 Hello, I am Susan Steinbacher, and I'm a family nurse practitioner with MidMichigan's Heart Failure Clinic. The management and treatment of heart failure includes a combination of lifestyle changes, medications, medical procedures, cardiac rehabilitation, and in some cases surgery. Lifestyle changes can often improve or control some of the factors contributing to heart failure. These include eating a heart-healthy diet that is low in sodium and fat, getting regular exercise which may include cardiac rehab, reducing stress, not smoking, and avoiding secondhand smoke, not drinking alcohol or limiting your intake, losing weight, and monitoring your weight daily. Avoiding or limiting caffeine intake, keeping track of your symptoms, and reporting any changes to your provider. You should have regular checkups with your provider or through a heart failure clinic to monitor your condition. A number of medications are prescribed for heart failure, and most patients will take more than one drug. The purpose of these medications are to dilate the blood vessels, strengthen the heart's pumping action, and reduce water and sodium in the body to lessen the heart's workload. Medical and surgical procedures may be used to treat the underlying causes of heart failure. These procedures include coronary artery bypass graft or angioplasty to prevent and treat heart failure caused by block arteries, implantation of pacemakers or other devices such as artificial heart valves, and congenital heart defect repair. Surgical treatments may also be used to treat the heart failure itself. These treatments may include left ventricular assist device implantation to increase the heart's pumping action, heart reconstruction to normalize the shape of the heart, and with the most severe types of heart failure, a heart transplant may be necessary. If you or someone you know is suffering from heart failure, the heart failure clinic can help improve your quality of life. For more information or to inquire about becoming a patient, please call 989-794-5200.