It is good to know that there are symptoms to alert you to see a medical person immediately. The symptoms noted tion below should not be overlooked.
The most common symptom of coronary artery disease (CAD) is angina, a type of chest pain. Angina (officially called angina pectoris) is different from the sharp clutching pain of a heart attack; it’s likely to feel like a deep ache or a constriction or weight on the chest, and it may worsen when you draw in a breath. One of the reasons angina is often missed is that it feels different to different people; to some it’s more of a heaviness, fullness, or pressure rather than pain. It can also be mistaken for indigestion or heartburn when the pain occurs lower down in the abdominal area. The tightness, constriction, or pain may also occur in the shoulder, neck, jaw, arm, or upper back, where it may be mistaken for a pulled muscle.A tip-off to angina versus a pulled muscle or gastrointestinal problem is that you’re likely to experience the problem repeatedly rather than to have one isolated or prolonged episode. When plaque builds up in the coronary arteries, it deprives the heart muscle of blood, making it feel squeezed. Most people with stable angina find that episodes are most often triggered by anything that puts an additional strain on the heart, such as exercise or stress.
An early sign that something is wrong with a major bodily system is shortness of breath, typically with exercise, exertion, and stress. (Typically, shortness of breath indicates either early-stage heart disease or early-stage lung disease, and it’s not possible to know which it is without seeing a doctor.) It may feel like you can’t catch your breath, or you may notice a feeling of compression in the chest and lungs, making it difficult to take a deep breath. Another breathing symptom of poor circulation may be labored breathing, which occurs when fluid accumulates in the lungs. If you notice that your breathing problems are worse at night or anytime you lie down, that can also indicate a heart problem. When your heart isn’t pumping strongly enough, less oxygen circulates in your blood. The result is shortness of breath; you might feel like you do at high altitude or when you’ve run for the bus, unable to draw enough oxygen into your lungs.
An early sign that something in the cardiovascular system is out of whack is irregular heartbeat, or arrhythmia. It may feel like your heart is skipping beats, beating too fast, or pounding too hard. The most common cause of irregular heartbeat is CAD, which restricts blood flow to the heart, straining the electrical system that keeps the heartbeat regular and coordinates it with other functions. Heart failure can also cause arrhythmias because the weakened heart overcompensates by beating harder and faster.
If you snore loudly enough to keep your sleeping partner awake or to force him or her to resort to earplugs, your heart may be at risk as well. Restricted breathing during sleep — the underlying cause of snoring — is linked with all types of cardiovascular disease. Sleep apnea, in which breathing briefly stops during sleep, is linked with a higher risk of both cardiovascular disease and heart attack.
Sore, swollen, or bleeding gums are symptoms not only of periodontal disease — in which exposure to bacteria causes the gums to become inflamed and pull away from the teeth — but also a possible early sign of underlying cardiovascular disease.
If you notice that your feet swell enough to make your shoes tight; your ankles, wrists, or fingers are noticeably puffy; or there are deep pressure marks or indents when you take off socks or hose, you may have a problem with fluid retention. Also called edema, fluid retention can be a sign of coronary artery disease (CAD), heart failure, and other forms of cardiovascular disease.
Something cardiologists know but the average guy doesn’t: Erectile dysfunction (ED) is one of the best early tip-offs to progressive heart disease. “Today, any patient who comes in with ED should be considered a cardiovascular patient until proven otherwise,” says Goldstein. In women, reduced blood flow to the genital area can impede arousal, make it harder to reach orgasm, or make orgasms less satisfying. Narrowing and hardening of the arteries restricts blood flow to the penis, which can give men trouble when it comes to getting or keeping an erection. And because those arteries are smaller than the ones leading to the heart, erectile dysfunction can occur before any other sign of artery stiffness. Lack of oxygen can also lead to ongoing fatigue and weakness, which can sabotage libido, so lack of desire may accompany lack of success.
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article source: http://www.caring.com/articles/surprising-signs-unhealthy-heart?utm_source=taboola&utm_medium=referral
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