There is a wide range of potential problems with your heart. The most common is high blood pressure, which typically affects many people as they get older. Other types of heart problems include congestive heart failure, arrhythmia and blocked arteries. Because all of these problems affect how your heart works, there are some symptoms common to many of them.
Arrhythmia
Arrhythmia is a general medical term for a change in how your heart beats. If you are an adult, your heart should beat between 60 and 100 times each minute if you are not doing anything that can tax you such as exercise or hard work. If your heart rate is slower than 60 beats each minute, you have a condition called bradycardia. If it beats more than 100 times per minute, you have tachycardia.
Your heart also can beat irregularly, the condition most often associated with the term arrhythmia. Any of these problems can be cause for concern.
Bradycardia may limit the amount of blood reaching all parts of your body, which can make you feel sluggish and even affect your thought processes. Tachycardia puts too much of a workload on your heart and can lead to heart attacks and other problems.
Angina
Angina is the medical term for pain in your chest. This can be caused by problems other than heart conditions, such as a taxed respiratory system and heartburn. However, it can be indicative of a problem with your heart and should not be ignored, the Mayo Clinic states. Get to an emergency room immediately. Pain may be accompanied by or separate from a sensation of fluttering in your chest.
Breathing Problems
Another symptom of problems with your heart may be problems when you breathe. This is especially true if you do not have other respiratory problems such as asthma or a lung infection. You may become short of breath without apparent cause, or it may occur more easily than normal when you engage in activities such as exercising. This is another potential symptom for which the Mayo Clinic recommends immediate medical aid.
Fatigue and Dizziness
You may experience extreme fatigue---a condition in which you are very tired and feel weakness throughout your body---as a symptom of heart problems. If it happens without obvious cause, such as exercise, it can be serious. Dizziness and lightheadedness also may occur because of an interruption of or change in flow of blood to your brain. Along with this, you may get a feeling of faintness or you may actually faint, a condition called syncope. This, too, should be attended to immediately with emergency medical help.
