Being alert to these four symptoms could save your life
Sudden cardiac arrest can occur with no warning signs, but about half of patients experience symptoms up to 24 hours before.
“Cardiac arrest is an episode where the heart either goes into an ultimately fatal heart rhythm or it stops,” said Jennifer H. Ladner, MD, FACC, who practices at the Cape Cod Healthcare Cardiovascular Center in Falmouth. “It’s fatal if it’s not treated quickly with CPR or defibrillation.”
Paying attention to some red flags could save your life. Symptoms to watch for include:
- Shortness of breath
- Chest discomfort
- Excessive sweating
- Lightheadedness
“When there’s no obvious, logical cause, those are red flags that need to be looked at to determine if there’s anything to be concerned about,” Dr. Ladner said. “If you have an obvious explanation, like it’s really hot outside, that’s one thing. But if you’re climbing your stairs and all of a sudden you break out in profuse sweating, that’s distinctly abnormal.”
For example, if someone regularly walks two miles a day and is now getting very short of breath and can only go halfway and have to turn around, that would be unusual, she said.
“Lightheadedness, where you feel like you’re going to faint, not just like your equilibrium is off, also can be a sign of a serious heart rhythm abnormality, which can lead to sudden cardiac arrest,” she added.
This is yet another reason why people should exercise regularly, explained Dr. Ladner.
“People who exercise often are going to pick up abnormalities much earlier than people who are very sedentary,” she said. “If a person walks two miles a day, they know how that feels, and they’re going to notice a change in their exercise tolerance. If they do, then something’s up that needs to be checked out.”
Different Presentations for Men and Women
The symptoms present differently for men and women. Men might have any or all of them, while women are more likely to only report the shortness of breath, said Dr. Ladner.
“The first studies that looked at coronary artery disease were done on men, and that’s how they came up with the classic symptoms of chest pain, shortness of breath and sweating. But women often have more vague symptoms. It can be something as subtle as ‘I’m feeling tired’ or ‘I’m feeling fatigued.’ Shortness of breath without chest pain is something that women often have that is less common in men,” she said.
If you experience one or more of these unexplained “red flag” symptoms, you should call 911, says Ladner. A prompt medical evaluation in an emergency room could be the difference between life and death.
“If we can determine that someone’s having symptoms related to coronary artery disease when they come into the ER, that saves lives. Only 10 percent of people who have an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survive. It’s a huge thing if you can catch it ahead of time before the cardiac arrest actually happens.
“It’s important to pay attention to how you're feeling and to get checked out if you have unusual symptoms. I don’t know how many times I’ve had patients that I see in the hospital or in the emergency room, who came in because of chest pain, and everything’s fine. Then they’ll say to me, ‘Oh, I didn’t mean to waste your time.’ I tell them, it’s never a waste of time. In the medical field, we all know of people who didn’t heed warnings, stayed at home, and died because of a cardiac arrest. It’s better to be safe than sorry, and get things checked out.”
