Heart Blockage Warning Signs: Doctor Reveals Simple At-Home Test to Spot Early Risk

A serious heart issue is not only debilitating but also dangerous and life-threatening. According to doctors, most people end up in hospitals after missing out on early signs or regular check-ups—only when their body gives multiple signs that something is wrong with it. However, what is needed is to be extra careful and track your heart health. A renowned US-based cardiovascular surgeon has shared simple tests you can do from the comfort of your home to figure out if your heart has a problem. According to Dr. Jeremy London, you do not always need a blood test, X-ray, or electrocardiogram (ECG) to check how healthy your heart is. You can instead just “listen to your body” and see if you spot any red flags that can help identify any heart troubles.

A few signs you need to be vigilant about are

• Chest tightness
• Pain in the chest
• Pain in the jaw
• Breathlessness

According to Dr. London, if you can relieve these signs with adequate rest, it means there is something wrong with your heart, and it needs urgent attention. “When you exert yourself, that area below the blockage is blood-starved, and you start to have these symptoms. When you rest, the demand on this area of the heart goes down, and the pain goes away,” he explained in a video on Instagram.

What happens in a heart attack?

A heart attack is an extremely dangerous condition that happens because you do not have enough blood flow to some of your heart muscle. This lack of blood flow occurs because of many different factors, but it is usually related to a blockage in one or more of your heart’s arteries. Doctors say that without blood flow, the affected heart muscle begins to die. And if you do not get blood flow back quickly, a heart attack can cause permanent heart damage and/or death. When a heart attack happens, blood flow to a part of your heart stops or is far below normal, which causes injury or death to that part of your heart muscle. When a part of your heart can’t pump because it is dying from a lack of blood flow, it can disrupt the pumping function of your heart. This can reduce or stop blood flow to the rest of your body, which can be deadly if someone doesn’t correct it quickly.

Other symptoms of a heart attack

Apart from the one recommended by Dr. London, a few other heart attack symptoms that people describe most often include

• Chest pain
• Breathlessness or trouble breathing
• Trouble sleeping
• Nausea or stomach discomfort
• Heart palpitations
• Anxiety or a feeling of “impending doom.”
• Feeling lightheaded, dizzy, or passing out

According to experts, men are more likely to have different heart attack symptoms. Women are less likely to have chest pain or discomfort that feels like indigestion. They are more likely to have shortness of breath, fatigue, and insomnia that started before the heart attack.