Heart Symptoms to Discuss With Your Doctor
Heart disease is deadly but its symptoms are often unrecognized or ignored. “There is so much you can do right now to reduce your risk of heart disease,” insists Dr. Kavesteen, “but first you have to equip yourself with the facts and raise your awareness level.”
First, it’s important to know the risk factors: hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes, smoking, and genetics, to name a few. All of these contribute to heart disease in all its forms. The term itself is very general and encompasses a host of diseases, including atherosclerosis (a condition in which artery walls thicken due to the build-up of fatty materials), coronary artery disease (caused by a clogging of the coronary arteries that supply the heart with oxygen and nutrients), peripheral vascular disease (blood vessels in the legs become narrowed), cardiac arrhythmias (abnormal heart rhythms), and cardiomyopathy (when the heart muscle loses its ability to pump blood). Many of these can also be asymptomatic for years, making the need to understand and modify risk factors that much more important.
Symptoms You Should Never Ignore
“The signs of heart disease are often disregarded or attributed to something less severe,” says Dr. Kavesteen. If you experience one or more of the following symptoms, discuss it with your doctor and consider making an appointment with a cardiologist. Danger signs include:
- Shortness of breath
- Palpitations
- Weakness or fatigue
- Dizziness
- Nausea
- Chest pain/discomfort
- Loss of consciousness
- Heartburn
- High blood pressure or High cholesterol
If you find that you are experiencing any of these, ask yourself: What could be causing this? How often is it happening? Do I have any risk factors for heart disease? Questions like these ensure that we remain cognizant and are more likely to seek help. “Even if it turns out that there is nothing wrong,” Dr. Kavesteen reminds us, “remember that treatment is much easier and more cost-effective before a heart attack.” In other words, it never hurts to check.
And if there is something amiss, that’s where the field of cardiology gets to work. “The most advanced technology is changing the way we look at, treat, and understand the heart,” says Dr. Kavesteen. He quickly runs down a cursory list: tiny defibrillators that monitor the heart, high-tech springs that can open up clogged arteries, pacemakers that regulate every nuance, and the ability to examine microscopic changes in the heart to determine if there is an increased rate of sudden cardiovascular death. With tools like these at our disposal, heart disease becomes a significantly less formidable foe.