hi
I'm dr. Paulo I lead the cardiovascular prevention and Rehab
program at the Peter Munk Cardiac Center and Toronto rehab Institute we mostly
help people who have had heart attacks and other coronary events get back on
their feet just like training for any important goal it's a tough but
rewarding journey heart attacks are as serious as it gets and not something you
would ever take chances with right yet it's really common to speak with someone
after a coronary event and here they felt like something was wrong
for a while but didn't get checked out the warning signs
of a heart attack are actually pretty clear they can start hours days or even
weeks before you end up in hospital sometimes they come and go but just because
the symptom goes away it doesn't mean you're out of danger if you
know the warning signs of heart problems and you seek treatment before it
becomes an emergency these warning signs could save your life it's up to you the
symptoms to watch for might not seem out of the ordinary like feelings of
indigestion.
muscle strains or running out of breath when you're
active that's why it's important to learn how to recognize when these feelings
might actually be related to your heart the one we hear about most is chest pain
it's described in a lot of different ways like pressure squeezing
burning or discomfort felt in the middle of the chest the exact description of
the pain isn't too important here because under normal circumstances you
shouldn't be experiencing chest pain at all if the pain goes away after
resting for a couple of minutes we would call that angina
however if it lasts for several minutes and increases in intensity we've worried
about this being a heart attack we all get occasional aches and pains and these
might occur in the chest area too my rule of thumb is that if
your chest hurts when you push on it like with your thumb then it's likely a
muscle or bone injury not a heart problem the second big sign is pain in the arm
jaw or neck you might feel it in just one spot or it may travel around
again how you would describe the pain is less important.
one
person may call it a shooting pain while others would call it tingling or
numbness the third is experiencing something like nausea shortness of breath
sweating or feeling faint these might not seem unusual if you've had a
heavy meal or tough workout but if they're showing up for no reason then it's a
real concern now the big bright waving red flag is if you feel a combination of
these symptoms at the same time if this happens you need to get to an
emergency department immediately I strongly recommend dialing 911 guys are even
too stubborn for that if nothing else have a friend Drive you to the hospital
right away context is important here as well if you're pushing yourself
physically and something is wrong with your
heart you're more likely to experience the warning signs this is because you're
exceeding what we call your threshold meaning your heart isn't getting enough
blood and oxygen it can be scary to think there might be something wrong
a lot of guys would rather ignore the warning signs than
get themselves checked out but it's far easier to address heart issues and
maintain your health in advance than it is to recover from a heart attack pay
attention to what your body is telling you and if those symptoms
we discussed sound familiar talk to your doctor
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