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Breathing Issues, On Nasal Cannual Oxygen, Ankle Swelling, Tiredness. What Could Be Going On?
my 80yr old g-ma has breathing problems..she is on nasal cannual oxygen at 3 litrs/minute and sits upright in bed with three pillows; her ankles are swollen and complains of feeling more tired in the evenings and unable to catch her breath. she get up at night to urinate which she has not had to urinate as much in the last 2 days. I m told by my friend (going to nursing school) she finds jugular venous distention of bilateral external jugulars and ankles have bilateral 2+pitting edema and crackles audible throughout her lung bases?. My friend try to explain to me what this means. I checked her blood pressure and it is 100/70, temp is normal. What s going on with her? Is she having heart failure or what? I wanted to get a second opinion before taking her to another doctor
Sat, 22 Jun 2013
hi,
thank you for your query.
your grandma's symptoms point towards Congestive cardiac failure.in this disease the heart fails to pump adequate amount of blood.hence as the pumping decreases the back pressure increases and there is fluid accumulation in the lungs.this is the reason for crackles being audible throughout her lung.
also since the blood flow throughout the body becomes sluggish ,it causes accumulation of blood in the dependent parts,hence the swelling of the ankles.
hence i would advise you to get her checked by a cardiac specialist and a lung specialist.
thank you,
you can contact me for nay further queries
thank you for your query.
your grandma's symptoms point towards Congestive cardiac failure.in this disease the heart fails to pump adequate amount of blood.hence as the pumping decreases the back pressure increases and there is fluid accumulation in the lungs.this is the reason for crackles being audible throughout her lung.
also since the blood flow throughout the body becomes sluggish ,it causes accumulation of blood in the dependent parts,hence the swelling of the ankles.
hence i would advise you to get her checked by a cardiac specialist and a lung specialist.
thank you,
you can contact me for nay further queries
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