Chest discomfort might feel like anything from a subtle aching to a violent stabbing. Chest pain can occasionally feel crushing or scorching. Sometimes the pain starts in the jaw and moves up the neck before spreading to the back or down one or both limbs.
Chest pain can be caused by a variety of issues. The heart or lungs are the most potentially fatal causes. You should seek quick medical attention if you have chest pain because it could indicate a major issue.
Symptoms
Depending on what causes it, chest pain can have a variety of different sensations. Although it’s difficult to know without consulting a doctor, the cause is frequently unrelated to the heart.
Chest pain linked to the heart
Heart disease is frequently linked to chest pain. However, many heart disease sufferers claim to experience a slight discomfort that they wouldn’t necessarily classify as pain. A heart attack or other heart condition-related chest discomfort may feel like:
- Chest pressure, fullness, burning, or tightness.
- A back, neck, jaw, shoulder, and one or both arms that is seared or crushes.
- Experiencing pain that lasts more than a few minutes, intensifies with activity, disappears then returns, or changes over time.
- Respiration difficulty.
- Frosty sweats.
- Weakness, faintness, or dizziness.
- Fast heartbeats.
- Vomiting or nauseous.
Different kinds of chest pain
It can be challenging to determine whether chest pain is due to an issue with the heart or something else. Chest pain is typically less likely to be caused by a heart issue if it occurs with:
- A bitter taste or the impression that food is returning to the mouth.
- Difficulty swallowing.
- Pain that changes with your body position and either gets better or worse.
- Pain that worsens when you cough or breathe deeply.
- When you press on your chest, it feels soft.
- Suffering that lasts for hours.
Heart or stomach issues might result in the characteristic heartburn symptoms, which include a sharp ache behind the breastbone.
What causes chest pain most frequently?
Heart, lung, stomach, and other problems can cause chest discomfort. Because there are so many potential reasons, they are challenging to diagnose. First, healthcare professionals seek for conditions that are life-threatening.
Causes of chest discomfort include:
- Heart attack (insufficient blood flow to the heart).
- Coronary artery disease (CAD, a narrowing or obstruction in the arteries leading to your heart).
- A tear in a heart artery known as a coronary artery dissection.
- An inflamed sac around your heart is called pericarditis.
- Cardiomyopathy with hypertrophy (thick heart muscle).
- The greatest artery in your body’s major artery is torn.
- Your largest artery’s weak spot, the aortic aneurysm.
- A heart valve lacking a tight seal is known as mitral valve prolapse.
- Aortic stenosis (a malfunctioning heart valve that prevents blood flow).
- Rhythmic heart issues.
- Disease of the gastroesophageal reflux (GERD or persistent acid reflux).
- stomach ulcers (sores in the lining).
- Your esophagus’s (food tube’s) muscles may spasm.
- Esophagitis (food tube inflammation).
- Gallstones (digestive fluid that has hardened).
- A hiatal hernia, in which a portion of your stomach pushes upward towards your feeding tube.
- (Stomach lining inflammation) Gastritis.
- Pancreas inflammation, or pancreatitis.
- Blood clot in the lung known as a pulmonary embolism (PE).
- Lung illness or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
- (Lung infection) Pneumonia.
- Pleurisy or pleuritis, an infection of the pleural membrane.
- Lung collapse, or pneumothorax.
- High blood pressure in your pulmonary arteries is known as pulmonary hypertension.
- (Narrow airways) Asthma.
- Broken rib (rib fracture).
- Chest muscle strain.
- Chest cartilage swelling is known as costochondritis.
- Shingles, an illness and rash.
- Lung tumors.
- An bout of panic is a sudden feeling of fear.
Prevention
By leading a healthy lifestyle, you can lower your risk of heart, vascular, and other disorders. This comprises:
- Consuming a balanced diet. You can construct an eating strategy that is suitable for you with the assistance of your healthcare professional or trained dietitian.
- Taking care of existing medical issues like diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure.
- Exercising on a daily basis.
- Achieving and keeping a healthy weight for you.
- Limiting your alcohol consumption.
- Not consuming tobacco.
Other causes of chest pain can be avoided by:
- Abstain from asthma triggers.
- Respiratory infections should be treated quickly.
- If you are at risk for blood clots, take medication to prevent them.
- Get a shingles or chickenpox vaccine.
- Eliminate foods that give you heartburn.
- Get up and take a short walk every couple of hours while on a lengthy drive or flight to avoid developing blood clots in your legs.
