What is angina?
Angina, also called angina pectoris, is discomfort or chest pain when the heart does not receive enough blood due to reduced blood flow. It is not a disease, but rather a symptom of something else. This chest pain or pressure is often associated withcoronary artery or heart disease. Angina can be treated, but if the underlying cause is not diagnosed and treated, angina can be dangerous and lead to serious complications with the heart.
What does angina feel like?
Angina is described as a heaviness in the chest. Sometimes it can feel like your chest is being squeezed. Chest pain and pressure are also common. When lying down, you may feel like a heavy weight is pressing down on your chest.
For some patients, particularly women, pain might be felt in the back, jaw, shoulders, or arms. Some people may not experience any pain at all. Angina can sometimes be mistaken for other issues, such as indigestion, due to abdominal pain, nausea, or vomiting.
The pain or sensation may last several minutes and come on suddenly from walking up the stairs or feeling a stressful event.
Types of angina
Angina can be an intermittent event or an ongoing issue, depending on what's causing the chest pain and how it responds to treatment.
What are the symptoms of angina?
Symptoms vary depending on the type of angina. Many symptoms occur in the chest area, including:
- Chest pain
- Squeezing
- Chest heaviness
- Fullness
- Pressure
Symptoms of angina are not limited to the chest. Women are particularly prone to feeling symptoms of angina in other parts of their bodies. This includes:
- Abdominal pain
- Dizziness
- Excessive sweating
- Fatigue
- Nausea or vomiting
- Pain in the back, neck, jaws, arms, or shoulders
- Shortness of breath
What causes angina?
Angina is a symptom of an underlying heart condition. It occurs when blood flow to the heart is reduced. The heart muscles must have oxygen to survive.
Numerous conditions may reduce the blood flow to the heart, which causes angina. The most common of these is coronary artery disease (CAD). This is when plaque builds up in the arteries leading to the heart, the arteries harden, and blood flow is reduced.
Complications from angina
Angina can interfere with normal daily activities, such as walking, by making it difficult and uncomfortable. It’s also possible that angina can lead to a heart attack.
A heart attack may have many warning signs and symptoms or very few. Symptoms of a heart attack include:
- Pressure, chest pain, or squeezing chest pain that last for a few minutes or longer
- Pain in other areas such as arms, shoulders, back, and jaw
- Increased amount of chest pain
- Light-headedness or fainting
- Nausea and vomiting
- Shortness of breath
- Sweating
- Pain the abdomen
It’s critical to seek medical attention immediately with these symptoms.
Risk factors for angina
Anyone at risk for coronary artery or heart disease is also at risk for angina. Risk factors for these heart conditions include:
- Anemia
- High cholesterol levels
- Smoking or use of tobacco products
- Obesity
- Diabetes
- Inactivity
- Unhealthy diet
- Older age
- Family history of heart disease
- Other health conditions, such as kidney disease or metabolic syndrome
- Emotional stress
- Medications
- Drug use
- Exposure to cold temperatures
Diagnosing angina
Chest pain can indicate a serious condition and require emergency treatment. For less serious episodes of angina, a physical examination will need to be performed to diagnose angina, but the doctor may order other tests to find the source of angina.
These tests could include:
- Blood tests
- Chest X-rays
- Stress test or nuclear stress test
- Echocardiogram
- Electrocardiogram
- Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
- Coronary computed tomography angiogram (CTA)
What is the treatment for angina?
The treatment for angina includes reducing the pain and pressure along with the severity of the angina. Preventing a heart attack is another goal in treating angina, which means the underlying condition needs to be treated.
Treatment includes:
- Determining and diagnosing the cause of angina
- Medications such as beta blockers, calcium channel blockers, nitrates, aspirin, or statins (or others)
- Lifestyle changes, including a nutritional diet, daily activity, and smoking cessation
- Surgical procedures, such as opening up blocked arteries
- Therapies, such as cardiac rehabilitation
How to prevent angina
Heart disease is the most common cause of angina, so living a heart-healthy lifestyle is one of the ways to possibly prevent angina. This includes using strategies such as:
- Maintaining a healthy weight and exercising regularly
- Eating a nutritional diet heavy in whole grains, fruits, and vegetables and low in salt
- Practicing stress relief through meditation, deep breathing, mindfulness, or exercise
- Avoiding smoking and tobacco products
- Limiting or avoiding alcohol
- Managing other health conditions, such as diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure
