A sick heart does not always present with chest pain, palpitations or shortness of breath. Sometimes it sends us much more subtle notifications. Snoring and waking up at night, constant fatigue, edema, erectile dysfunction? However, the list of red flags is longer …
Sleep apnea
Do you often wake up exhausted and your partner constantly complains that you snore? Perhaps you belong to a large group of Poles suffering from sleep apnea. Unfortunately, most of them do not even know about it … – about 30% are treated! Sleep apnea is nothing more than a nighttime breathing disorder. When you apnea, you do not breathe and your body remains under oxygenated.
Obese people are at risk, and statistically middle-aged men suffer the disease most frequently. Sleep apnea has negative effects on both our sleep and our health. Previous studies have shown a cause-and-effect relationship between the occurrence of apnea and the development of arterial hypertension. Sleep apnea can also cause cardiac arrhythmias, strokes, impair the function of the left ventricle, significantly worsen the prognosis of patients with coronary artery disease, and increase the risk of sudden cardiac death during sleep.
Constant fatigue
Feeling exhausted can be a symptom of many diseases: anemia, depression, hypothyroidism, but also heart failure. A condition in which the heart does not pump blood properly, making it difficult to deliver oxygen and nutrients to other organs. It leads to easy fatigue, weakness, dizziness, difficulty concentrating and remembering. At the onset of the disease, various mechanisms are triggered to compensate for the decreased heart rate, and symptoms may be absent or mild, but become more and more bothersome over time. If you previously climbed the fourth floor without much effort, and now you feel short of breath after entering the second floor, be sure to visit a cardiologist!
Swelling
Another problem with heart failure is swelling in the feet, ankles and calves. Patients usually notice that they have a harder time putting on their shoes, and a pressure mark remains under the ribbing of the sock. In some situations, the swelling can even reach above the knees. In the initial phase, they will appear in the evenings after a whole day of walking, and then subside. However, as the disease develops, they also begin to appear during the day. Edema also occurs in patients who do not get out of bed – then they are visible on the back, mainly in the area of the sacrum.
Rapid weight gain
A specific symptom of heart failure is surprisingly rapid weight gain in a short time with a stable diet – by about 2 kilograms in 2-3 days. Abdominal enlargement, swelling, and weight gain are due to fluid retention in the body, which – as in dyspnea – is caused by a problem with pumping blood. There may be the so-called hyperhydration, which is easy to confirm by pressing a finger on the skin (in the case of swelling, a depression remains). In most cases, if you experience these symptoms, contact your doctor, and in case of severe breathlessness, call an ambulance.
Loss of appetite
It may appear in heart failure, and it results from overhydration and congestion in the abdominal organs. When our intestines work worse, the feeling of fullness increases. Reducing your nutrient intake as you feel more overcrowded can lead to dangerous consequences: weight loss, muscle wasting and anemia.
Sexual problems
Erectile dysfunction is also a warning signal for our heart. According to experts, problems with potency in patients without previously diagnosed cardiovascular diseases precede the first coronary incident by five years on average. How it’s possible? In people burdened with hypertension, diabetes, and smoking, atherosclerotic lesions may appear first in the small vessels responsible for erection, and only then give rise to more organic symptoms. Dyslipidemia is also a risk factor. A person with high cholesterol has over 80 percent. more likely to develop erectile dysfunction.
If we notice one of the symptoms listed above, we should see a cardiologist. On the other hand, people over XNUMX should plan a visit once a year as a preventive measure. The doctor will interview us, measure the pressure, auscultate the heart and refer us for additional tests, if necessary. It is worth taking care of the heart both for us and for our loved ones.