4 Warning Signs Your Heart May Be Under Stress

At West Houston Heart Center in Houston, Texas, Dr. Humayun Naqvi and his team provide preventative cardiology, which means looking for early warning signs of a stressed heart. Here’s what you should know about spotting heart stress early on.

Four warning signs your heart could be under stress

There are four main signs that your heart could be working harder than it should, or could be impaired in some way.

1. Fatigue or weakness

Recurring fatigue and weakness can mean that your heart isn’t working properly. If you constantly feel tired or feel like a wimp when faced with everyday activities like climbing steps or carrying a full laundry basket, you should talk to your doctor about getting your heart checked out.

2. Irregular heartbeat

A heart arrhythmia is an irregular heartbeat: beating too quickly, beating too slowly, or beating unevenly. You might feel like your heart is racing, fluttering, pounding, or sluggish. Arrhythmias are caused by misfiring of the electrical signals that tell your heart when to beat. Usually arrhythmias are most noticeable when you’re exerting yourself or right after you stop.

3. Dizziness or lightheadedness

Feeling dizzy, lightheaded, or faint can be a sign of diseased heart muscle (cardiomyopathy). Your heart has to work harder than it should to pump blood through your body. If you faint, calling 911 is a must; if it’s not your heart, it could still be any number of other serious health conditions.

4. Shortness of breath

Shortness of breath can occur when either your heart or your lungs aren’t working properly to oxygenate your blood. You can have shortness of breath and think it’s just a respiratory problem when in reality your heart is the underlying problem. Whether it’s indeed your lungs or your heart, shortness of breath means you should see your doctor as soon as possible. 

Stress tests

At West Houston Heart Center, we perform two types of cardiac stress tests. 

1. Exercise stress test

During an exercise stress test, you exercise on a treadmill or stationary bike. You’ll need to keep going until your heart rate reaches a targeted goal and maintain that rate for a specific period of time.  

Dr. Naqvi calculates your target heart rate and exercise period before you start. During the test, we monitor your blood pressure and keep an EKG hooked up to you so we can track your heart rate and rhythm in real time to gauge your heart function.

2. Nuclear stress test

During a nuclear stress test, you still exercise, but we use single-photon emission computed tomography or SPECT to more closely evaluate your heart function. This technology can give us a better idea of what’s going on inside your heart during stress.

After using an IV to introduce a small amount of radioactive tracer into your bloodstream, we use the SPECT scanner to capture 3D images of your heart before and after the exercise session. These scans are painless.

Interested in learning more about stress tests and signs of a stressed heart? Call us at 832-400-3957, or book your appointment online today.