Congestive Heart Failure and fatigue question

mac1 · medicine forum beginner Joined: 29 Apr 2005 Posts: 16

My 75 yr. old mother-in-law has been living with congestive heart failure
for several years. She was diagnosed 5 yrs. ago. And since that time, as
been managing her condition fairly well. My question is centered around her
constant fatigue. Is there any new medication/ supplement that has been
proven to help offset the fatigue CHF patients experience? Thank you.

outrider · medicine forum Guru Joined: 28 Apr 2005 Posts: 1155

mac1 wrote:

Andrew B. Chung, MD/PhD · medicine forum Guru Joined: 25 Mar 2005 Posts: 8540

mac1 wrote:

Guest

My mom lived with CHF for years before she passed away.
Fatigue had forced her to use a walker.

I read that long-term ferosimide (lasix) treatment
commonly given to CHF patients induces thiamin
deficiency which can be helped by supplemental
thiamin. see the study title below.

Her gerontologist approved (why didn't he suggest it?)
addition of a fat soluable thiamin and her need for
the walker was soon greatly reduced. My brother
(who was local) also commented that she seemed more
alert.

I picked a fat soluable thiamin (benfotiamine)
since an active transport mechanism likely limits
absorption of the cheaper water soluable thiamin.

Also, the little 50 mg capsule 1/day was easier to
swallow than a large tablet of the cheap stuff.
The cheap stuff is locally available (in the US
anyway) so its better than nothing.

here are a couple of the studies:
Thiamine deficiency in patients with congestive heart
failure receiving long-term furosemide therapy: a pilot
study.
PMID 1867241
Improved left ventricular function after thiamine
supplementation in patients with congestive heart
failure receiving long-term furosemide therapy.
PMID 7733128
(used oral thiamin 200 mg/d, unknown type)

There are others examining fat soluable thiamin
availability.

She was also on a statin (i've forgotten which one).
I had to get the gerontologist to "approve" CoQ10.
He had no idea why I wanted her to get CoQ10, his
comment was "Yes, that's a good antioxidant". At
least we could talk to him, unlike the nursing
home staff MD.

So much for optimized medical management.

All the best,
Ed

mac1 · medicine forum beginner Joined: 29 Apr 2005 Posts: 16

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