Angina is chest pain caused by reduced blood flow to the heart muscles. It's not usually life threatening, but it's a warning sign that you could be at risk of a heart attack or stroke. With treatment and healthy lifestyle changes, it's possible to control angina and reduce the risk of these more serious problems.
Median expectation of life at age 70 years was reduced by about 2, 5 and 6 years for those with angina, myocardial infarction, or both, respectively.
Like many people with unstable angina, you could have a heart attack in the next three months.
Chest pain
feels tight, dull or heavy – although some people (especially women) may have sharp, stabbing pain. spreads to your arms, neck, jaw or back. is triggered by physical exertion or stress. stops within a few minutes of resting.
Anything that causes your heart muscle to need more blood or oxygen supply can result in angina. Risk factors include physical activity, emotional stress, extreme cold and heat, heavy meals, drinking excessive alcohol, and cigarette smoking.
Too much stress and anger can raise blood pressure. Surges of hormones produced during stress can narrow the arteries and worsen angina.
You may have tests to check if you have angina and assess your risk of more serious problems like heart attacks or stroke. You may have: an electrocardiogram (ECG) – a test to check your heart's rhythm and electrical activity.
Angina can be confused with gallbladder disease, stomach ulcers and acid reflux. It usually goes away within a few minutes with rest or with the use of nitroglycerin. Angina is not the same as a heart attack although the symptoms may be similar.
The key difference between angina and a heart attack is that angina is the result of narrowed (rather than blocked) coronary arteries. This is why, unlike a heart attack, angina does not cause permanent heart damage.
Key facts about angina:
It's almost always a sign that you have blocked arteries and heart disease. It's usually a short-lived event – lasting for a few minutes. It's a warning that without treatment, you are at risk for heart attack, irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia) and cardiac arrest (cardiopulmonary arrest).
Unlike a heart attack, the heart muscle is not damaged forever, and the pain usually goes away with rest. Knowing the types of angina and how they differ is important.
A visit to the ER for chest pain can be life-saving. When your chest pain persists, is severe, or is accompanied by shortness of breath, nausea, radiating pain, and changes in heart rate and blood pressure, call 911 immediately.
Treatment can help stop angina attacks and reduce the risk of further problems like heart attacks. Most people with angina need to take several medicines. Surgery may be recommended if medicines do not help. It's also important to make healthy lifestyle changes.
Regular exercise improves your body's ability to take in and use oxygen, which means you can do daily activities more easily and feel less tired. It can also help reduce your angina symptoms (like chest pain and shortness of breath) by encouraging your body to use a network of tiny blood vessels that supply your heart.
The stent will usually improve the symptoms of angina, but there may be narrowings in other arteries too. These might not be severe enough to require another stent, so you may still have angina symptoms – this is why working with your doctor to get your medication right is so important.
Symptoms of angina
The main symptom of angina is chest pain. This can: feel like a dull pain, ache, 'heavy' or 'tight' feeling in your chest. spread to your arms, neck, jaw or back.
Angina is chest pain or discomfort that happens when your heart isn't receiving enough oxygen-rich blood. As a result, your heart may beat faster and harder to gain more blood, causing you noticeable pain. Angina isn't a disease. It's a symptom and a warning sign of heart disease.
A chest x-ray doesn't diagnose angina but may rule out other causes of chest pain. Blood tests. Blood tests look for risk factors for heart disease.
Angina pectoris tends to be accompanied by thrombosis [18]. Therefore, drinking an adequate amount of water may help reduce blood coagulation and result in a lower OR for angina pectoris.
Ingestion of either 1 or 2 cups of caffeinated coffee increased the exercise duration until onset of angina (8 and 12%, respectively, p less than 0.05), whereas decaffeinated coffee had no effect.
Blood tests check the level of cardiac troponins. Troponin levels can help doctors tell unstable angina from heart attacks.
A health care provider threads a thin tube (catheter) through a blood vessel in the arm or groin to an artery in the heart and injects dye through the catheter. The dye makes the heart arteries show up more clearly on an X-ray. Your health care provider might call this type of X-ray an angiogram.
Can young people get angina? A young person can develop angina in their 20s or 30s, but it is quite rare. Angina comes about due to a reduction of blood flow being able to get to muscles in the heart. Typically, such a reduction naturally occurs because of age.
Blocked heart arteries are causing your chest pain (angina), keeping an area of your heart from getting enough oxygen. Your doctor says you need to treat the blockages to avoid a heart attack and other complications. There are several options for treating angina, which might depend on the type of angina you have.