Leonna Heuring: Heart health: ‘Classic’ signs aren’t the only symptoms

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. That means almost all of us have been touched by this disease in some way.

Heart disease describes a range of conditions that affect your heart. The most common type is coronary artery disease, which can cause a heart attack, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Heart attacks often seem to be portrayed the same way, usually on TV. You know, the man suddenly clutches his chest and collapses. … While it can happen that way, it’s not the only way it happens.

For my husband, who suffered a heart attack and underwent open-heart surgery when he was 38 years old, his symptoms — insomnia, indigestion, pain in his back between his shoulder blades, sudden fatigue — lasted several days before we learned during an emergency room visit he was having/had just had a heart attack.

In hindsight, there were several red flags even in the months and weeks leading up to my husband’s cardiac event.

The week of his heart attack we were on vacation and playing miniature golf with our then 4-year-old son. My husband couldn’t even make it to the third hole before he asked to go inside the game room and wait for us to finish the game.

“Classic” heart attack symptoms include chest pressure, chest discomfort, shortness of breath, breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness, the American Heart Association said. Others, particularly women, may also experience back or jaw pain, shoulder pain or vomiting.

According to Harvard Men’s Health Watch, about half of all heart attacks are mistaken for less serious problems and can increase your risk of dying from coronary artery disease.

Symptoms can vary, which is why it’s important to always listen to your body. You know when something doesn’t feel right. If you experience those symptoms, seek medical assistance immediately.

It might be scary to go and get checked out, but if there is something wrong, then you’re in the right place for treatment. And if everything checks out OK, then that’s a relief, too.

As American Heart Month winds down, remember there are things you can do to reduce your chances of getting heart disease even if the disease runs in your family.

Making healthy choices, such as not smoking, maintaining a healthy weight, controlling blood sugar and cholesterol, treating high blood pressure, getting at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity a week and getting regular checkups, can help, according to the Heart Association.

If you don’t already have a regular family doctor in place, get one — and visit them annually. Have a full, comprehensive health panel blood test done so it can give you and your doctor a baseline if and when an illness occurs.

Other family members of a cardiac patient should also be evaluated.

We learned when our son was just 7 years old that he had high cholesterol. He was active, at a healthy weight and his diet consisted basically of milk, fruit and macaroni and cheese, so to hear that he had high cholesterol seemed ridiculous. The doctor explained it was genetic, and officially, he was diagnosed with familial hypercholesterolemia.

Making some of those healthy lifestyle changes as well as our son seeing a pediatric endocrinologist and having lab work done multiple times a year are part of our routine.

If you’re prescribed medicines, please take them. Doctors prescribe them to you for a reason. It can take some getting used to, but set a timer on your phone to remember or divide medicine into daily doses in pill boxes. [I know. Prescriptions (and health care) can be expensive, but we’ll save that topic for another day.]

In the meantime, continue to listen to your body and seek help if something doesn’t feel right.

Leonna Heuring is co-editor of the Standard Democrat.