my understanding of digitalis was it made the heart pump strong, but slower.. It works by increasing the intensity of the heart muscle contractions but diminishing the rate-- and by pumping slower, it let the heart muscle rest longer..

since congestive heart failure is often characterized by an an increase rate, of ineffective pumping, it causes the heart to be overworked, but circulation to be sluggish, which then results in the blood stagnating, and causes edema, first in the extremities, and eventually in the lungs, which causes them to be saturated, and less effective at oxygen exchange, which increases the CO2 level in the blood, which then signal the brain to increase the heart rate, and the cycle increases till the heart, is total worn out and totally fails... (or the fluid that collects in the lungs leads to pnumonia, and the weakened heart is further starved for oxygen)

a secondary treatment for congestive heart failure is diuretics, which reduce the volume of fluid, and the edema, (but then make the blood too thick, so Hepatrin(sp?) is then used to thin the blood.. )

until the circulary system was understood, digitalis was a treatment for dropsy.. or edema.

but i am sure Doc comfort, or one of the other more knowledgable scientist on the board will correct me if i am wrong..


my other obsession