Your chest pain may not be a heart attack, but postponing a checkup is gambling with your health, and possibly your life.
Chest pain is the most common sign of a heart attack, the primary symptom of heart disease, and a sign of other serious health conditions. For all these reasons, chest pain should never be ignored, and a heart evaluation is a good place to start.
Caring heart specialist Laura Fernandes, MD, FACC, and her team at Woodlands Heart and Vascular Institute have helped many people prevent heart attacks with risk assessments, in-office testing, and customized care.
Here, we explain three differences between chest pain due to a heart attack and other conditions, and why you should schedule a heart evaluation.
Chest pain is the most common sign of chronic cardiovascular disease and heart attacks. At the same time, many lung, gastrointestinal, and musculoskeletal conditions also cause chest pain, including:
A panic attack may also cause chest pain, mimicking a heart attack.
Here are three signs your chest pain may be unrelated to your heart:
If your chest pain improves, chances are you’re not having a heart attack. Even if you have sharp pain, it’s not usually related to your heart if it lasts a short time.
The pain may improve without treatment, or you may get relief after taking over-the-counter medicines. Acid reflux improves with antacids and proton pump inhibitors, while anti-inflammatory pain relievers help muscle and lung pain.
If you have a chronic lung or gastrointestinal disease, the pain may return. The most important sign it’s not a heart attack is whether the pain responds to treatment.
Compared to a heart attack:
The chest pain of a heart attack may appear suddenly and quickly worsen, or it may develop gradually and keep building. Heart attack pain may come and go initially. But it doesn’t disappear on its own or improve with medication.
Another crucial sign of a heart attack is having specific symptoms together with chest pain, including difficulty breathing, dizziness, shortness of breath, and sweating.
If you have chest pain and symptoms lasting longer than a few minutes, call 911 immediately.
Don’t drive yourself, and don’t delay. Treatment in the first hour after a heart attack begins may limit heart damage and significantly improve your recovery.
Pain that’s limited to one specific location or affects one side of the body usually indicates non-heart-related chest pain.
Compared to a heart attack:
During a heart attack, pain or pressure often appears in the center of your chest, but the discomfort doesn’t stop there. Many people have ongoing chest pain together with widespread discomfort, pain radiating down their left arm, and pain in their neck, back, jaw, or stomach.
Sharp pain occurring when you breathe or cough seldom signals a heart attack. It’s more likely to be the symptom of a lung problem.
If changing your position decreases (or increases) the pain, you may have a pulled muscle or inflamed tissues. Chest pain due to acid reflux and muscle strains often improves if you get up and stretch or walk around.
You won’t find comfort or ease the pain if you’re having a heart attack. It doesn’t help to lie down, stand up, move, or stay still. Techniques like deep breathing also won’t help. These movements and techniques won’t improve chest pain during a heart attack.
Heart attacks share many of the same symptoms as the other causes of chest pain. Even if you’re diagnosed with a condition associated with chest pain, you can’t know the reason for your pain until you see a heart specialist.
Here’s another reason to get an assessment: Your chest pain may be a red flag of a developing heart condition. With early treatment, we can prevent problems or stop an existing condition from progressing to cause further heart damage.
If you have chest pain, call Woodlands Heart and Vascular Institute to schedule an evaluation and be sure your heart is healthy.
