Is it Love, or Heart Disease?
By Jennifer J. Brown, PhD, Everyday Health
The heart sits at the very center of our of emotional world. But some of the words we use to talk about heartfelt feelings - saying that a person is bighearted or that our hearts are aflutter, racing, throbbing, aching or broken - could also describe real symptoms of heart disease and other ills. Find out more about the secret life of the heart and what certain odd sensations may be telling you about your cardio and mental health:
Heartache or Heart Attack?
Anguish, sorrow, and feelings of loss sometimes come with very real heartache. For reasons we don't understand, the pain seems to center on our hearts. But how do you know when chest pain is more than an emotional response?
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The hallmark indicators of heart attack, according to the American Heart Association, include discomfort right in the middle of the chest - pain or pressure, or a feeling of squeezing or fullness. Less common symptoms: shortness of breath, pain in the arm, back, neck, jaw, or even stomach. In women, heart attack comes with chest pain less often than in men.
Even if you have reason to feel emotional heartache, call 911 immediately if you or someone you know has any of these physical symptoms of heart attack. Every minute counts: Every year 715,000 people in the United States have heart attacks and about 15 percent die from them, the CDC reports.
Heart Aflutter or Atrial Fibrillation?
When your heart skips a beat or flutters, it may just be nervous excitement. But fluttering, racing or pounding sometimes point to a condition called atrial fibrillation. The most common abnormal heart rhythm, afib affects about 2.7 million people in the United States, according to the Heart Rhythm Society.
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Other afib symptoms to watch out for: fatigue, shortness of breath, and dizziness or fainting. People who have atrial fibrillation are at risk for stroke and heart failure, so if you have palpitations or a fluttering sensation persist, it's time for a visit to the doctor.
Heartbroken or Broken Heart Syndrome?
Some people, when they're overcome by sorrow, don't just feel heartbroken. They actually have a dangerous medical condition called broken heart syndrome - also known as stress-induced cardiomyopathy. The intense chest pain of broken heart syndrome, which can happen suddenly after extreme physical or emotional stress, results from an influx of stress hormones, according to the American Heart Association. The odds of having broken heart syndrome are 10 times higher if you're a woman, and people over 55 are at higher risk. Symptoms are similar to those for heart attack, but recovery is faster and the syndrome is rarely fatal.
Bighearted or an Enlarged Heart?
Everyone enjoys a friend who's bighearted - generous and thoughtful. But the heart, like other muscles, gets bigger when it's overworked. High blood pressure can make it work too hard and grow bigger, or it may bulk up to compensate for an area of dead tissue after a heart attack. In some athletes an enlarged heart comes from overdoing strength and endurance training.
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One type of enlarged heart - ventricular hypertrophy - may be silent or cause symptoms like shortness of breath, chest pain, dizziness, and rapid heartbeat. As the walls of the heart muscle get thicker, the chambers inside the heart get smaller and less able to keep up with the body's demands. An enlarged heart of this type puts you at risk for serious conditions like atrial fibrillation and heart failure.
Coldhearted or Flatlining?
We all know cold-hearted people who lack sensitivity and sympathy, but when your body temperature actually falls it's dangerous for your heart. A person whose body temperature drops below 95 degrees Fahrenheit has hypothermia, explained cardiologist William T. Abraham, MD, from the Ohio State University in Columbus.
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When body temperature falls even lower, below 90 degrees, blood pressure and heart and respiratory rates decrease. "As the temperature falls below 86 F to about 82 F, the risk for life-threatening heart rhythm abnormalities, particularly ventricular fibrillation and asystole [flat line with no heart activity], increases markedly," Abraham noted. When the heart is in ventricular fibrillation, the ventricles quiver instead of pumping, causing cardiac arrest and in some cases, sudden death.
Heartthrob or Panic Attack?
You may call that special someone a heartthrob because they get your pulse racing, and it's true that your heart can pound due to the excitement of being around someone you love. But it could also happen because you'd had too much caffeine, nicotine, or diet pills, or you're using stimulants like cocaine. And you're likely to have a racing heart after exercise or when you have a fever - times when your heart is under stress. Palpitations could be a warning sign of an arrhythmia (an irregular heartbeat), however, or a panic attack.
With a panic attack, the heart races plus you feel fearful, and you may also feel intense anxiety or even terror, have trouble breathing, and start sweating. It can be difficult to distinguish between a panic attack and a heart condition, said John D. Day, MD, a cardiologist at Intermountain Healthcare in Murray, Utah. "It is amazing how many young women I have seen over the years with a long history of being diagnosed with 'panic attacks' who in reality had an arrhythmia," said Dr. Day. When the arrhythmia was treated, he said, the panic attacks disappeared.
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This article originally appeared on EverydayHealth.com: Is It Love, or Heart Disease?
