If I’m having trouble breathing, do I need to wait for my doctor to return my call or can I start treatment myself?
Severe respiratory symptoms are a life-threatening emergency. Early aggressive treatment is recommended by experts. You are the one who can first tell if you’re starting to get short of breath. Therefore, you are the one who can react most quickly to this warning sign. Dealing with occasional worsening symptoms is part of living with CHF. You should discuss with your doctor what to do when this happens, so you’re prepared to deal with it quickly.
Based on your history and physical condition, your doctor may recommend that you call the ambulance to be evaluated in the emergency room of the local hospital, or the doctor may recommend a more conservative approach of self-treatment and reevaluation. You should discuss with your doctor what medications you should take when you first start to get short of breath. A written list of medications that includes how much to take and when to take them should be approved by your doctor and stored in an easily accessible place. This list and these medications should be part of every CHF patient’s “action plan” for treatment of exacerbations. You should always have a supply of all necessary medications handy so you don’t have to wait to get them from a pharmacy in an emergency.
Victoria’s comment: I’ve found that waiting to see if you get better is never a good option. I usually get worse if I ignore my symptoms. Now, if I feel myself getting short of breath or I see that my weight has increased, I call my cardiologist. He asks a lot of questions about fever and cough, as well as chest pain, pal-pitations, or fainting. If I say no to these questions, he often tells me to rest and increase my diuretic, and he calls me back in a few hours to make sure that I’m getting better.