Recognize the most common symptoms like shortness of breath, heart palpitations or noticeably irregular heartbeats, lightheadedness or fainting, and discomfort in your chest. All of these are symptoms of a potentially blocked heart, and if present, you should immediately seek medical attention.
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Measure your heart’s response to exercise. The best way to do this is to measure your heartbeat immediately after cardiovascular exercise (such as running for several minutes). If your heart is not beating at least 60 times for minute, you may have a heart blockage. If you feel unable to exercise, light-headed or extremely weak while exercising, you may have a heart blockage and should see doctor immediately.
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.
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Diagnosis of Heart Block
Heart block is often found by chance if you have tests for other problems. Your doctor may refer you to a cardiologist for further tests. A cardiologist is a doctor who specializes in conditions affecting the heart.
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You may have the following hospital tests to confirm diagnosis:
- Blood tests – to check for underactive thyroid.
- Electrocardiogram (ECG) – measures the electrical activity in your heart to see how well it’s working.
- Echocardiogram – uses ultrasound to produce a clear image of your heart muscles and valves.
- 24-hour heart monitor – to record your heart rate and rhythm.
- Tilt-table – to see whether or not a slow heart rate is triggered by a change in your posture (a condition known as postural hypotension or vasovagal syndrome).
In this condition, the electrical signals that tell the heart to contract are partially or totally blocked between the upper chambers (atria) and the lower chambers (ventricles). For this reason, it is also called atrioventricular block (AV block).
Risk Factors for Heart Block
Some medical conditions increase the risk for developing heart block. These medical conditions include heart failure, prior heart attack, valve abnormalities, some medications or exposure to toxic substances, and other prior illnesses.
When it comes to heart’s health, there are some things which are not in our control like getting older or a parent with heart disease. But obviously we can do many things to lower the risk. An ounce of prevention is really worth a pound of cure in this instance.
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