The FACES of Heart Failure: Warning Signs You Should Report

Learn the FACES warning signs and the specific thresholds that should prompt a call to your care team.

Heart failure sends signals before it sends you to the hospital. Learning those signals changes an emergency into a simple phone call and/or medication adjustment.

F: Fatigue

Tiredness that arrives with activities you handled easily last month. Your heart delivers less oxygenated blood to your muscles and brain, and your body slows to compensate. Fatigue that changes your daily function deserves reporting.

A: Activity limitation

Tasks that once felt routine now require rest. Climbing a flight of stairs, carrying groceries, or walking to the mailbox becomes a decision rather than an automatic action.

C: Congestion

A persistent cough, wheezing, or a rattling sound in your chest. Fluid accumulating in the lungs produces these. Some people cough up frothy or pink-tinged sputum, which requires immediate medical attention.

E: Edema

Swelling in the feet, ankles, legs, or abdomen. Shoes that no longer fit, socks leaving deep marks, rings that will not slide off, and pants that feel tight at the waist all count as evidence.

S: Shortness of breath

Breathlessness with activity, breathlessness while lying flat, or waking suddenly at night gasping for air. Needing extra pillows to sleep comfortably signals fluid accumulation.

The weight thresholds

Weigh yourself every morning after using the bathroom, before eating or drinking, in similar clothing. Call your care team for a gain of two to three pounds in 24 hours or five pounds in one week. That gain represents fluid, and it appears on the scale days before you feel it.

When to call 911

Chest pain or pressure.

Severe shortness of breath that will not settle with rest.

Fainting or near-fainting.

Coughing up pink, frothy sputum.

A racing heartbeat with dizziness or confusion.

When to call your care team

Any FACES symptom that is new or worsening. Weight gain crossing the thresholds above, increased swelling, needing more pillows to sleep, new or worsening cough, dizziness, confusion or difficulty concentrating.

Making it routine

Keep a symptom and weight log by your scale. Review it every morning and this way you will be able so track any patterns.