I have experienced two congestive heart failures. The second one almost cost me my life; I was in ICU for 2 days until I came around. Unfortunately, it caused damage to my heart s left ventricle, and wasn t pumping blood at the rate it was normally doing. This is called hypertophic cardiomyopathy, the condition I have. Please, by all means; take your blood pressure pills if you have high blood pressure. My condition was caused by a number of things, primarily a flu virus the docs said, and I did have the flu at the time of both incidents. Being sick can raise your blood pressure. Speaking from personal experience, it is very serious, and has caused me several problems, including the inability to work the jobs I had, cannot lift weights any longer, nor run or jog. I get out of breath climbing even the smallest stairs, sometimes just from walking for awhile, and often get very fatigued for no reason, because my heart is still weak. My condition has improved, but the damage has been done, and my own life expectancy isn t all that great. Please take care of yourself and God Bless.