I’m A Cardiologist – These Are The 10 Symptoms You Should NEVER Ignore

I’m A Cardiologist – These Are The 10 Symptoms You Should NEVER Ignore

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Heart disease kills hundreds of thousands of people in the UK and US each year.

But you could be ignoring some of the main signs of poor heart health.

Dizziness when you stand up quickly and swollen legs are just some of the symptoms you should never let go unchecked, experts say.

Dr. Ameet Bakhai, a cardiologist at Spire Bushey Hospital in London, said people often ignore the signs “until it’s too late.”

And he revealed that a healthy adult should be able to run up two flights of stairs, stand up quickly without dizziness, hold their breath for 20 seconds, and squat on the toilet — provided they have no other health problems.

Dr.  Ameet Bakhai, a cardiologist at Spire Bushey Hospital in London, said people often ignore the signs 'until it's too late'

Dr. Ameet Bakhai, a cardiologist at Spire Bushey Hospital in London, said people often ignore the signs ‘until it’s too late’

But dr. Bakhai said many people think symptoms like dizziness and leg swelling are caused by something else, so early signs of a struggling heart are missed.

He said things like a heaviness in the arm with exertion, shortness of breath when climbing stairs, and frequent, extra or missed heartbeats could be “your heart is crying out for help.”

Some symptoms, such as difficulty bending over and standing up, may indicate that your heart is “not adjusting to your postures or retaining a reserve of fluid in the body.”

The consultant claims other symptoms that you should never ignore, such as sweating with light exercise, nausea with chest pain and feeling tired when you wake up.

But of the 2,000 adults surveyed, more than half (54 percent) said they wouldn’t think these symptoms were related to the heart, despite 50 percent claiming to have experienced them.

The 10 Heart Health Symptoms You Shouldn’t Ignore

  1. Dizziness when standing up quickly
  2. shortness of breath
  3. Difficulty bending over
  4. Palpitations
  5. Tightness of the chest
  6. Arm pain – neck or upper arms (often on the left)
  7. Difficulty getting up
  8. Chest discomfort (excluding chest tightness)
  9. Swollen legs
  10. Frequent extra or skipped heartbeats

Dr. Bakhai, who advised Healthspan on this Love your heart supplement range, said, “Heart problems can often get progressively worse, until one day you have a more complicated problem – which could have been avoided if we had heeded the warning signs.”

He added that taking care of your heart is “essential” and should be a priority.

Despite the lack of awareness regarding symptoms, 68 percent of people surveyed consider heart health “very important” to them, rising to 80 percent in those over 65.

Rob Hobson, a sports nutritionist at Healthspan, said this showed a contradiction between what people say and do regarding their health.

“Millions of people know that heart health is vital, but ignore warning signs and do heart-unfriendly things like eating junk food, smoking and the survey showed that people are trying to make changes, but there is a clear lack of knowledge,” he added.

The survey also found that 26 percent of people did not classify symptoms as “severe,” while 17 percent thought they were too young to have heart problems.

Dr. Bakhai said: ‘Which is unfortunately a misunderstanding as heart disease can affect people of all ages especially in the era of Covid and beyond as the virus can attack the heart and the heart lining, quite commonly as a condition called myopericarditis (inflamed heart and heart covering – the pericardium).’

A 2021 NHS survey found that more than half of people hospitalized with Covid had suffered damage to their hearts.

The heart injuries found included inflammation of the heart muscle (myocarditis), scarring or death of heart tissue (infarction), restricted blood flow to the heart (ischemia) and combinations of all three, the London researchers said.

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