by Maria Teresa L. Ungson
CAN you recall how many times you felt quite sick but did not go for a check up because you were just too busy? Our body would ache, we’d get colds and fever and at times self medicate. Some of the aches and ills that we feel may actually be symptoms of a major disease or illness like heart disease or impending heart failure. Because it is difficult to make sense of heart symptoms, doctors warn against ignoring possible warning signs, toughing them out, waiting to see if they go away, or being quick to blame them on heartburn, muscle soreness, or other less serious, noncardiac causes. That’s especially true to men and people over 65, as well as to people with other cardiac risk factors, such as high cholesterol or blood pressure, obesity, smoking, diabetes, or a family history of heart disease.
Dr. David Frid, a cardiologist of the Cleveland Clinic says the more risk factors one has, the higher the likelihood that a symptom means something is going on with your heart. People often don’t want to admit that they’re old enough or sick enough to have heart trouble. Putting off treatment for other medical problems might not be so bad, but a serious heart problem can mean sudden death. It’s better to go in and get it evaluated than to be dead. Here are a dozen symptoms that may signal heart trouble.
1. Anxiety. Heart attack can cause intense anxiety or a fear of death. Heart attack survivors often talk about having experienced a sense of “impending doom.”
2. Chest discomfort. Pain in the chest is the classic symptom of heart attack, and the No. 1 symptom that we typically look for. But not all heart attacks cause chest pain, and chest pain can stem from ailments that have nothing to do with the heart.
Heart-related chest pain is often centered under the breastbone, perhaps a little to the left of center. The pain has been likened to “an elephant sitting on the chest,” but it can also be an uncomfortable sensation of pressure, squeezing, or fullness. It’s not unusual for women to describe the pain as a minor ache. Some women say the pain wasn’t bad enough even to take a painkiller.
Women, more so than men, can also experience a burning sensation in their chest, rather than a pressure or pain. Sometimes people make the mistake that the pain comes from a stomach problem.
3. Cough. Persistent coughing or wheezing can be a symptom of heart failure — a result of fluid accumulation in the lungs. In some cases, people with heart failure cough up bloody phlegm.
4. Dizziness. Heart attacks can cause light headedness and loss of consciousness. So can potentially dangerous heart rhythm abnormalities known as arrhythmias.
5. Fatigue. Especially among women, unusual fatigue can occur during a heart attack as well as in the days and weeks leading up to one. And feeling tired all the time may be a symptom of heart failure.
Of course, you can also feel tired or fatigued for other reasons. How can you tell heart-related fatigue from other types of fatigue? Just go ahead and have a check-up. Wasting time is dangerous. Your test results will confirm if you have a heart problem already.
6. Nausea or lack of appetite. It’s not uncommon for people to feel sick to their stomach or throw up during a heart attack. And abdominal swelling associated with heart failure can interfere with appetite.
7. Pain in other parts of the body. In many heart attacks, pain begins in the chest and spreads to the shoulders, arms, elbows, back, neck, jaw, or abdomen. But sometimes there is no chest pain — just pain in these other body areas. The pain might come and go.
Men having a heart attack often feel pain in the left arm. In women, the pain is more likely to be felt in both arms, or between the shoulder blades.
8. Rapid or irregular pulse. Doctors say that there’s nothing worrisome about an occasional skipped heartbeat. But a rapid or irregular pulse — especially when accompanied by weakness, dizziness, or shortness of breath — can be evidence of a heart attack, heart failure, or an arrhythmia. Left untreated, some arrhythmias can lead to stroke, heart failure, or sudden death.
9. Shortness of breath. People who feel winded at rest or with minimal exertion might have a pulmonary condition like asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). But breathlessness could also indicate a heart attack or heart failure.
Sometimes people having a heart attack don’t have chest pressure or pain but feel extremely short of breath. It’s like they’ve just run a marathon when they haven’t even moved. During a heart attack, shortness of breath often accompanies chest discomfort, but it can also occur before or without chest discomfort.
10. Sweating. Breaking out in a cold sweat is a common symptom of heart attack. You could just be sitting in a chair when all of a sudden you are really sweating like you had just worked out.
11. Swelling. Heart failure can cause fluid to accumulate in the body. This can cause swelling (often in the feet, ankles, legs, or abdomen) as well as sudden weight gain and sometimes a loss of appetite.
12. Weakness. In the days leading up to a heart attack, as well as during one, some people experience severe, unexplained weakness.
These are the twelve symptoms that may appear harmless but should be checked out. Listen to what your body is saying. Hear your heart speak. Take good care of your heart.
