My husband has recently been diagnosed with COPD, CHF, Pulmonary Hypertension, Diabetes and Coronary Artery Disease. I know, these are diagnoses that don't just sneak up on you, they take time to get to a point where they are life threatening. He has been hospitalized, catherized and put on a variety of medications, fluid and sodium restriction, etc.

He has a combination of symptoms that I can't figure out: Weight/fluid retention - CHF, weight loss of 10-12lbs over night
Difficulty breathing, shortness of breath, stomach pain, leg pain (mostly in the shin/bones).

The MDs have not told us much of anything other than "stop smoking and lose weight". We both know these would be the most beneficial, but he won't stop smoking and he has changed his eating habits drastically, but the weight will not go down. Does anyone the relationship between these symptoms and conditions? What can I do to help him?

Tell him to stop smoking and lose weight. Help him to stop smoking and help him lose weight.

Imminent death is a good motivator to stop smoking. He can talk to his doctor about various methods for quitting. He had to want to quit, if he doesn't want to quit then he won't. It is as simple as that.

Weight lose is at its simplest a two variable equation. Healthier eating plus exercise equals weight lose. If you just cut down on food your body will start to go into a starvation mode where any excess calories will go to fat and not be burnt. The requirements for your body will decrease so that any and every excess calorie can go to fat. It is a combination of eating healthy and exercising. Start slow and continue to ramp it up.

Beyond that the medication he's sure to get from this should help.

So what is happening with your husband right now is the years of smoking and nicotine consumption along with being over weight is killing off his heart. Nicotine is a vasoconstrictor, which means that it causes veins and arteries to constrict or tighten. It is like kinking a hose. The gush is reduced to a trickle. The extra weight is causing the heart to work harder and a little faster. With high blood pressure this is equally bad. You have a muscle that isn't getting everything it needs to work and is working harder then it needs to. Everything stems from that.

So the best thing he can do is lose weight and stop smoking or else he's probably going to die and early death. There is no way to sugar coat that.