|
Chest pain can be associated with many medical disorders. It can have a cardiac basis, meaning that it is related to your heart, or it can be a sign that there is a problem in another body system, such as your lungs or gastrointestinal tract.
The best way to determine the cause of chest pain is to be seen by a doctor. Chest pain can mean a life-threatening condition. So see a doctor immediately.
What does a heart attack feel like?
The pain associated with a heart attack differs from person to person. Many people describe it as a heavy pressure or squeezing sensation in the center of the chest. Others report a stabbing feeling. At times the pain may radiate to the left arm, jaw or back. The intensity of the pain is not an indicator of the degree of heart damage that may be occurring. Some people don't have any symptoms during a heart attack.
A characteristic of chest pain associated with a heart attack is that it is often unrelenting. Once it begins, there is usually nothing that you can do at home to stop the pain. Pain does not improve with rest, position changes, over-the-counter medications and even nitroglycerin.
Often, people who are having a heart attack, or myocardial infarction as it is called in the medical community, describe other symptoms associated with the chest pain. These may include:
- Sweating
- Dizziness
- Shortness of breath
- Palpitations
- Paleness
- Nausea and vomiting
- An anxious feeling with a sense of impending doom
Some people, especially women, people with diabetes and the elderly, do not have typical heart attack symptoms. While these people often have chest pain, it may be mild. They may more commonly complain of neck, shoulder, and belly pain; breathlessness, heartburn, nausea, and lasting tiredness.
|
Related Articles
|
|
External Sources
 |
The American Heart Association
|
|
The American College of Cardiology
|
|
This article was reviewed and updated June 2007.
Return to the previous page
|
