WARNING !
You may be experiencing the early warning signs of blocked arteries (atherosclerosis) but you may not be associating this pain and discomfort with heart problems.
Strange though it may sound, the traditional image of a man holding his chest whilst gasping for breath is not the most common pain experience or symptom of a blocked artery sufferer, although it may be that very one that ultimately brings them into the accident and emergency department.
It is very likely that the patient has been experiencing pain and discomfort for some time but has put this down to a myriad of other possible – and less serious – illnesses.
Take the example of my husband. He had angioplasty and a stent procedure some ten years earlier and therefore convinced us all that his chest pain was not a heart problem or angina. He claimed that he of all people would recognize heart pain.
He experienced something that he was convinced was more like indigestion for some eighteen months before he finally had a massive heart attack episode which was followed up with a heart bypass operation.
Typically he would be enjoying a rich meal, for example a Chinese Meal (one of his favourites) but no sooner would he have put his knife and fork down when he would be clutching directly below his chest with one arm and wincing with the pain, which would go off after a few minutes. This would be put down to indigestion, because of the rich food followed by pain.
Another common occurrence would be at the end of the evening just before bed when it was his self imposed job to finally load and switch on the dishwasher, which involves bending to close the door of the dishwasher, he would immediately get a pain in the chest again. This would be put down to a hiatus hernia because it came on after bending.
The pain – below the centre of his sternum – would also be apparent if he undertook anything that involved stooping or bending. So plenty of antacid remedies were taken and they would, strangely, ease the pain which often would disappear within a few minutes of taking this medication.
The pain would however, very often re occur during the night and he found it easier and more comfortable to sleep propped up by some pillows but would frequently complain in the morning of pain below the sternum during the night. He would frequently take antacid medication on several occasions throughout the night.
We got to the stage where we could no longer go for walks for the simple reason that after only a few steps, the pain would come on which would be immobilizing for him for several moments.
Now I can guess what you are thinking. If my husband experienced all these symptoms for so long why didn’t you get him looked at?
Well the answer is, we did. The accident and emergency department performed an ECG on a few occasions when we had rushed there after very severe pain, but unfortunately the ECG results did not indicate a heart attack and we were advised to “take things easy” and return if the pain re-occurred. They took a blood test on one other occasion and came back with the diagnosis of “irritable-bowl syndrome” which added to our reasoning and is one of the reasons why we always put his pains down to digestive problems, and is why he was sure it was not a heart related problem.
On the final occurrence of this type of chest pain, the pain just wouldn’t go away as it had in the past. All the antacids wouldn’t shift it and he spent most of the day clutching his stomach.
He eventually gave in when a second a violent pain started to develop in his right shoulder and he allowed me to call the ambulance at 10 pm. Prior to this he had insisted that it was another bout of indigestion and flatly refused to even consider attending the hospital.
By 5 am the next day he had been transferred from our local hospital to the main hospital and was in intensive care awaiting heart bypass surgery. He suffered several very unpleasant heart attack episodes whilst in hospital awaiting surgery.
So please heed this warning.
If you are suffering from any of the above symptoms, do not delay! Get to the hospital right away.
If the symptoms are not caused by a problem with your heart then this is great news and you can relax and get the appropriate treatment, but if it is your heart, and you won’t be reading this article unless you have a suspicion that it may be, then you will be in the right place to get treatment sooner rather than later!
My husband is now fully recovered and he is as fit as a fiddle. He can once again walk without pain in his chest and – deep joy – he can enjoy his favourite Chinese food without any suffering any pain afterwards!
Mail this post
?>
Posted under Wrist Heart Rate Monitor
This post was written by author on November 25, 2009
The watch features an 100-hour chrono, with the option to display the current lap or split aside the running time. The 30 laps of memory storage, allows a runner to store lap times of a session, then recall them for viewing at a later stage. The countdown timer provided, can be directly applied to repetition sessions where you wish to run for a fixed length of time, as opposed to a fixed distance.
In addition to basic features (see the description for the Traditional Timex Ironman Watch), these watches include some rudimentary, but reliable heart rate features including a target heart rate zone, recording of the time you spend within the zone, recovery heart rate measurement (a useful measure of over-training) and calories burned.
If you are suffering from heart or blood pressure problems, having a heart rate monitor while training is a must. Not only will you be able to see how your heart handles physical effort, but you will also be able to control your heart rate by adjusting speed settings on the exercise machines. Some treadmills and elliptical trainers come with a built-in heart-rate management system, which automatically slows down the machine if your heart rate is too high. This is useful, as it helps avoid many heart-related problems that used to occur in the past with people training harder than their heart could handle.
Even if you do not have heart-related problems, it is still a good idea to use a heart rate monitor from time to time. This way, you will be able to track how your body handles intense effort. To make sure you are healthy and there will be no problems in the future, you should make a daily pulse-rate table for one or two weeks, while training at the same intensity. You will notice if there are extreme pitfalls or ascendings in your pulse, but the best thing to do would be to show this report to your doctor, who will immediately notice any forthcoming troubles.
The new monitors on the market today provide the hard core athletes with a variety of monitors from strapless to wristwatches to finger ring type monitors. There are even a chest transmitter that can be placed inside of the individual’s bra or shirt. The Mio Motiva is a simple and attractive strapless sports watch that helps monitor the heart rate of the athlete. This incredibly accurate as well as simple to use by just pressing and hold two buttons on the clock face with the index and middle fingers, then after five seconds the watch will beep and the heart rate will be displayed. The numbers on the watch are easy to read and the backlight adds legibility as well as includes the time of day, percentage of maximum heart rate, timer, and even the calories that are burned.
Another monitor that is available on the market today is the Life Span MyBeat Heart Rate Ring, which is a tiny ring that can be worn on the individual’s index finger that helps measures their heart rate. This is a small and inconspicuous ring that has a simple two button operation. The left button controls a timer and the right side button switches from the time of day to the heart rate whenever it is pushed. It has a cool novelty factor and is cheap enough to give as a gift. It comes with a spare battery as well.
Most heart rate monitors use what is called an analog signal, and while these are usually quite accurate, Timex has developed a more accurate technology. This technology, the FM technology, is more accurate than the analog signals and will give you an accurate reading of your heart rate that may only be off by two or three beats a minute. This new technology is digital, and since it is digital you do not have to worry about getting interference from those around you who are also using heart rate monitors. You can be sure that the readings you get with this monitor are always accurate and you can rely on this information.