Chest pain is a serious indication of illness meaning "heart attack" to most people. Serious chest hurt should regularly be evaluated by a doctor right now. On the way to the urgency room or while waiting for the ambulance, take two aspirin tablets. While pain from the heart may sometimes be mild, it is regularly intense. Sometimes a feeling of pressure or squeezing on the chest is more prominent than actual pain. Roughly all the time the pain or hurt will be felt in part below the breastbone. It may also be felt in the jaw or down the inner part of either arm. There may be nausea and sweating. If dizziness, shortness of breath, or irregularity of the pulse is present, it is particularly prominent that a doctor be seen immediately.
A associated form of heart pain is not a heart assault but is termed "angina pectoris" or "angina." These pains also can occur in the upper arms or the jaw, but regularly involve part of the breastbone. Angina pains occur with practice and sometimes with stress, and they go away with rest and relaxation. They are a consequent of narrowed arteries to the heart that are unable to provide enough blood when the heart is working hard. In a heart attack, one of these same arteries has literally become totally blocked. However, all chest pain does not come from the heart. Pain can also come from the chest wall, the lungs, the exterior exterior of the lungs, the exterior exterior of the heart, the esophagus, the diaphragm, the spine, the skin, or the organs in the upper part of the abdominal cavity. Often it is difficult even for a doctor to settle the exact origin of the pain. Therefore there are no absolute rules that enable you to settle which pains may be treated at home. The following guidelines regularly work and are used by doctors, but there are occasional exceptions.
A shooting pain persisting a few seconds is coarse and means nothing. A sensation of a "catch" at the end of a deep breath is also trivial and does not need attention. Chest wall pain can be demonstrated by pressing a finger on the chest at the spot of hurt and reproducing or aggravating the pain by this maneuver. Pleurisy gets worse with a deep breath, heart pain does not. When pericarditis is present, the pain may throb with each heartbeat. Ulcer pain burns with an empty stomach and gets better with food, gallbladder pain often becomes more intense after a meal. Each of these four conditions, when suspected, should be evaluated by a physician.
Spasm of the esophagus can cause severe pain mimicking a heart assault and is quite distinct from the acid-burning that we called heartburn. This spasm pain feels as if it is increasing from inside the chest rather than squeezing from the exterior as does heart pain. And it is often relieved by a drink of water, while heart pain is not.
If your chest pain is a new sensation and you are not sure what is going on, you should be evaluated right away in an urgency curative facility. This is a complaint for which it is better to be conservative. See a doctor. Exceptions are chest wall pain, particularly if you had unusual exertion a day or so before, or pain that you are sure is arrival from the esophagus. These you can treat with rest and acetaminophen, in the case of chest wall pain, and water and antacids, in the case of pain arrival from the esophagus.