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Chest pain could point to unhealthy arteries in your heart
When your stomach needs food, it sends you clear signals, like rumbling or stomach pangs. You eat some food, and the problem is solved.
But when your heart isn't getting the "food" it needs, you're facing a more serious situation. Your heart requires a steady supply of oxygen-rich blood, and when something blocks that supply, you may start feeling chest pain. Let's take a closer look at what causes chest pain and how you should react when you feel it.
Your heart pumps blood day and night to other parts of your body. Some of the blood that your heart pumps out comes back to the organ through small arteries - called coronary arteries - in order to feed it.
However, a buildup of a substance called plaque can cause these arteries to become narrow. As a result, if enough blood isn't getting through the arteries, you might feel a type of chest pain called angina. Typically, angina occurs after physical exertion, and it goes away after you rest or take medication your doctor has prescribed. However, in some cases angina may also occur even without physical activity, and it may not go away with rest or medication.
If an artery going to your heart becomes completely blocked, the resulting heart attack can also cause chest pain. This pain might feel like a tight or crushing sensation in your chest.
However, chest pain can have other causes that don't involve your heart. Panic attacks, heartburn, strained muscles in your chest, or inflammation in your ribcage can also cause chest pain. It's important that your doctor evaluate you when you're having chest pain in order to find an explanation for it. Angina can be a sign that you're at higher risk of a heart attack, and if your pain is due to an actual heart attack, you need emergency treatment.
If you're having these signs of a heart attack, call 911:
- Discomfort in the middle of your chest that feels like pain, pressure, or squeezing. It may linger or come and go.
- Pain elsewhere, like your arm, back, jaw, neck, or stomach.
- Difficulty breathing.
- Lightheadedness, nausea, or sweating.
You may be able to detect early signs that you're developing problems that could be a concern for your heart. Life Line Screening offers a simple, painless test for peripheral arterial disease. If you have this condition, blood isn't flowing properly through arteries in your legs, which means the arteries in your heart may be at greater risk, too.
Learn more about peripheral arterial disease
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