Sudden Pain in the Chest Area – Angina
Ask a Question
Did you ever experience shortness of breath and squeezing pain in the chest while climbing stairs? Actually, that always occurs in people over 40 years old, caused by some heart diseases. The common one is angina, closely related to age and dietary. The cases of angina increasingly grow in recent years and develop into severe diseases. Doctors indicate that older people should alert the occasional pain in the chest area and do relevant examination regularly to find out or prevent angina.
What is angina?
Angina is one of the coronary diseases and is a type of clinical syndrome with the main symptom of chest pain or discomfort caused by insufficient supply of blood to the coronary arteries leading to an acute and transient deficiency of blood and oxygen in the heart muscle. Other coronary diseases involve SMI (silent myocardial ischemia), myocardial infarction, myocardial infarction and SCD (sudden cardiac death). The pain of angina is most commonly described as burning, squeezing, tight feeling accompanied by other symptoms like nausea, shortness of breath, dizziness, and sweating. Angina attacks not only the chest but also the left, the right or both arms. Some patients feel that the discomfort can spread to the neck, teeth, and stomach.
• Angina often occurs while patients are doing exercises like climbing stairs or going uphill, and sometimes irritability can induce angina.
• The beginning lasts 3 to 5 minutes once or more times during a day. The symptoms get relief after rest or taking nitrate medication.
• Male, who is over 40 years old, gets angina. Fatigue, overwork, irritability, overeating, cold and bad weather are the triggers of angina.
Complication
• Heart rhythm disturbances are triggered by too much alcohol, heavy smoking, and inflammation.
• Myocardial infarction is caused by acute blockage of the coronary arteries and interrupts blood flow, causes a severe and prolonged myocardial infarction, with severe and squeezing chest pain.
• Heart failure is manifested by heavy breathing, wheezing, and oedema. It is caused by heart disease, overworking and low cardiac output which means it’s difficult to supply blood to all organs for normal activity,
Severe extent
According to the symptoms of angina in daily activities, the severity can divide into four phases:
1. There are no symptoms in the daily activity. Some strenuous movements may trigger angina, such as jogging, going uphill and quickly climbing stairs to the third floor with heavy objects.
2. The daily activity has some limits. For example, walking up 1.5 to 2km and going to the third floor at the normal speed can induce angina.
3. Obvious obstruction in the daily activity. It is hard to complete a slight movement that previously seemed to be easy. For example, you can feel chest pain as you walk 0.5 to 1km or going to the second floor.
4. Little movement (such as walking slowly in the room), can cause angina. Some severe sufferers can experience angina when they are at rest.
The causes of angina
The direct cause of angina can be attributed to poor blood supply to the heart muscle, which is closely related to coronary diseases. In some cases, other types of heart disease or uncontrolled hypertension (high blood pressure) can induce angina as well.
The prolonged deposition of fat in the blood vessel leads to the formation of plaque which adheres to the inner lining of the coronary arteries. The plaque could narrow the coronary arteries and block the blood flowing into the heart muscle, leading to coronary heart disease. If left unchecked, the plaque can accumulate and form a clot in the artery, thus increasing the risk of myocardial infarction. Under the condition of lack of blood and oxygen, the excess metabolite such as lactic acid accumulates in the heart muscle and stimulates the nerve to transmit the signal to the brain, resulting in painful sensations in the chest.
When the body requires the heart to pump more blood, the heart muscle is asked to do more work, which may result in it exceeding its energy supply.
How to treat angina?
Angina always occurs acutely and recovers in a short time if you take the drug immediately. Moreover, the tonic therapy of Chinese medicine and the behaviour modification help you to get rid of angina to a certain extent. The following part will introduce the treatment of angina from western medicine and traditional Chinese medicine.
1. Western medicine treatment
In angina attacks, you should interrupt the activities and rest in a quiet room. In general, most of patients can feel better after a rest period without medication. However, for some severe patients, if taking a break does not affect the reduction of pain, it’s necessary that they accept a drug therapy or surgery.
Nitrates, also called analgesics are used to dilate the coronary arteries and minimise resistance, increasing blood output. The nitrate medications have an effect on expanding the surrounding blood vessels of the heart to lower the heart's blood pressure and oxygen demand, thereby easing the stress on the heart muscle and effectively relieving angina.
There are some medications used to treat angina at the first signs of the attack.
Nitroglycerin can be quickly released and absorbed by saliva under the tongue fast. In 92% of patients, the analgesic function begins after 1 to 2 minutes and dissolves after 30 minutes. However, the long and frequent intake of nitroglycerin may reduce its effectiveness because of drug resistance. And the efficacy may recover after discontinuing the medication for ten days.
The side effects of nitroglycerin are higher than other medicines and include nausea, throbbing and swollen headache, flushed face and palpitations. People who use this drug for the first time should lie down and breathe deeply.
The Isosorbide dinitrate can be dissolved under the tongue like nitroglycerin. After 2 to 5 minutes, the drug activity begins and is maintained for 2 to 3 hours. The smog formulation of this drug can work in the mouth in 1 minute after spraying.
3) Amyl nitrite
Amyl nitrite is a type of liquid that evaporates easily, so patients should immediately pick it up with their noses. The efficacy begins within 10 to 15 seconds and dissolves within a few minutes, which, like nitroglycerin, has the obvious effect of lowering blood pressure.
In the meantime, patients should avoid all the known factors that can induce angina, for example:
• Adjust the amount of food, avoid overeating.
• Stay away from drinking alcohol and smoking.
• Adjust work-life balance to reduce mental stress.
• Keep appropriate exercises or activities below the extent of triggering pain
• It’s unnecessary to go to bed unless you have severe symptoms
2. Chinese medicine treatment
From the point of view of Eastern medicine, middle-aged coronary disease, belongs to the category of ‘Xiongbi’ (obstruction of qi in the chest) and ‘Xintong’ (heartache), which attacks the heart closely related to spleen, liver, and kidney. It is said that half of Qi of Yin would decrease from the age of forty. This means that the weak kidney that lacks qi does not have the power to energise the blood and meridian. The blood flows slowly in the vessels and accumulates stasis to block blood flow, which forms a basis for angina. In angina attacks, the clinical treatment of angina aims to strengthen the spleen and reduce phlegm, promote blood circulation and eliminate congestion, and disperse and correct depressed liver energy. In the meantime, angina should be thoroughly treated by nourishing the Yin and supplementing the Qi in the blood.
1) Sanqi (pseudo-ginseng)
Pseudo-ginseng is beneficial for people suffering from angina and other coronary heart diseases. In the clinical trials, a success rate of 92% was achieved. How to take it: Grind the pseudo-ginseng into powder and eat directly with warm water, once in the morning and evening.
2) Black sesame seeds
Modern research shows that black sesame seeds have an obvious effect on the reduction cholesterol and are therefore used in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. In addition, black sesame seeds help to strengthen the body and promote your health.
Directions:
• Wash and dry black sesame seeds.
• Fry them (without oil) on a slow fire.
• Grind the seeds together with some white sugar.
• Store in a sealable container.
Usage: Take orally
How to prevent angina?
1. Change your lifestyle
Adjusting the lifestyle is the principal way to prevent an angina attack and reduce the risk of heart disease. You should: healthy
• Building a healthy nutritional structure helps you prevent or reduce the risk of high blood pressure, hypercholesterolemia, and obesity.
• Give up smoking.
• Participate in sports exercises according to medical advice.
• Lose weight if you are obese.
• Keep regular sleeping habits, go to bed early and get up early.
2. Treat relevant diseases
Some diseases may aggravate heart disease and angina so we should treat them primarily.
• Hypercholesterolemia: If the cholesterol content is higher than normal level, you should take a cholesterol-lowering drug based on the doctor’s suggestion.
• High blood pressure: If the blood pressure exceeds the criterion, you should control it and take some antihypertensive drug.
• Diabetes: Diabetes patients should monitor blood glucose levels and take the medication regularly.
• Overweight or obesity: It is recommended to make a plan for healthy weight loss.
3. The ‘ABCDE’ principle of treatment of coronary heart disease
A. Taking aspirin and anti-angina treatment
B. Taking beta-blockers to control the blood pressure
C. Limit cholesterol and stop smoking
D. Adjust diet and treat diabetes
E. Improve exercise training and relevant education
Share: