Angina is pain in chest due to insufficient supply of blood to a portion of heart muscles. In fact it is warning symptom that your heart may be in trouble. Patient feels as if heavy weight has been kept over his chest. He may have burning sensation under the breast bone and sensation of tightness in chest. Sometimes pain is accompanied with nausea, perspiration and difficulty in breathing.
Angina occurs due to blockage or narrowing of coronary blood vessels. Pain lasts for few seconds to few minutes. Mild pain may be relieved without any treatment, but severe angina pain may need medicines that temporarily dilate the artery making it easy for the blood to flow easily to the heart muscles.
Different Types Of Angina
Angina can be of different types. The symptoms also vary on the types of angina.
- Stable angina: It is the commonest of all forms of angina. Patient experiences pain in chest on physical activity or emotional stress. Pain is promptly relieved by taking rest or by sub-lingual nitrates. It occurs when the coronary artery is significantly (more than 70 percent) blocked. This predictable chest pain is the earliest sign that the patient is at risk of suffering from heart attack.
- Unstable angina: This form of angina can occur during rest. The pain can recur from time to time and it can be severe lasting for a longer period.Unstable angina is the leading cause of admission in ICU in United States. The symptoms of unstable angina usually occur when the patient is taking rest or he is sleeping or he is not doing any exertion work.
- Prinzmetal Angina: It is a rare form of angina occurring during night when the patient is sleeping. There is sudden narrowing of the coronary artery causing severe chest pain.
Causes Of Angina Pain
Angina occurs due to blockage in the artery or narrowing of the coronary arteries. Plaque builds up in the coronary arteries as a result of excess of cholesterol in the blood. It blocks easy flow of blood to the heart muscles. As a result the muscles get less oxygen and nutrients leading to pain in chest.
The risk of angina increases with high cholesterol level in blood, tobacco and cigarette smoking. Obesity and family history of angina and heart attack is also considered to be a triggering factor.
Signs And Symptoms Of Mild Angina
Pain in chest is the main symptom of angina. But the location and relation to triggers may be different in all persons.
- Usually pain mild to moderate below the breast bone. The discomfort may radiate to neck, shoulders, arms and jaws.
- In mild angina patient may also have discomfort in upper abdomen.
- There may be burning sensation in the middle of chest.
- Patient may feel tons of weight has been put on the chest.
- Difficulty in breathing.
- Anxiety and fatigue.
- Angina is triggered with physical exertion and emotional stress. It may be triggered after eating a heavy meal.
- Pain lasts for few seconds to few minutes but not more than 30 minutes.
- Patient finds relief with rest and sub-lingual nitrates within 2 to 5 minutes.
Treatment Options For Mild Angina
Treatment of mild angina depends on the amount of damage to the artery caused by the plaque. In mild angina lifestyle changes along with medicines will help to increase the blood flow. The goal of treatment is to improve quality of life and reduce the incidence of myocardial infarction.
- Physician will prescribe medicines that reduce narrowing of artery, increase the blood flow and reduce the workload on heart. At the same time he may also prescribe cholesterol lowering agents, and anti-hypertensive medicines.
- In case if medicines do not alleviate mild angina, the other options thought of are stenting or angioplasty of coronary artery or bypass surgery.
- Patient should cease smoking and control his diabetes and blood pressure. He should eat healthy diet consisting of vegetables, fruits and cereals.
Exercise such as walking for 30 minutes in a day or swimming or cycling help to improve circulation, reduce weight and cholesterol.