Heart Disease Signs

Recognizing possible heart disease signs is vital for your health, particularly if heart problems run in your family. If you are frequently experiencing any of these symptoms, make sure to see a doctor. What you’re going through may be due to other health factors, but it’s always better to be safe and healthy rather than sorry.

1. Your heart is skipping a beat. You might have experienced this during your first puppy love, but if your heart is continually skipping beats later in life, this could mean that you're suffering from a more serious heart disease sign. The feeling of a skipped or irregularly fast heartbeat means you’re experiencing heart palpitations. It could indicate heart valve disease when the valves of the heart chambers don’t close correctly. Heart palpitations, however, can also be attributed to caffeine, anemia or different types of medications. If the heart palpitations are accompanied by chest pain, you should definitely seek medical counsel.
2. You’re feeling short of breath. Shortness of breath (also called dyspnea) is a prime heart disease sign. If you’re finding walking, climbing a set of stairs and other normal physical activities difficult, you might want to pay a visit to the doctor. Shortness of breath could be due to smoking, but smoking also compounds the risk of heart disease. A particular sign of heart disease is also waking up unable to breath at night. Whether it’s heart disease, smoking or a combination of the two, make sure to see a doctor if you’re experiencing these symptoms.
3. You’re getting dizzy. Frequent dizziness is another sign of possible heart disease. It can be due to low blood pressure and a low amount of blood being pulsed through the heart. It is also a common symptom of stroke. Other factors might be at work, however, since dizziness is also a sign of problems like anemia, dehydration and diabetes.
4. You’re perpetually tired. Constant fatigue and sleepiness throughout the day even when you’ve enjoyed a full night’s sleep can signal heart failure and is an important heart disease sign to take note of. The heart is a muscle and it can slowly weaken as you enter the later stages of heart disease. A lack of energy can also be due to other medical conditions, however, like thyroid problems or insomnia. Check with your doctor to find out what’s keeping you so sleepy.