How do you know if your lightheadedness and fainting are serious?

We asked Consultant Cardiologist Navin Chandra to explain lightheadedness and fainting.

Important ways of knowing if your symptoms of lightheadedness are serious or associated with heart disease is by really getting an understanding of what’s going on.

Certainly, if you have lightheadedness, which goes on for a prolonged episode or is associated with other symptoms, particularly palpitations, chest tightness or blacking out, I think that would warrant further investigation by a heart specialist.

I think if your lightheadedness gets worse with exertion, when you’re active, that’s also a very important sign that perhaps there’s a heart rhythm problem that needs further evaluation.

I think if you do have another known heart disease, then again, any of these sorts of symptoms like lightheadedness or palpitations, it’s very important to get checked out as well so we can understand why that might be happening and make sure that you remain safe from that perspective.

I strongly urge you to take our heart disease online self-test to assess your risk of developing heart disease in the future. It will take you less than five minutes and will give you a good idea if you are at increased risk and whether or not you need to see a specialist.

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About the cardiologists

The Many Beats team consists of not one, but four highly experienced consultant cardiologists

Dr Navtej Chahal

Consultant Cardiologist

PhD FESC FACC

Navtej is a Consultant Cardiologist at Many Beats. He also consults at the London Northwest NHS Trust and the Royal Brompton Hospital, London having qualified from Guy’s and St Thomas’ Medical School in 2001. He is an Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer at Imperial College London

Dr Navin Chandra

Consultant Cardiologist

MD, MRCP, MBBS, BSc

Navin is a Consultant Cardiologist at Many Beats. He is also a Consultant Cardiologist at Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust and an Honorary Consultant Cardiologist at Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust. He qualified from Guy’s, King’s & St. Thomas’s in 2004...

Dr Ahmed Elghamaz

Consultant Cardiologist

FRCP, MB BCh

Ahmed is a Consultant Cardiologist at Many Beats. He also consults at Northwick Park Hospital and London North West Healthcare University Hospitals NHS Trust and is an Honorary Consultant Cardiologist at Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust. He completed his junior…

Dr Joban Sehmi

Consultant Cardiologist

BSc, MBBS, MRCP, PhD

Joban is a Consultant Cardiologist at Many Beats. His NHS practice is at West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS trust. He sees patients privately at Spire in Bushey and Bishops Wood Hospital in Northwood. He trained in medicine at Guy’s and St. Thomas’ medical school and qualified in 2003 with numerous academic awards…