Recognize the signs of heart disease - here's what to look for

Knowing the symptoms of heart disease

If you feel a little out of breath and a little out of the ordinary, don't ignore it. 

FOX 2 - If you're walking down the street or down the steps at your house, and you're feeling unusual shortness of breath - don't ignore that.

Dig deeper:

It turns out that's one of the main symptoms of structural heart disease.

Most of the time you probably don't pay much attention to your heart doing it's job - but if you were to see it in action, it's incredibly complex.

"The right side pumps blood to the lungs where it gets oxygenated," said Dr. Charles Schwartz. "It comes back to left side where it goes to the rest of the body."

Schwartz, a Trinity Health cardiothoracic surgeon, says one of the most underdiagnosed issues is structural heart disease which you can be born with, or it can just develop with aging body parts.

"This can involve problems with valves, problems with the walls of the heart, problems with great arteries, which sometimes form aneurysms.

When valves don't work right, blood doesn't flow correctly.

"Shortness of breath is biggest symptom. After that there is chest pain similar to a heart attack," he said. "Fatigue, lethargy. Plenty of people say, 'Doc around 3-4 p.m. I am so tired I have to take a nap. I think it is just my age.' Plenty of times, it's not your age, it's a structural heart problem and can be fixed."

Fixing structural heart damage has gotten way less invasive.

For example, look at this TAVR procedure - a catheter through the groin is delivering a new aortic valve and pops right inside the old broken valve and life starts to look and feel much better.

"If we replace your valve, you can have a normal life," he said.

The biggest take away is don't ignore symptoms that might seem simple. Structural heart disease is often diagnosed. Many think they're just feeling symptoms of aging - without realizing your heart's mechanics are failing.