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Know these warning signs

Warning Signs You Should Pay Attention To

It’s important to listen to your body when it sends you signals. Here are a few to pay attention to and how you should react if you experience them.

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Tire easily
You tire easily when moving a chair, walking quickly on the street, climbing a flight of stairs and this has gotten worse over the past few weeks. It may be that your heart is having trouble sending all the blood through your body that it needs. This may be heart failure. Pay attention to this, especially if you have high blood pressure or high cholesterol, smoke or are overweight. What should you do? See your general practitioner or a cardiologist without delay. They may recommend a cardiovascular assessment. Palpitations
Your heart beats very quickly, at random intervals. It’s triggered by a gesture or for no apparent reason, most often in the evening or night. This might be atrial fibrillation where irregular electrical information disrupts the heart’s work. You risk blood clots forming in your heart, traveling into your blood vessels and causing a stroke. What should you do? Take your pulse and count the number of beats per minute. Note whether they’re irregular or not. If they are, don’t worry, it’s not a big deal. But if this happens often, talk with your doctor, especially if you have high blood pressure or are overweight or diabetic. If the rapid heartbeats continue for a while or recur, or if you feel anxious, be sure to call 911. Burning chest and coughing
You feel strong pain in your chest, especially while resting. It gets worse when you breathe in or cough. This might be pericarditis, an inflammation of the membrane surrounding the heart. Often caused by a virus, it can show up as the seasons are changing and be accompanied by trouble breathing and fever. What should you do? Pericarditis causes strong pain, but it isn’t necessarily serious. Pain can also point to a heart attack and it isn’t easy to know the difference yourself. Just follow one simple rule: if you have intense chest pain, call 911. Severe chest pain radiating to your arm or shoulder
You feel squeezing that radiates into your jaw and left arm. Or you feel intermittent pain with lots of pressure. These are classic symptoms of a heart attack. What should you do? Call 911 immediately. Exhaustion, shortness of breath, digestive problems
These symptoms can indicate a heart attack, especially if they keep repeating and last longer than usual. The digestive signs are very misunderstood and often lead to diagnostic errors. The signs include difficulty digesting food, burning in the stomach, nausea or vomiting. All of these symptoms may also occur when you’re resting. They might stop naturally and come back later. Don’t ignore these signs. They may indicate a heart attack, especially if you have other risk factors like tobacco use, psychosocial stress, depression, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes or obesity.
What should you do? Make an appointment with your regular doctor right away. But if these symptoms get more intense, come back often or last longer and longer, call 911. Feeling of a blow to the chest, followed by a pause where heart seems to stop
This is probably an extrasystole. It’s stunning, but usually isn’t dangerous. What should you do? If these symptoms tend to continue for a while or repeat often, talk with your regular doctor to schedule a cardiovascular assessment.

 

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