How to Recognize Angina Heart Symptoms

Angina can be experienced as a feeling of pressure, squeezing or pain in your chest. It is not something to be ignored. It is caused by low oxygen and blood flow to your heart muscle and is an indication of heart disease and can precede heart attack. There is stable angina, persistent heart pain associated with exercise or exertion, and unstable angina, sudden pain or tightness in your chest that can signal an eventual heart attack. Learn how to recognize some of the many possible signs of angina. Get regular checkups and visit your doctor if you experience anything that might be a symptom.

Instructions

• 1

  Recognize chest pain that often is not described as pain, but a squeezing or pressure. It may feel like stretching or an expanding pressure, and has been described as the feeling like someone stepping on your chest. Women sometimes describe a stabbing pain, while men usually have a tightness or pressure described more as discomfort.

• 2

  Look for other common signs like fatigue with mild exertion, nausea, shortness of breath, dizziness or sweating. Chest pressure alone is reason to see a doctor. The pressure combined with any other of these symptoms should never be ignored. Get a heart checkup quickly.

• 3

  Get a doctor's checkup for angina and heart disease as soon as possible if these signs are new, or if they persist or if chest pressure lasts more than a few minutes.