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HowToPreventHeartDisease.com |
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What Happen If You Have Chest Pain? The very first thing that pops up in most people’s mind when they witness a person experiencing chest pain is angina. In reality, chest pain or discomfort can have many other causes beside angina, especially among people who are younger than 40. For instance, burning chest pain that occurs when one coughs might be due to an upper respiratory infection caused by a virus, or pain in the muscles or bones of the chest often occurs when people increase their activities or add exercise to their schedule, which is called chest wall pain. One such cause that can be quite difficult to distinguish from angina is gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) or more commonly known as heartburn. It can cause uncomfortable feeling of burning or warmth in the central chest and might even radiate to the neck, throat and jaw. People having heartburn could have chest tightness as if they are having angina. About one-third of adults, especially in pregnant women, have this problem. Angina is a type of chest pain caused by reduced blood flow to the heart muscle. It is usually felt as pressure, heaviness, tightening, squeezing or aching across the chest, especially behind the breastbone. The pain often radiates to the neck, jaw, arms or even the teeth. Occasionally it can present itself as increasing shortness of breath or neck tightness on physical exertion without any chest pain. In some cases, the pain can even feel like indigestion.
While most people are having difficulty in describing or telling exactly where the pain is coming from, some of those who had angina before said they felt like someone was standing on their chest. Blood gets into the heart muscle through 3 major coronary arteries that carry oxygenated blood to the heart muscle cells (called myocytes). During rest, the myocytes take up approximately 75 percent of the oxygen content embedded in the blood flowing through the heart arteries. When a person exercises, the increased demand for oxygen is met primarily through increased blood flow through the heart arteries. Should there be any obstruction to blood flow because of narrowing of heart arteries, the oxygen supply might not be able to meet the increased demand. In other words, there will be insufficient oxygen, and production of chemicals such as lactic acid could be initialized. It is the build-up of these chemicals that stimulates nerve endings and causes the sensation of pain. People with coronary heart disease (CHD) can get angina. Being the most common type of heart disease, CHD occurs when plaque builds up on the inner walls of the coronary arteries, thus narrowing the arteries and limiting the flow of oxygen-rich blood to the heart. It usually occurs during exertion, severe emotional stress or after a heavy meal, and it typically lasts between 1 and 15 minutes. The pain should be relieved by rest or by placing a nitroglycerin tablet under the tongue because both rest and nitroglycerin could lower the heart muscles demand for oxygen. Not only older folks would experience angina. Youngsters can get angina as a result of inherited conditions. Meanwhile, angina can occur without physical exertion. There is a rare variety called coronary vasospasm or Prinzmetal's angina. This condition occurs because of transient constriction of the heart artery secondary to abnormalities in the regulation of the smooth muscle in the wall of the artery. Understanding angina is important as this would help identify types of chest pain that do not require urgent medical attention. In general, chest pain is usually not angina if it can be localized to a single site on the chest using 2 figures, is sharp, pulling or pinprick in nature, and not aggravated by exertion. Nevertheless, people with risk factors for heart disease and a family history of heart disease should remember that having no chest pain does not mean there is no heart disease. Statistics showed that about 70 percent of the patients who arrived at the emergency department with an acute heart attack never had chest pain before.
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