Congestive heart disease occurs when the heart is unable to pump enough blood to satisfy the bodies need for oxygen. The causes of congestive heart disease fall under four major categories: a weakening of the heart muscle, diseases such as atherosclerosis that reduce blood flow to the heart, diseases that cause the heart muscle to become less flexible, or disease that increase oxygen demand by the body tissue beyond the capability of the heart to deliver. We will not go into each one of these at length rather opting to attack this complicated subject from a slightly broader point of view due to time constraints.
As with many condition involving the heart and arteries congestive heart disease tends to start slow and only produce subtle symptoms that may go unnoticed, or be so subtle that they are ignored. One important point to consider with congestive heart disease is that the heart naturally weakens with age losing half of its pumping capacity by the time a person reaches the age of 80. So the combination of a naturally weakening heart combined with the with the potential for other age related health problems such as diabetes, high cholesterol, or high blood pressure can create a dangerous mixture of conditions which ultimately could lead to congestive heart disease.
