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Heart sends many signals before failure: Cardiologists
Fatigue, breathlessness, inability to do normal personal and professional work, weight gain sans reason, swelling in feet could be early indicators of heart trouble .
Before it fails, your heart gives several signs and calls you many times to tell it is failing, said Dr Nakul Sinha, senior cardiologist, Medanta hospital while addressing an interactive session on ‘Understanding Heart Failure’ organised on Sunday.
“A little bit of fatigue in routine life is normal. I have swelling in my feet but that’s ok, I can do with it. We often hear such statements which are not taken seriously. This is an incorrect way of responding to signals your heart is sending to make you realise that it is in trouble,” the eminent cardiologist said during the interaction.
“Fatigue, breathlessness, inability to do normal personal and professional work, weight gain without reason, swelling in feet, are all early symptoms for your heart under trouble. Try to read and act on any such symptoms. A cardiac arrest is sudden but trouble in heart aggravates gradually and can be detected at an early stage,” Dr Sinha said.
“Congestive heart failure or heart failure is a condition where the heart is unable to pump blood as efficiently as it should. Congestive heart failure now has no specific symptoms and hence it is important to call a doctor if you have any such symptoms that have been troubling you for days or weeks,” said Dr Mansoor Hasan as he shared how he responded to chest pain 10 years back.
“Within an hour of pain, I had a stent and here I am before you at the age of 86-years,” he said before the gathering.
The doctors said early diagnosis and treatment of heart issues is the best way to guard oneself.
“Early detection helps in effective treatment while the same at a later stage makes things worse. Heart failure is a common cause needing hospitalisation among people above 65 years of age,” they added.
