“When the heart is deprived of oxygen, which it needs to pump, patients feel pain.” The pain can be anything from a heavy dull ache across your chest to a sharp pain that radiates down your left arm and neck, Dr. “A heart attack causes chest pain because a blockage in one or more coronary arteries prevents blood flow to the heart,” Dr. With that said, yes, sometimes chest pain actually is a sign of a heart attack, so it’s worth reading up, just in case.Ĭhest pain or discomfort is the most common symptom of heart attacks, the American Heart Association says. This one is last on the list because there are so many other less worrisome things that could be your chest-pain culprit. “Most healthy young people who experience chest pain are more likely to have benign causes,” Jennifer Haythe, M.D., assistant professor of medicine and co-director of the Women's Center for Cardiovascular Health at Columbia University Medical Center, tells SELF. Before you decide your chest pain is definitely angina, keep this in mind: If you’re young and otherwise healthy, it’s probably not. But if you suspect you’re specifically having unstable angina, you need to get to an ER immediately in case it’s due to a heart attack. Usually that involves an electrocardiogram (a recording of electrical signals as they travel through your heart), a stress test (a measure of your blood pressure or electrocardiogram as you exercise), an echocardiogram (which uses sound waves to produce images of your heart), or a chest X-ray, the Mayo Clinic says. If you think you have either form of angina, you need to see a doctor to get evaluated. Unstable angina can be unexpected and happen even when you rest, last 30 minutes or longer, may feel more severe than chest pain you’ve experienced before, and can signal a heart attack. Stable angina happens when you exert yourself physically, usually feels similar to chest pain you’ve had in the past, most likely lasts five minutes or less, and disappears if you rest or take angina medication. There are two kinds of angina: Stable and unstable, the Mayo Clinic says. Depending on the severity of your collapsed lung, they’ll devise a treatment plan with the goal of relieving that painful pressure. If your doctor suspects you have a collapsed lung, they’ll give you a chest X-ray or CT scan to see what’s going on in there, the Mayo Clinic says. Besser says.Ĭollapsed lungs don’t typically just happen-there are a few risk factors to keep in mind, like a chest injury or damaged lung tissue from a condition like pneumonia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (commonly known as COPD, this is a group of lung diseases like chronic bronchitis and emphysema), according to the Mayo Clinic. The pain comes from tension on your nerves in and around your lung and the pressure of the “escaped” air from your collapsed lung on your chest wall, Dr. It’s also possible for a larger portion or the whole lung to cave in, in which case your body will likely sound the alarm with sudden chest pain and shortness of breath. Most of the time, only a portion of the lung collapses, which may not cause any symptoms. Even if you feel like you’re in great health, there are so many important organs in and around your chest that it’s always worth seeing a doctor about pain in that area, she explains. You should always get it checked out, Kimbra Bell Balark, M.D., assistant professor of clinical medicine at Northwestern University Medical School, tells SELF. That doesn’t mean chest pain is something to ignore, though. After all, your body has a lot going on in that region. It’s pretty normal to have some chest pain at some point in your life, Susan Besser, M.D., a primary care physician at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, tells SELF. (Translation: Don’t just resign yourself to having a heart attack, because that’s absolutely not the only possibility here.) Here’s the good news: Chest pain can actually happen due to a slew of causes, including quite a few that aren’t too hard to treat. Chest pain can make it feel like your body has pressed a panic button, especially when it seemingly strikes out of nowhere.
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