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Background: Heart failure is a clinical syndrome where the heart is no longer able to maintain adequate blood circulation to the tissue. Many suffer from symptoms difficult to handle such as dyspnoea, fatigue, and physical weakness. Aim: The purpose of the study was to investigate peoples’ experiences of living with congestive heart failure. Method: A systematic literature review was used. Relevant articles were found in the Medline and Cinahl databases. The articles were examined, classified and critically appraised. Twenty articles were included. A qualitative content analysis was used to organize the results. Results: The results are described in three main categories: losses, protecting independences and readjustment. The category ‘losses’ details physical, emotional and social changes that people experience as losses caused by the debilitating symptoms of heart failure. The category ‘protecting independences’ shows the different ways in which people try to keep control over their lives. The category ‘readjustment’ presents how people try to seek a new ‘wholeness’ in life after the changes heart failure have caused by using acceptance, adaptation and finding new meanings. Conclusion: Living with congestive heart failure can be experienced as a synopsis of the «suffering human being» on a continuum, a time axle; from falling ill to seeking a new meaning in life.

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