Early warning signs of serious heart issues
HEART disease is a collective term that includes coronary artery disease, valvular disease, arrhythmias (irregular heartbeat), heart-related infections and birth defects (congenital).
These may lead to symptoms including angina (chest pains), shortness of breath and eventually heart failure.
One would assume that a disease of such serious nature would always present warning signs first.
However, it is possible you could be developing heart disease as you go about your daily life without even knowing it.
It is therefore important to know and identify the early signs of heart disease so that you can undergo treatment at an early stage and prevent more serious health problems.
Often the first time a patient becomes aware that they have heart problems is after they have a heart attack.
The common symptoms that patients expect to experience before they suspect heart problems is chest pain, chest discomfort, discomfort at the back of the shoulder and pain on the left of the neck and lower jaw that radiates down the left arm.
However, these symptoms only present during the latter part of having cardiovascular disease.
There are other early warning signs that can help you recognise heart problems before they become more serious. Often these do not even seem to be related to the heart, yet so often these are common complaints of cardiac patients.
The symptoms listed below are tell-tale signs of heart problems. Some of the symptoms have not been documented in books before but have often been noted during three-dimensional vasculography (3DVG) consultations with patients who were found to have positive readings for heart problems. Early warning signs include: • Skin discolouration: generally starts on the face with dark patches and later moves on to the legs from the area below the knees to the toes.
• Difficulty bending forward: shortness of breath while trying to put on socks and shoes or tying shoe lace, picking up things from the floor or bending to do prayer.
• Numbness on the left arm: difficulty sleeping on left arm. Numbness is relieved after changing sleeping position.
• Hunchback – provided it is not a birth defect, a side view of yourself will reveal drooping of the shoulders in a forward position, resulting in a hunchback look.
• Burning sensation under feet: this is generally vascular related and usually happens in diabetic patients due to decreased blood flow and nerve damage. However, this results from resistance to blood flow and therefore back pressures the heart.
• Swelling of ankles and feet: generally occurs after sitting, walking or travelling for a long period. This becomes more frequent as the disease progresses.
• Receding gums and lower jaw: periodontal disease is a good indicator of possible coronary artery disease. It therefore important to visit your dentist regularly in order to identify these changes.
• Chronic sinusitis: sinusitis and post-nasal drip causes inflammation and flood the lungs making oxygen extraction difficult across the membrane of the alveoli. It then becomes difficult for the heart to function effectively with decreased oxygen supply.
• Poor hearing or vision: decrease in the ability to see or hear without apparent cause occurs as a result of decreased blood supply from the heart to these organs.
• Lower back pain: chronic lower back pain in the absence of degenerative vertebral disease can be caused by lumbar nerve ischaemia (lack of blood supply).
• Difficulty lying in a flat position: known as orthopnoea. Patients experience shortness of breath when lying flat and find relief when they are in a more upright position. As the patient’s condition deteriorates, more pillows will be required in order to breathe comfortably.
• Dizziness when changing from sitting to standing position: This is termed Postural Hypotension and occurs when making sudden or quick changes of the body position from flat to upright such as getting off the bed from a sleeping position. This is due to a sudden drop in blood pressure.
• Reflux or heartburn: it is very difficult to distinguish between reflux and angina which is cardiac related. Patients and medical professions often mistake and mistreat angina with reflux.
• Waking up in the early hours: Paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnoea is a term to describe waking up in the early hours of the morning and not being able to go back to sleep again until it is already time to wake up again.
• Shortness of breath: dyspnoea is difficulty breathing comfortably after moderate physical exertion, like walking up a flight of stairs or walking a distance that you managed comfortably before.
• Difficulty lifting hands: experiencing difficulty having a bath, taking a shower or hanging washing on the line.
• Abnormal heartbeat: Arrhythmias or palpitations refers to an abnormal heartbeat or a heartbeat that is faster or slower than usual or strong enough to be felt at each beat or sudden jerks.
Initially the symptoms may seem like mere annoyances that come and go, so patients tend to brush then aside with the hope that it is nothing and will only last a short while.
This is the first mistake patients make. Remember that the body has a way of letting you know when something is not okay. This is why we feel pain and discomfort.
It is the body’s way of warning us that there is a problem and it needs to be attended to.
Ignoring the signs do not make them go away. The symptoms then become even stronger, until the inevitable happens, which then forces you to leave your other important commitments and take time to repair the body.
Just as we make the time to service our vehicles because it is so essential to keep them in running order, it is essential to make the time to service and repair our bodies in controlled circumstances rather than in an emergency.
If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, it is an indication you should be assessed using the various screening or diagnostic tools available today together with non-invasive preventative treatment as far as possible.