The heart is the most important organ of our body. Without him, there would be no movement of blood through the body. Unfortunately, often a vital organ fails. The heart muscle affects many diseases. Sometimes a harbinger of trouble can be pain, a burning sensation. Also, there is often a stabbing pain in the heart, which may indicate a fairly serious disease of the cardiovascular system. However, this does not always happen. Many experts believe that pain in the heart is not characteristic for serious pathologies. This sign may indicate more likely diseases of the spinal column and central nervous system.
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Heart pain: symptoms in women, treatment -
Aching pain in the heart: causes and treatment -
Get rid of heart pain in simple ways -
Pressing pain in the heart area: effective treatment -
Causes of heart pain
More commonall the unpleasant sensations that arise in people in the area of the left breast, patients call them heart pains. In fact, the vital organ is located in the middle, and the true cardiac pains may appear soon behind the sternum. Only in some cases pain gives to the left.
Often sharp pains of a thrusting character, not bearing serious danger for a life, patients confuse with intimate or cardiac. However, a frivolous attitude toward such feelings is also dangerous.
How to distinguish pain in the heart from pain of a different origin?
Often patients take pains in the left side of the chest for symptoms of an impending heart attack, swallow a bunch of medications and rush to call an ambulance. Sharp piercing pain makes you panic, because unpleasant sensations in the heart area seriously frighten people. But are such sensations always on the left side of the chest indicative of cardiological problems? After a strong stabbing pain can be a sign and other pathologies. Further in the article we will try to find out how to distinguish heart pains from non-cardiac:
- Tingling, lumbago are characteristic for pains of non-cardiac origin. Cardiac pains are more pressing, with a feeling of squeezing and burning.
- Often sharp stitching pain occurs with a deep breath. This symptom is also not characteristic for cardiac pathologies, but may most likely indicate neuralgia or other health problems.
- Stitching pain in the heart area of a permanent nature is not characteristic for diseases of the heart muscle. Cardiac pain is most often observed in the form of short-term attacks.
- If a patient's discomfort is observed in the heart area and a nitroglycerin pill can be taken under the left scapula, if the symptoms do not touch the heart, they will not subside.
- When the pain is given to the left arm, the area of the scapula and neck, and also has a short-term paroxysmal character, it may well be indicative of pathologies of a cardiac nature.
Important! When you have painful feelings, do not panic. The patient is recommended to calm down, drink a sedative and take a comfortable position in the bed. Excessive excitement can harm your health.
When should I see a doctor?
The causes of uncomfortable sensations in the chest can be varied. Often they testify to neuralgia, osteochondrosis and other unpleasant diseases. However, there are signs that you should consult a doctor. These include:
- stitching unpleasant sensations, giving to the area of the left arm, neck, scapula;
- dizziness and nausea;
- feeling of numbness in the hands;
- feeling of lack of air;
- excessive sweating;
- weakness.
In the presence of such signs, it is necessary to urgently call an ambulance team, as the above symptoms may indicate the risk of myocardial infarction or stroke. The patient is recommended to calm down, take 2 tablets of aspirin, open the window leaf or balcony, remove tight clothes.
Causes of pain in the heart
Heart pain can become a sign of the following cardiac diseases:
Ischemic disease
This includes such conditions of the patient as a heart attack, stroke, angina and others. These pathologies are accompanied by insufficient blood supply to the heart muscle and necrosis of some of its areas. Because of this, a person can feel pain in the left side of the sternum and with inspiration.
Myocarditis
With infectious heart lesions, the patient can develop inflammation of the heart muscle. This can also cause unpleasant sensations in the sternum. With this disease, unpleasant sensations in the heart are dull, aching in nature, but can also be sharp stitching.
Pericarditis
Acute pain in the left side of the chest can indicate a disease such as inflammation of the heart muscle shell. Also, the symptoms of the pathology may be swelling of the hands and feet, lack of air, violation of the heart rate.
Arrhythmia
Another disease that causes heart rhythm disturbances, and often accompanied by painful sensations in the sternum.
Uremia and diabetes
Pathologies of the heart muscle, accompanied by a violation of the metabolic processes in the heart, as well as coronary artery disease. The disease leads to severe and severe discomfort in the left side of the person's chest.
Injury of the heart muscle
This can be bruises, tears, tremors. Depending on the intensity of damage, the character of discomfort sensations can change. With neoplasms of both benign and malignant character, the pain can be sharp or pressing, while the patient experiences shortage of air and discomfort in the sternum.
Important! If you have regular paroxysmal pain in the cardiac area, it is extremely important to consult a doctor. Timely diagnosis will help to avoid many complications.
Pain in the heart of a child
Often parents, noticing stitching pain in the heart of adolescents, write it off to a growing body and excessive excitement. However, quite often alarming symptoms may also indicate the following pathologies:
- heart disease;
- pericarditis;
- rheumatic heart disease;
- neurosis;
- myocardial dystrophy.
With the development of pain in the heart, the child does not need to think much about what to do, in such cases it is extremely important to write the baby to the cardiologist.
Also, often the pain in the left side of the chest occurs during pregnancy. The reasons for this can be intercostal neuralgia, uncomfortable posture, vegetovascular dystonia. In the most cases, this is not dangerous for the baby. However, every expectant mother should visit a women's clinic in a timely manner and inform the doctor about any changes concerning her health. This will help eliminate severe pathologies from the heart and the cardiovascular system.
Treatment of
Therapy with the development of discomfort in the heart always depends on the cause of the origin of the pain. To do this, it is necessary to diagnose the disease and find out the nature of its origin. In neuralgia treatment should appoint a neuropathologist, if the cause of unpleasant sensations is osteochondrosis and other pathologies of the spinal column, the choice should be chosen by a vertebrologist or orthopedist. If the cardiological nature of the origin of the pain is confirmed, the patient should undergo a course of therapy according to the appointment of a cardiologist.
Timely call to the doctor and early diagnosis will help you to maintain your health and avoid many complications. Take care of yourself and be well.