When To See A Healthcare Provider
The symptoms most commonly caused by heart disease can also be produced by other medical conditions, from very serious to entirely benign. If you experience any of the above symptoms, you need an evaluation by your healthcare provider to identify the cause. These are symptoms that should never be ignored.
Additionally, if youre having any difficulty getting an erection, especially if the problem has been gradual, this is nearly always one of the first signs of either heart disease or diabetes in men. Be sure to see your healthcare provider as soon as you notice any problem with erectile dysfunction.
If you have a family history of heart disease or youre worried about your risk for developing it, be sure to talk to your healthcare provider. Staying proactive where your heart health is concerned can help you detect any problems early, giving you a better potential outcome.
Heart Disease Doctor Discussion Guide
Get our printable guide for your next healthcare providers appointment to help you ask the right questions.
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Heart Attacks In Women
Although hard-to-read heart attacks happen to both men and women, they are more common in women. One reason for this is that mens symptoms initially set the standard for recognizing heart trouble. Now a growing body of research shows that women can experience heart attacks differently than men.
Understanding sex differences in heart disease is important. Heart disease is the leading cause of death for women. Although it mostly affects older women, it isnt rare in younger women. One in 10 of all women who die from heart disease or a stroke are under age 65, and this age group accounts for one-third of heart- or stroke-related hospitalizations. Even so, younger women and their doctors dont necessarily suspect a heart attack even when all the signs are there.
In a survey of more than 500 women who survived heart attacks, 95% of them said they noticed that something wasnt right in the month or so before their heart attacks. Two most common early warning signs were fatigue and disturbed sleep. Some women, for example, said they were so tired they couldnt make a bed without resting.
Chest pain, a common early warning sign of heart trouble for men, was further down the list for these women. Those who did have it tended to describe it as pressure, aching, or tightness in the chest, not pain.
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Chest Pain After Covid
Chest pain after COVID-19 is among the concerning symptoms cardiologists are seeing, even as hospitalizations from the latest surge of COVID-19 cases recede.
Many recover initially from COVID-19 only to suffer weeks later from sometimes confounding symptoms that can affect all parts of the body. These individuals are the victims of long COVID, defined by the CDC as conditions patients experience four or more weeks after recovering from a COVID-19 infection.
Long COVID patients, or long haulers, battle symptoms that include chest pain, chronic fatigue, brain fog, shortness of breath, nerve problems, anxiety and depression, joint and muscle pain and more. They therefore benefit from multidisciplinary care, which is available at the UCHealth Post-COVID Clinic.
UCHealth Today spoke with Dr. Natasha Altman, an advanced heart failure and transplant cardiology specialist with the Heart Failure Clinic at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital on the Anschutz Medical Campus. Altman provides heart care for long COVID patients at the Post-COVID Clinic.
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Symptoms Associated With Fatigue And Asthma
Fatigue is defined as an overwhelming, sustained feeling of tiredness that makes it harder to function and carry out normal day-to-day activities. Fatigue affects both the body and the mind, being experienced as a lack of energy, focus, and motivation. Irritability, brain fog, daytime sleepiness, and weakness are all symptoms related to fatigue. Some people experience significant muscle weakness and feeling tired physically, while others experience more mental fatigue, feeling unmotivated and unfocused.
Fatigue seems to be felt differently by men and women. Scientists found that men tend to complain more about feeling tired, while women are more likely to describe fatigue as feeling stressed, anxious or depressed.
Everyone can experience fatigue after working long hours, not sleeping enough, or during stressful times. However, in this case, fatigue resolves after getting rest and reduced activities. In case of asthma or other chronic, or inflammatory conditions, fatigue becomes persistent and affects the quality of life.
Know The Asthma Symptoms In Children
Asthma affects as many as 10% to 12% of children in the United States and is the leading cause of chronic illness in children. For unknown reasons, the incidence of asthma in children is steadily increasing. While asthma symptoms can begin at any age, most children have their first asthma symptoms by age 5.
Not all children with asthma wheeze. Chronic coughing with asthma may be the only obvious sign, and a childâs asthma may go unrecognized if the cough is attributed to recurrent bronchitis.
For more detail, see WebMDâs Asthma in Children.
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Asthma And Chest Pain
If you have asthma, your immune system can cause your airways to become inflamed and swollen when youre around certain irritants. This can lead to chest tightness, pressure, or pain.
Studies show that chest pain, along with other non-respiratory symptoms, frequently occur before or during an asthma attack. If you experience chest pain after an asthma attack, it could be because youre sore from the coughing, deep breathing, or other symptoms you experienced.
Coughing, deep breathing, and changing positions can all worsen chest pain in people with asthma.
When To Go To The Hospital
You need to seek emergency treatment if you have any of these symptoms:
Chest Pain
Chest pain should always be considered a serious symptom because it can indicate an emergency situation. If youre experiencing chest pain and any of these factors apply to you, you should seek emergency care:
- You have a strong family history of early heart disease.
- Youre 45 years old or older and you have any of the risk factors for coronary artery disease, including obesity, smoking, family history, diabetes, high cholesterol, or a sedentary lifestyle.
- The pain is worse than any other chest pain youve had.
- The pain feels like its spreading to your neck, shoulders, upper abdomen, arms, back, or jaws.
- The pain is crushing, tight, heavy, or feels like squeezing.
- You also feel nauseous, fatigued, weak, short of breath, dizzy, sweaty, or youve fainted.
- You feel like something is very wrong.
- The pain keeps getting worse as the minutes pass.
- The pain is unlike anything youve experienced before.
Heart Attack Symptoms
If you have symptoms of a heart attack, be sure to seek emergency medical care. These symptoms include:
- Chest or arm pain, pressure, or discomfort that may spread to your neck, back, or jaw
- Shortness of breath
- Dizziness and loss of coordination
- Difficulty breathing
If youre with a loved one and suspect he or she is having a stroke, use these measures to help you determine if theres a problem:
Sudden Cardiac Arrest
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What You Should Do During A Heart Attack
If you think you are having a heart attack, you or someone nearby should call emergency services immediately. Its unsafe to drive yourself to the hospital during a heart attack, so call an ambulance. While you may feel awake and alert enough to drive, the chest pain could get so severe that you may have trouble breathing or difficulty thinking clearly.
Which Activities Are Less Likely To Cause Sports
Indoor sports and those with short bursts of activity are less likely to trigger an asthma episode. But any activity can cause symptoms. Be sure to talk to your provider before starting any exercise program.
To avoid symptoms, you may want participate in sports or exercises that are best for asthma including:
- Activities with short bursts of energy: Asthma symptoms appear less often during sports that involve quick, short sprints with periods of rest. These sports include volleyball and baseball.
- Less-rigorous activities: Golf, biking and walking are often good choices for people with asthma.
- Indoor sports: Some indoor activities are less likely to trigger sports-induced asthma symptoms.
- Warm or humid environment: Swimming, diving and water polo have a lower risk of triggering sports-induced asthma symptoms. Moist pool air makes an EIB episode less likely. But some people find chlorine in a pool to be irritating. A saltwater pool can be a better choice, if you have one available.
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Chest Pain Prior To Asthma Attacks
When this happens, it is considered an early warning sign of asthma. It means an asthma attack is imminent if you don’t take action right away.
Here I would like to use myself as an example. I have a severe allergy to dust mites. I take Advair 500 to make my airways less sensitive to them. Still, even this is not enough to prevent my airways from getting twitchy when Im exposed to dust mites.
As a kid, back in the 1980s, I collected baseball cards. Freshly removed from packs, they smelled like bazooka bubble gum. I spent many hours sorting them, or admiring them. This was something I could do, even when the asthma was acting up.
Fast forward 30 years, and they smell like old, musty cardboard. When I sort through them for any length of time the chest pressure begins. Why does this happen? Its’ because dust mite feces gets into the air I inhale, and my immune system recognizes it as harmful, and initiates a full out onslaught.
This causes worsening airway inflammation, resulting in a tickling feeling in my chest. So, dust mite exposure causes airway twitchiness resulting in airway itchiness. This can become chest tightness, and even shortness of breath, if I don’t take action.
Why Am I Short Of Breath
On this page, we explain the different causes that can make you feel breathless.
Breathlessness is a symptom. There are many possible underlying causes. But the main causes are:
There are other reasons too.
If you get breathless on a regular basis, you might have been diagnosed with one of these causes. Often theres more than one. And others can develop over time. If you notice changes in your breathing, tell your doctor. Conditions that cause long-term breathlessness can often be treated to some extent, but some cannot be fully reversed. Its important to learn how to manage long-term breathlessness, so that you can live as well as possible with it.
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How Is It Evaluated
If chest discomfort is your main symptom, the first step is to rule out a life-threatening problem.2 Your provider will focus on questions such as:4
- When did the pain or discomfort start?
- How has it changed?
- Where do you feel the pain?
- How would you describe the pain?
- What factors make it better or worse?
Your initial evaluation may include an electrocardiogram and chest x-ray, unless there is an obvious and non-threatening cause of chest discomfort.4 Your provider probably will not even consider asthma until he or she is sure that you do not have an immediately threatening condition.2
Woman 78 With Dyspnea Dry Cough And Fatigue
Clinician Reviews
Natalie Orbach, PA-C
Natalie Orbach works in pulmonary medicine at Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore and at a private primary care office in Lutherville, Maryland.
A 78-year-old woman presented to the emergency department complaining of shortness of breath, a dry nonproductive cough, fatigue, hypoxia, and general malaise lasting for several months and worsening over a two-week period. She denied having fever, chills, hemoptysis, weight loss, headache, rashes, or joint pain. She reported sweats, decrease in appetite, wheezing, cough without sputum production, and slight swelling of the legs. The patient complained of chest pain upon admission, but it resolved quickly.
The patient, a retired widow with five grown children, denied recent surgery or exposure to sick people, had not travelled, and reported no changes in her home environment. She claimed to have no pets but admitted to currently smoking about four cigarettes a day she had previously smoked, on average, three packs of cigarettes per day for 60 years. She denied using alcohol or drugs, including intravenous agents.
The patients medical history was significant for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. She had also been diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease , transient ischemic attack, patent foramen ovale, hyperlipidemia, seizure disorder, and hypothyroidism. She had no known HIV risk factors and had had no exposure to asbestos or tuberculosis.
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Why Is It Important To Recognize Silent Asthma
Wheezing² is often a characteristic of an asthma attack, but not everyone exhibits audible symptoms. This might be due to how your body reacts to airway constriction.
Any respiratory distress is cause for concern. On average, 11 people die in the US every day¹ from asthma attacks. Starting treatment at the first sign of breathing difficulties can help save your life. Thats why recognizing the symptoms of an asthma attack is important not just the audible systems.
In some cases, a lack of noise during respiratory distress may indicate something called a silent chest.³ A silent chest occurs when your airway constricts so much that you cant get enough air into your lungs. A blockage in your chest could be the cause, possibly due to mucus or spasms in your bronchial tubes.
A silent chest is a serious and potentially fatal medical condition. It can stop your body from getting the oxygen it needs to survive.
You should take asthma attack symptoms seriously and speak to your doctor as soon as possible. If your symptoms dont start to ease with treatment, seek help from your local emergency room.
Explaining Your Symptoms To Your Gp
Its a good idea to start a diary of your symptoms before speaking to your GP. Taking note of when symptoms flare-up may help you to understand your triggers. This diary will then help your GP to understand and properly assess your condition. You could also try filming your symptoms if they are hard to describe.
There are several different tests for asthma – so your GP wont be able to diagnose you straightaway. Our advice on diagnosing asthma explains this process in more detail.
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How Asthma Is Treated
While there is no cure for asthma, there are a number of treatments that can help control the condition.
Treatment is based on two important goals, which are:
- relieving symptoms
- preventing future symptoms and attacks
For most people, this will involve the occasional or, more commonly, daily use of medications, usually taken using an inhaler. However, identifying and avoiding possible triggers is also important.
You should have a personal asthma action plan agreed with your doctor or nurse that includes information about the medicines you need to take, how to recognise when your symptoms are getting worse, and what steps to take when they do so.
These symptoms are often worse at night and early in the morning, particularly if the condition is not well controlled. They may also develop or become worse in response to a certain trigger, such as exercise or exposure to an allergen.
Read our page on the causes of asthma for more information about potential triggers.
Speak to your GP if you think you or your child may have asthma. You should also talk to your doctor or asthma nurse if you have been diagnosed with asthma and you are finding it difficult to control the symptoms.
When To See A Gp
Most cases of acute bronchitis can be easily treated at home with rest, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and plenty of fluids.
You only need to see a GP if your symptoms are severe or unusual.
For example, see a GP if:
- your cough is severe or lasts longer than 3 weeks
- you have a high temperature for more than 3 days this may be a sign of flu or a more serious condition, such as pneumonia
- you cough up mucus streaked with blood
- you have an underlying heart or lung condition, such as asthma, heart failure or emphysema
- youre becoming more breathless
- you have had repeated episodes of bronchitis
A GP may need to rule out other lung infections, such as pneumonia, which has symptoms similar to those of bronchitis.
If they think you may have pneumonia, youll probably need a chest X-ray and a sample of mucus may be taken for testing.
If a GP thinks you might have an underlying condition, they may also suggest that you have a lung function test.
Youll be asked to take a deep breath and blow into a device called a spirometer, which measures the volume of air in your lungs.
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Sudden Vision Changes May Be Signs Of A Stroke
As you age, its normal for your vision to progressively worsen. But dont ever ignore visual changes that affect only one eye, the sudden onset of double vision, or the inability to see the center of what youre looking at.
Vision changes that occur suddenly can be signs of a stroke. Theyre particularly alarming if they come with other warning symptoms of stroke, such as numbness on one side of the body, or difficulty speaking or finding the right words. More subtle variations on these symptoms could indicate a transient ischemic attack, commonly called a mini-stroke. Getting them checked out could prevent a larger stroke later, Baechler says.
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What Causes Chest Tightness
There is no exact explanation of what causes chest tightness in anxiety sufferers. Nevertheless, it is advised to seek a primary care provider immediately for any sudden or worsening chest pain in order to rule out possible cardiac disease.
Do not by any means feel as if you are bothering anyone when you seek help for chest pain. Once serious health conditions are ruled out, you can begin to tackle your anxiety-induced chest pain.
Rest assured that anxiety can commonly cause chest tightness and chest pain for a variety of reasons. These include:
Chest tightness most often occurs right before or during an anxiety attack. It may also present spontaneously with no anxiety at all in what is known as a limited-symptom panic attack.
Rest assured that chest discomfort caused by anxiety is usually harmless.
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