A tighter wedding ring, an extra pillow at night, socks leaving rings around your ankles — heart failure rarely gets worse overnight. In this episode of Myths to Medicine, host Ashma Baruwal sits down with Jessica Lamar, a registered nurse and heart failure nurse coordinator, to talk about life after hospital discharge and the early warning signs that can help keep patients out of the hospital.

In This Episode

• Why a heart failure diagnosis doesn’t mean your heart is about to stop — it’s a chronic, progressive condition that can often be managed at home for a long time
• The three signs that usually bring people to the ER — rapid weight gain, leg swelling, and shortness of breath — plus subtler ones like suddenly needing an extra pillow to sleep
• Jessica’s daily weight rule: gaining more than 3 pounds in a day or 5 pounds in a week is probably fluid, and calling early can mean IV medication in the office instead of a hospital stay
• How sodium makes your body hold on to fluid, her “hot dog and french fries” example, and why canned and processed food labels are worth reading
• What separates patients who do well at home: curiosity, being involved in their care, and strong support from family or the friends who feel like family
• Why hospital visits spike around the holidays, and the subtle fluid clues people ignore: a snug wedding band, tight pants, and sock rings around the ankles
• The most common mistakes in the first two weeks after discharge — missing the one-week follow-up, skipping medications, and not tracking weight — and why being honest about medication costs matters
• Salt vs. fluid: why Jessica believes salt matters more, the 2,000-milliliter fluid guideline, and hidden fluids like Jell-O, ice cream, watermelon, and cucumber
• Busting the myth that heart failure patients should avoid exercise — move as much as feels comfortable, and stop if you get short of breath or have chest pain
• How remote monitoring through Cadence works, from the home scale, pulse oximeter, and blood pressure cuff to nurse practitioners who can adjust medications by phone

“Where salt goes, fluid follows, and it hangs around.”

About the Guest

Jessica Lamar is a registered nurse with more than 16 years of experience, nearly all of it caring for heart failure patients in the hospital. She works as a heart failure nurse coordinator, is a board-certified cardiovascular nurse and certified in heart failure nursing, and has worked with the Cadence remote monitoring program since its start.

Connect With Jessica

• Instagram: @Jessica Lamar

A Note From Jessica

Jessica’s biggest message for heart failure patients is to weigh yourself every day and be your own advocate. Heart failure care isn’t one-size-fits-all, so she encourages patients to speak up if a medication makes them feel worse, write down questions at home before appointments, and bring a spouse or friend along so nothing gets missed.