You can experience chest pain if you suffer a direct blow to your chest or swallow a large piece of food. However, when other symptoms like shortness of breath or feeling cold accompany chest pain, you might need to visit a heart specialist. If you have unexplained chest pain Port Saint Lucie, you should consider a diagnosis to check for an underlying condition.
Depending on the cause, your chest pain can be dull, sharp, stabbing, or burning, and it can be debilitating if it is severe.
Causes
You can have chest pain for various reasons, including heartburn, stress, anxiety, panic attacks, sore chest muscles, and heart conditions. While all these reasons indicate a variety of problems, most people who have chest pain consider it to be a heart problem. Chest pain caused by heart conditions is called angina.
Angina is a symptom of heart conditions that occurs when your heart muscles do not receive enough oxygen increasing the pressure in your chest. Common heart conditions that cause angina include coronary artery disease and microvascular disease (MVD).
Other symptoms accompanying angina include shortness of breath, dizziness, nausea, and cold sweat. If the pain is severe, the pressure in your chest can spread to your shoulders, arms, neck, and back.
Diagnosis of chest pain
Your doctor will conduct a physical examination during your consultation and then proceed to other tests. The first test includes an electrocardiogram measuring your heart’s electrical activity. Then, your specialist can perform an echocardiogram, an ultrasound of your chest. If both tests don’t show any heart issues, your doctor can recommend other tests like nuclear stress testing, which measures your heart’s activity during stressful events like exercise.
Treatment options
If your specialist diagnoses your chest pain as angina, you can receive three significant types of treatment. They include lifestyle changes, medications, and stress management. When you combine the treatments, you can reduce your chest pain and lead a normal healthy life.
Lifestyle changes
Unhealthy lifestyle habits can increase your risk of heart disease resulting in severe chest pain. To reduce your risk of angina, consider adjusting your habits through losing excess weight, eating a balanced diet, and engaging in regular exercise.
Medications
Your specialist can recommend medications to manage your pain, including calcium channel blockers, beta-blockers, blood-thinning medications, ACE inhibitors, aspirin, and vasodilators. In severe cases of chest pain, you might undergo minimally invasive procedures like balloon angioplasty to help dilate your arteries and ease chest pain.
Stress management
When you are stressed, your body responds in various ways, trying to reduce the impact of the stress. However, in severe cases of stress, you can experience chest pain or anxiety attacks, which can be detrimental to your health if they are frequent. You can manage your stressors through meditation, breathing exercises, and therapy.
If you have unexplained chest pain, visit the TLC Medical Group Inc. for diagnosis and treatment. The caring and friendly team at the center will evaluate your medical history and conduct various tests for an accurate diagnosis. Call or schedule your appointment online and manage your chest pain.
