5 Things You Need to Know About Chest Pains

1. Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Moe

Chest pain is difficult to diagnose because several different organs, including those in the abdomen, can cause pain in the chest area. Problems with the lungs, diaphragm and even the stomach can present as pain in the chest. Skin and bone trouble can also be isolated to this area. A physician can administer several different tests, such as blood tests and x-rays, to find the culprit. The difficulty is that the symptoms of problems from a variety of sources are very much alike.

2. Tell us a bit About Yourself

A physician can use patient history to rule out life threatening sources of chest pain. A patient with no family history of heart disease, who doesn't smoke and doesn't have diabetes, hypertension or high cholesterol is at a much lower risk of having heart disease than a patient who has all of these indicators. A physician may also rule out a blood clot in the lung (pulmonary embolus) if the patient doesn't have cancer, have any recent fractures or take birth control pills as a smoker. If the patient hasn't been stationary for extended periods or had an operation recently, a doctor may dismiss a pulmonary embolus as a cause of chest pain.

3. Lady Luck?

Doctors often misdiagnose women when it comes to chest pains. Heart disease and stroke are the leading causes of death for women in the nation, far above all types of cancer. But physicians tend to assign blame for chest pain in women to areas other than the heart. Men and women both complain of pain in the chest spreading to the arms and neck, but women more often mention abdominal pain, nausea and fatigue as well. Women wait to see their doctor, often dismissing the pain since it doesn't feel exactly the way they think it should. Tests for cardiovascular disease may not be as accurate for women as they are for men, allowing the disease to progress before doctors can make a proper diagnosis.

4. What it Could be

Chest pain could mean that you're having a heart attack. Decreased blood flow to the heart as a result of some sort of blockage causes tissue damage due to a lack of oxygen to the muscle. It could also mean you're suffering from angina, which is a lot like a heart attack except there's no blockage in the arteries. Instead, your heart just isn't getting the oxygen it needs from the blood. A tear in the aorta's lining, a blood clot in the lung, air in the abdominal cavity or a tear in the gastrointestinal tract can all be causes of chest pain as well.

5. What it's not

Keep in mind that people sometimes attribute chest pain to harmless activities like weight lifting or pulled muscles from over exertion. But chest pain is nothing to take lightly. Any time you feel pain in this area, consult your physician immediately.

Source : www.livestrong.com