Cardiac output/Venous return curve question

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loveoforganic2

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I don't remember what the exact graph is called, so I attached a stock picture.

My question - I thought that the cardiac output and venous return curves were independent of one another, e.g. the factors that can move the cardiac output curve would be contractility and heart rate, while shifts in preload would only cause movement along the present curve. In a recent qbank q, part of an explanation said that during hemorrhage, the cardiac output curve would shift downward. I know that there would obviously be a decrease in actual cardiac output, but I figured the cardiac output curve would be shifted upward (due to increased contractility and HR), and the decreased CO would be due to a down and left shift of the VR curve.

How am i misinterpreting the curves?

Thanks in advance

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