properly, the heart overcompensates and works extra hard to supply oxygen to the body. It is believed that COPD can cause right-sided heart failure.
What Is Right Side Heart Failure?
COPD causes pulmonary hypertension that results in right side heart failure. Right-sided heart failure occurs when the right ventricle is damaged and struggles to pump blood back out through the body. This causes backups in the area of the heart that collects old blood, as well as in the veins. Right side heart failure also keeps the heart from pumping enough blood into the lungs.
Specific Symptoms of Heart Failure
Heart failure of any kind can cause fluid to build up around the lungs, leading to many similar symptoms as COPD. These may include:
- A cough that produces white or bloody mucus
- Fast or irregular heartbeat
- Fatigue or weakness
- Shortness of breath, especially during physical activity or when lying down
- Swollen abdomen, feet or ankles as fluid builds up in the body (edema)
- Weight gain for heart failure and weight loss for COPD
Heart Failure—How to Get the Treatment You Need
Heart failure requires careful treatment and monitoring from a professional. The cardiologists at the University of Maryland Medical System have a wealth of experience and skill in diagnosing, managing and treating cardiac conditions like heart failure.
If you’re experiencing symptoms of COPD or heart failure, an expert team of cardiologists can provide a proper diagnosis. They will work to give you the treatment you need for a longer, healthier life.
