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These are posts of possible interest. Let each page fully load - that will take you to the exact post on the page. Start at that post and follow the thread or back track to read more. A few are one-post topics.

 Doctors 

• CHF specialists are important 
  1. Bernard Z - April 11, 2002
  2. Peggy - April 12, 2000
  3. Walter K - July 26, 2000
  4. Virginia R - October 16, 1999
  5. Also see this page
• How do you find a CHF specialist?
  1. Jon's October 17 reply to Deb K's October 17, 1999
  2. Jon's February 14 reply to Cheri S' February 14, 2002
  3. Jon's October 10 reply to BillieJo's October 10, 2001
  4. Also see this page
• Not all cardiologists are heart failure specialists
  1. Jon's July 22 reply to Susie T's July 22, 1999
• What makes a cardiologist a cardiologist?
  1. Jon's January 24 reply to Joy R's January 24, 2001
• Doctors misdiagnose heart failure a lot, causing us grief
  1. Andrea's February 1 reply to Ralph's January 30, 2002
  2. Jon's December 31 reply to Susan F's December 31, 1999

 Mortality, Testing, and Numbers 

• Will I really die within the next 5 years?
  1. Jon's August 2 reply to Don C's August 2, 2001
  2. Jill M's February 14, 2002
• How accurate are heart failure statistics?
  1. Jon's September 7, 2000
  2. Jon's January, 2001 reply to Vee's January 12, 2001
  3. Jon, January 23, 2001
• Am I cured? Can I stop taking meds? Will CHF come back?
  1. Jon's October 10 reply to BillieJo's October 10, 2001
  2. Jon's February 16 reply to Felix O's February 12, 1999
  3. Jon's April 4 reply to Julie Kendall's April 4, 1999
• Numbers (EF) aren't everything
  1. Jon's March 27 reply to Jim M's March 27, 2002
  2. Gino's April 7 reply to Vicki's April 4, 2001
  3. Jon's June 30 reply to Ben B's June 30, 2001
  4. Jon's April 30 reply to Gaile C's April 30, 2000
  5. Jon's August 4 reply to Karen K's August 4, 1999
  6. Jon's May 20, 1999
  7. Jon's April 4 reply to Julie Kendall's April 4, 1999
  8. Also see this page
• EF changes and heart tests variation
  1. Jon's November 5 reply to Wendy K's November 5, 1999
  2. Jon's May 13 reply to Ann C's May 12, 1999
• Is chest x-ray a good way to check heart failure?
  1. Jon's March 23, 2001
• How does one heart test compare to another heart test?
  1. Jon's January 18 reply to Tracey C's January 18, 2001
  2. Also see this page
• The BNP test for heart failure - making sense of its results
  1. Jon's March 1 reply to Tracey C's March 1, 2002
  2. Jon's March 20, 2002
• Lots of heart failure statistics
  1. Jon's January 12 reply to Vee's January 12, 2001
• PVCs change your EF measurement
  1. Jon's January 22 reply to Shannon's January 20, 2001
• What are normal heart sizes?
  1. Jon's December 11 reply to Robert Farish's December 11, 2000
• Heart cath images online
  1. Jon's March 20 reply to Bill D's March 20, 2001
• What is cardiac index?
  1. Jon's February 17 reply to Ben B's February 15, 1999
• Blowing into the tube before a Vo2max test; and FVC, FEF, and FEV1 explained
  1. Gino's May 1 reply to Russ B's May 1, 2001
• Homocysteine (PHC) and C-Reactive protein (CRP) levels
  1. Jon's March 20 reply to William B's March 20, 2001
• Right heart pressures
  1. Jon's April 4 reply to Joe L's April 3, 2001

 Meds, Supplements, and Treatments 

• Aldactone (spironolactone) discussion
  1. Jon's July 21, 1999 (thread starts here - keep reading replies)
• Beta-blocker names can be confusing
  1. Jon's June 28 reply to Mike W's June 28, 2001
  2. Jon's July 4 reply to Amelia's July 4, 2001
  3. Jon's July 5 reply to Amelia's July 5, 2001 (more detail than above)
• Not taking meds all at once may help
  1. Gino's April 7 reply to Vicki's April 4, 2001
  2. Also see this page
• Choosing the right ACE inhibitor
  1. Jon's August 31 reply to Mark N's August 31, 1999
• Metoprolol is NOT the same as Toprol-XL - not for heart failure patients
  1. Jon's July 5 reply to Amelia's July 5, 2001
• Coreg - to take it or not to take it? other meds also discussed
  1. Jon's December 10 reply to Kathryn C's December 10, 1999
  2. Also see this page
• Why Coreg can make you feel worse at first, and more
  1. Jon's April 17 reply to Allen V's April 17, 2002
• Does a lower Coreg dose give the same benefits without all the side effects?
  1. Jon's August 29, 2000
• Edema (fluid retention/swelling) and diuretics like Lasix
  1. Jon's December 4 reply to Bev's December 4, 1999
  2. Julie Kendall's August 20, 1999 (see Jon's reply to this post also)
  3. Jon's February 8 reply to Johnnie's February 8, 1999
  4. Also see this page
• Diuretic dose and resistance
  1. Jon's July 25 reply to Gaile's July 25, 1999
  2. Jon's September 8 reply to Dana J's September 8, 2000
• Getting to target doses
  1. Jon's March 29, 2001
  2. Jon's March 28 reply to Walter K's March 27, 2001
• Can we trust drug trials sponsored by the drug makers?
  1. Jon's July 2 reply to William B's July 2, 2001
• Heavy-chested feeling, beta-blockers, and diabetes may be linked - get tested
  1. Bill C's July 24 reply to Jon's July 24, 2000
• CoQ10 info
  1. Jon's May 12 reply to Franks' May 12, 2000
• Treatments that use magnets
  1. Walter K's July 23 reply to Laura's July 22, 2000
• Taking Melatonin To Get To Sleep
  1. Jon's February 17 reply to Carolyn S' February 17, 2001
• New CHF Treatments of all sorts
  1. Jon's August 19 reply to Tony P's August 19
• Personal experience with Batista Procedure (ventricular reduction surgery)
  1. Cecil C's May 26 reply to Jan P's May 24, 1999

 Diet and Exercise 

• Is a low sodium diet really important?
  1. Jon's July 8 reply to Pam's July 7, 1999
• Is a low-sodium diet bad for us? I feel better eating lots of sodium
  1. Jon's February 19 reply to Jean C's February 19, 2000
• Source for low sodium cheeses online
  1. Tracey C's May 5, 2001
• Exercise tips
  1. Jon's November 27 reply to Jim's November 27, 2000
  2. Jon's April 5 reply to Billie Jo's April 5, 2000
  3. Also see this page
• Why is "structured" exercise important?
  1. Jon's April 3 reply to carol W's April 3, 2000
• Target heart rate during exercise when taking beta-blockers
  1. Jon's February 18, 2002

 Social Security Disability 

• Do I qualify for Social Security Disability (in the USA)?
  1. Jon's April 30 reply to Gaile C's April 30, 2000
  2. Jon's April 12 reply to Billie Jo's April 12, 2000
  3. Also see this page
• Social Security Disability Reviews
  1. Jon's January 26 reply to Diane's January 26, 2001
  2. Jon's May 18 reply to Robin W's May 18, 1999

 Emotional and Spiritual - Coping 

• Dealing with the anger that can come with serious chronic illness
  1. Jon's February 5 reply to Barbara F's February 5, 1999
• Is changing what you do at home fair to your family? and more
  1. Jon's April 3 reply to Carol W's April 3, 2000
• Being a Christian dealing with chronic illness
  1. Jon's July 5 reply to Ophelia's July 5, 2000
• You are still you, heart failure or no heart failure - move on
  1. Jon's February 26 reply to Dana J's February 26, 2001
  2. Jon's April 12 reply to Billie Jo's April 12, 2000 (last paragraph)
• Depression, its diagnosis, and possible treatments discussed at length
  1. Mary Lou's August 23, 2000 (thread starts here and is long)

• Can't taste food anymore
  1. Vicki, March 15, 2001
  2. Vivian G, December 18, 2000
  3. Cindy M's March 3 reply to Keisha T's March 3, 1999
• Good days and bad days CHF syndrome
  1. Jon's February 10 reply to Aganita's February 10, 2000
  2. Jon's August 8 reply to Margie's August 8, 1999
  3. Also see this page
• Distended stomach or feeling of fullness, makes breathing really hard
  1. Jon's July 6 reply to Aunalee's July 6, 1999
• Foot pain and heart failure
  1. Jon's April 30 reply to Joyce's April 30, 2002

• An hilarious account of life on oxygen
  1. Heather S' April 15, 1999
• Some Internet terms explained
  1. Jon's September 29 reply to Jo's September 29
• Arrhythmia
  1. Jon's February 12 reply to Davida S' February 12, 2002
• Arrhythmia experiences
  1. Robin Lynn's June 19 reply to Lynn M's June 18, 2000 (this is a thread - follow the replies)
• The Media often gets health news all wrong - even Johns Hopkins blows it
  1. Jon's April 2, 2001
• Why take antibiotics before dental work?
  1. Jon's April 16 reply to June's April 16, 2001
• Links to heart sounds
  1. Jon's December 22 reply to Linda's December 22, 1999
  2. Also see this page
• Pregnancy and CHF
  1. Jon's January 22 reply to Diane's January 18, 2001
• A CHF specialist on aneurysm
  1. Jon's October 16 reply to Mark Saari's October 14, 1999
• End of life care
  1. Jon, April 18, 2000
• Family Leave Act
  1. Jon's April 8 reply to Erv's April 8, 2000
• "End-stage" heart failure misconceptions
  1. Jon's July 2 reply to Cathy Pearson's July 2, 1999
• Bad hospital experiences - using EMTALA
  1. Jon's November 10 reply to Jana B's November 10, 1999

• Jon talks about heart transplant
  1. Jon's January 12 reply to Taavi K's January 12, 2000
  2. Jon's June 8, 2000
  3. Also see this page
• The downside of heart transplant
  1. Jon's June 7, 2000

All information on this site is opinion only. All concepts, explanations, trials, and studies have been re-written in plain English and may contain errors. I am not a doctor. Use the reference information at the end of each article to search MedLine for more complete and accurate information. All original copyrights apply. No information on this page should be used by any person to affect their medical, legal, educational, social, or psychological treatment in any way. I am not a doctor. This web site and all its pages, graphics, and content copyright © 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 Jon C.