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Self Testing
If you are a diabetic, have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, are overweight (especially at the waist and abdomen), smoke or have a family history of heart disease, you are at a greater risk. Early symptoms include but are not limited to fatigue, breathlessness after light physical exertion such as climbing a flight of stairs, chest pain (pressure or burning sensation), dizziness, severe sweating, nausea, numbness or tingling in your left shoulder and arm, bloated stomach and palpitations. Set up an appointment with your doctor to check for coronary heart disease or angina. If the symptoms are severe or even uncomfortable, call 911 or head out to the ER right away. - 2
If you are at risk for heart disease, check your pulse rate (60-90 beats a minute is normal) and blood pressure once a day (120/80 is normal). If the numbers are significantly lower or higher, meet with your doctor immediately. - 3). Your doctor will test for heart disease by ordering an EKG, cardiac ultrasound, MRI, CT scan, exercise stress test (walking/running on a treadmill to detect the volume of blood flow to the heart), or the use of a Holter monitor to measure the level of electrical activity in the sinus node. If required, you may need to undergo an electrophysiology test or coronary angiography, where a tube filled with dye is injected into the heart to detect reduced blood flow (which causes heart attacks) via X-ray images. Biomarkers assess cardiac risk by measuring specific components. For example, an elevated level of C-reactive protein in the blood is a precursor to heart disease.
- 4). Schedule a through health check up annually, which includes an EKG, blood test and exercise stress test. As they say, prevention is better than cure. Be well.
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