How to tell if your breathlessness is being caused by a heart problem
How to tell if your breathlessness is being caused by a heart problem
York cardiologist discusses breathlessness and how to tell if your breathlessness is being caused by a heart problem
Content
2.07 -> hi my name's Sanjay Gupta and i'm a
cardiologist and I working in York, today I
9.5 -> thought I'd do a little video on how to
try and work out whether your breathlessness
13.839 -> could be due to a problem with the
heart or not, the first thing to say is
19.81 -> that breathlessness is a very common
symptom and it's also very non-specific
23.67 -> symptoms when someone complains of
breathlessness it could mean a variety of
28.169 -> different things, they could just be very
unfit, a person could be overweight and
32.89 -> they may not realize that they put on
weight and that's caused some breathlessness
37.539 -> in some who have become breathless, you know as
people get older they don't actually
43.44 -> realize and when they take on some kind
of physical activity but they haven't
46.949 -> done for a little while they noticed
breathlessness and these are obviously
50.18 -> don't signify a major problem at all, then there
are other causes of breathlessness
55.44 -> predominantly the lungs, that if you have
a problem your lungs and that certainly could
59.03 -> cause breathlessness and that's more of a concern in
people who are a heavy smokers or people
67.61 -> who have a history of ashma, people who've been exposed to asbestos
72.52 -> and I suppose if you are getting
breathless then it is very important you
78.429 -> at least have a chest x-ray because if
there's a problem the lungs that most of
83 -> the times that there could be a chest
x-ray can give you some clues as to
88.429 -> whether or not it is due to the lungs
91.28 -> the next step would be to simply have
some lung function tests and in a small
99.46 -> percentage of people breathlessness
could be due to small clots going up to
103 -> the lung in which case a CT scan
105.28 -> of the chest would question that question from a heart
perspective though there are two main
109.64 -> things, the first is the reason people
get breathlessness because of problems with
117.25 -> the heart is, the heart is not able to
pump out enough blood and if the heart
121.729 -> isn't able to pump out enough blood then
there's less oxygen that goes round and
126.56 -> that causes breathlessness so the first thing to say is that
you want to know whether your heart is
135.51 -> actually structurally healthy or not as
it is
139.84 -> whilst you're at rest is the heart
structurally normal or not and the way that,
145.109 -> way one works that out is firstly to have an ECG and secondly to have an
149.56 -> echocardiogram
151.109 -> what does the echocardiogram tell you, the echocardiogram tells you if you
have a nice strong heart if it's pumping
156.87 -> at rest, if it's pumping adequately
at rest pumping enough to be able to pump
161.109 -> enough blood out
162.639 -> commensurate with the bodies requirements, it will
also tell you, the scan will tell you if you have a
169.13 -> problem with any of your hearts valves
a lot of the times a heart valve
174.87 -> problem is suspected when a doctor hears a murmer in a patient's complaining of breathlessness
180.29 -> but sometimes you don't hear a murmer and
therefore if you are getting breathless then
185.78 -> undoubtedly it is important to have a heart scan, it's also worth saying that it is very very very
194.78 -> rare for someone to get breathless at rest
and not be breathless at exercise so if
202.94 -> you are getting that then almost
certainly there that does not signify a
207.069 -> major problem with the heart, heart
problems are usually worse on exercise, then
212.569 -> at rest so if you have a normal heart
scan and it shows that your heart is
218.03 -> actually functionally normal and it's
pumping warmly what is the other way
222.94 -> that you could get breathless,
225.57 -> if the heart isn't getting enough blood
when you say - start walking - so at on
232.23 -> exercise when the heart isn't getting
blood and that would obviously cause
235.72 -> the heart not to pump as well and that would make
someone breathless and that's usually,
240.9 -> that usually happens if the heart arteries,
the heart arteries that take blood to the heart are
248.489 -> narrowed, ie angina, so a lot of people
associated angina with chest
255.18 -> discomfort but in a few cases they could
be the only symptom maybe of breathlessness
262.47 -> so I suppose if you are getting
breathless the first thing to try and work
267.61 -> out is - is it at rest or is it on
exertion, if it is at rest and not on
274.59 -> exertion then it almost certainly doesn't
major major problem with the heart, if it is on
281.62 -> exertion then certainly i think you
definitely need an ECG and a heart scan
287.75 -> and if your heart scan is normal then
your doctor will need to do a
294.43 -> provocative tests ie get the heart
beating faster to see if it's getting
298.33 -> all the blood it needs to keep working
and that can be done by putting you on the
301.87 -> treadmill by doing something called the
stress echocardiogram or even something
306.01 -> called a myocardial perfusion scan
310.639 -> now when the heart is weak at rest
that condition is called heart failure ie
318.919 -> the heart is failing to keep up with the
bodies requirements and that is usually something
323.02 -> that we would suspect in people who have had a previous heart attack and therefore have a damaged heart or in
329.86 -> people who have been born with a heart
problem -
332.65 -> congenital heart disease, the
other thing to be aware of in people with heart failure
341.22 -> is they get other symptoms, they get exercise intolerance they get breathless they get very tired and they often
348 -> complain that swelling of the legs
swelling of the ankles they find that
353.599 -> they often have to sleep with more
pillows than normal because they get
358.669 -> more breathless if they are lieing flat in that setting that's very suggestible
363.46 -> of heart failure and its really important to get checked out, so yes and I suppose that's
372.249 -> about it really
373.569 -> for this tutorial, for this video if you have any concerns if you think it's always worth
380.909 -> getting checked out if you would like to
know more about me what I do and if
389.83 -> you'd like more information about heart
health and heart matters then feel
395.11 -> free to visit my website alternatively
you could give me a ring on the phone
399.11 -> number if you would like to get checked
by cardiologists I would be delighted to do so I
405.55 -> think I just want to wish you goodnight
and thank you very much for listening I
409.02 -> hope this is useful, bye.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vs6DW1zSyso