Symptoms of heart disease?

Need To Know:

I think the most troubling fact about heart disease is that, until most heart disease progresses to an advanced, acute stage, there are no symptoms.

Studies conducted since the Viet Nam war have shown that, if you are male and American, you already have heart disease, and I'll wager that you have had no sypmtoms. So far.

The findings during Viet Nam showed soldiers, 19 and 20 years old and in the peak of health, already had fatty streaks and plaques forming in their coronary and femoral arteries. Since then have been studies like the PDAY (Pathological Determinants of Athersclerosis in Youth) study have shown that heart disease can and does start in children in the developed West.

Here's one link about it:

http://www.coronaryheartdisease.org/othe...

And to all appearances, these children do not seem to have heart disease, but they do.

Here's another website:

http://members.cox.net/forrestx/arteryna...

That further discusses the early start to heart disease.

The studies are so significant that this website, about 3/4 of the way down the page in the paragraph "Estimating Artery Narrowing," says:

"Deposits are considered to initiate at year 1 of age. But because cholesterol usually is low during childhood the amounts of deposits accumulating then usually are small."

But they are there. We've seen them as young as 8.

So heart disease exists without any symptoms.

Therefore, what do you bet that you have it, too? If you eat at MacDonald's or have sausage for breakfast, if you drink sodas or have processed foods, you have heart disease.

The good news about this, though, is that you can do something about it. Thanks to the work popularized if not pioneered by Dr. Dean Ornish, we know that we can reverse heart disease. Look him up on the Net for some very good information.

Now, if the disease progresses to the acute stage, the symptoms often are different for women from those of men.

It also depends on what heart disease you're talking about. There are several.

Men, of course, show the classic symptoms of shortness of breath during exertion, and often chest pain at the same time. A fast heartbeat, heaviness or pressure in the chest, strange beats--skipped beats, a couple of hard thumps a few times a day--dizziness, fatigue, or even fainting, a pain radiating to the neck, left arm, or back, or nausea.

Women, though, can show slightly different symptoms: a hot sensation in the chest or back, or even a temporary, almost "indigestion" feeling anywhere above the waist during exertion, which are very easy to disregard. After all, they go away when the exercise stops.

However, women are more likely to have artery spasms that cause chest pain, and to have blockages in the many tiny arteries of the heart than are men, who are more prone to major-vessel blockage. So chest pain can very well mean heart disease of merely different types in men and women.

When a heart attack occurs, the major symptoms are basically the same in men and women:

Shortness of breath (doctors call it "The elephant sitting on your chest")

Pain or pressure in the chest, left arm, shoulder, neck or jaw that lasts longer than 5 minutes.

Fainting (this one is tricky. Better to be safe and call 911 whenever this happens).

Sudden nausea or vomiting, sudden sweating for no apparent reason.

Now, there are types of heart disease that are not aterial, such as Congestive Heart Failure, which causes swelling in ankles, legs, and stomach, or a cough that produces a white mucus, or fatigue, or rapid heartbeats.

Valve disease will show as:

Shortness of breath
Weakness or dizziness
Quick weight gain (I mean really quick--two pounds in one day, for example)
Irregular heartbeats

All of these symptoms will be present in heart muscle disease ("cardiomyopathy"), too. In the case of cardiomyopathy, however, the irregular heartbeats can lead quickly to fibrillation, which stops the heart.

Pericarditis, inflammation of the sac around the heart, will give you

a low-grade fever,
rapid heartbeat, and
stabbing pains in the center of the chest which are worsened by lying down and relieved by leaning forward.

Sick Sinus Syndrome causes a slow heartbeat that may even stop for a half a minute, causing fainting.

Asynchrony, the top part of the heart does not beat in rhythm with the bottom part, will do teh same thing.

Neither of these cause any pain. the person may feel a little breathless, but usually just gets dizzy and passes out.

I hope your question is merely academic and not prompted by any of these symptoms. If you do have any two or three of any catagory of them, I would take them to a doctor.

Good luck.

breathlessness
a tight chest
go and see a doctor you do not want symptoms, you want to be checked out before that because by the times symptoms come it will be kinda too late. by then you will get a heart attack or stroke or something.
if you are getting any symptoms in your heart area i suggest you go see a doctor asap.
good luck
x
Any concerns with this see your Doctor who can check your blood pressure and do an ECG. ANY pains in your chest, straight to A&E without delay - that's what you pay your taxes for.
pain in chest-stabbing,acute or dull pain,
dyspnea-difficulty in breathing
increase blood pressure-may cause headache,spots in eyes,dizziness,nausea,noise in ears
cyanosis-tips of fingers n toes turn blue
palpitation-sudden increase in heart beat
in chronic congestion area of heart is bulging-cardiac humpback
Men and woman can have different symptoms. Woman are more likely to die of a heart attack. Woman's symptoms may be more vague:fatigue, nausea, vomiting, shortness of breath Typical symptoms are epi-gastric discomfort, pain-described as squeezing, tightness, sharp, dull, pressure in chest. Also may have pain in left or right arm, pain in the teeth, jaw, or neck. Can occur in ages as low as the 20's. Sometimes the pain can occur at rest, usually when doing something. Can last a minute or longer with complaints of pain. Sometimes there are no symptoms-that's why it's important to have check up's with docs.
angina (pressure-like pain on the chest), breathlessness, left arm and shoulder pain and numbness, fatigue, oedema(legs and lung swelling), falls. these symptoms differ according to the stage and type of the heart disease. i.e at early stage it occurs after vigorous exertion while in mid and late stages it can occur after climbing few steps or even while sleeping. however some indigestion and other causes an mimk (fake) these symptoms
Advice : consult your doctor asap if the symptoms occur more than once.
chest pains and angina giving you pains in left arm and breathing problems and if you have those pains call an ambulance now