Before a more detailed disclosure of this topic, it is necessary to clarify that heartache is by no means a joke. If this condition is suspected, it is necessary to consult a doctor, since without a detailed history taking and banal studies (ECG, heart auscultation, etc.), an accurate diagnosis is impossible. How to recognize a heartache from another? This will be discussed in the article.
Signs of heartache
It is worth understanding that the position familiar to many: “If the pain gives to the left hand, it means heart problems” is incorrect. The so-called "recoil" (it is also the irradiation of pain) in case of heart pathologies may not be to the left side of the body in general, to say nothing specifically about the left hand. If something hurts on the left side, then it is not necessarily the heart.
Let's look at the signs of several heart conditions, of which chest pain is a clear sign.
Angina
How to manifestheart pain in the form of an attack of angina pectoris:
- Pain in this pathology is compressive, pressing, sometimes burning. It is worth noting: breathing or changing the position of the patient's body will practically not affect the intensity of pain.
- Angina pectoris will manifest itself when a person is physically and emotionally stressed. Although it can also occur at rest, even during sleep, it is less common.
- When inhaling, colitis in the region of the heart.
- Duration is between 2 and 15 minutes.
- Localized in the retrosternal region, sometimes "gives" to the hands (more often to the left), but not always, irradiation may well be in the back, neck, and also the lower jaw.
Pericarditis
Pericarditis has the following symptoms of heart pain:
- In pericarditis, pain is sharp and dull of varying intensity.
- It does not increase immediately, but gradually, at the peak of the process it can decrease and even disappear, but after that it intensifies again. Often, changes are associated with the position of the body and breathing of the patient.
- Duration of several days.
- Localization will be in the retrosternal region, sometimes radiating to the neck, back, and also to the shoulders and epigastric region.
Aortic dissection
Aortic dissection presents with the following symptoms of heart pain:
- Pain is very intense and often ripples.
- The onset is instantaneous, often against the background of arterial hypertension, sometimes with physical and emotional stress. There is a place to be and presenceneurological symptoms.
- Duration with a very large variation, can be from several minutes to several days.
- Localization in the retrosternal region with "recoil" along the spinal column and along the branches of the aorta (to the stomach, back, neck and ears).
TELA
How to identify heart pain in pulmonary embolism (PE):
- Pain is sharp and intense, a high probability of developing shock, sometimes accompanied by very severe shortness of breath.
- It appears suddenly, and against the background of a long bed rest, after surgery on the organs of the abdomen, pelvis, lower extremities. In people suffering from thrombophlebitis, besides during physical exertion.
- Duration varies from 15 minutes up to several hours.
- When inhaling, colitis in the region of the heart.
- Localized in the center of the sternum or mainly in the left and right half of the chest, it all depends on the side of the lesion directly.
Remember that despite advances in medicine, heart disease is one of the leading causes of death (according to WHO). Therefore, carefully monitor your he alth and do not neglect contacting specialists. Remember that procrastination and self-treatment can be fatal.
How can I tell a heartache from others?
People, completely far from medicine, for some reason believe that if there is a pulling or sharp pain in the chest, then something is wrong with the heart. This is not entirely true, since chest pains may not occuronly because of the disturbed work of the heart, but also for many other reasons.
You should not panic if there is pain in the chest area, but you should not relax either, since any pain is a signal that the work of some internal organ is disrupted. Naturally, the most dangerous are heart pains, so it is necessary to distinguish pain associated with the heart from other types of pain.
Causes of chest pain
Often, pain in the chest area occurs due to osteochondrosis, in which the nerve roots are pinched, and this leads to a sharp back pain that radiates to the thoracic region. It may seem to a person suffering from osteochondrosis that the heart is sick, since the pain sensations are of a similar nature. The main thing is to establish the cause and know how to recognize heart pain.
Distinguishing heart pain from pain in osteochondrosis is quite difficult, but possible, since in the second case, pain can appear with a sudden turn of the head, with sudden movements, as well as with prolonged sitting in a not very comfortable position or with a strong cough. In addition, the pain associated with a disease of the spine can last not only for days, but also for months, and pain in case of violations of the heart is often paroxysmal in nature and stops after taking special drugs.
You can confuse heart pain with pain caused by some kind of stomach disease. In this case, you need to pay attention to the situations in whichpain, what character it is, what additional signs accompany it. So, for example, if chest pain is associated with a stomach disease, then it can be aching or dull, much less often a person can feel a dagger or sharp pain. In addition, with diseases of the stomach, pain may appear immediately after eating or on an empty stomach. Pain in any gastrointestinal disease is often accompanied by some additional symptoms, such as vomiting, heaviness in the abdomen, belching, gas formation, heartburn or nausea.
With real heart pain, none of these symptoms occur, but a person can feel severe weakness, he begins to panic, there is a fear of death. Very often, people confuse heart pain with pain in neuralgia, and this is not surprising, since in both cases there are similar additional symptoms that accompany the pain syndrome. But even here one can find significant differences, since pains in neuralgia often torment a person at night, they do not subside even if the patient is at rest.
Pain can be significantly aggravated by bending over, taking a deep breath, as well as walking or a sudden change in body position. In addition, strong pain occurs when you press on the gap between the ribs. It should also be noted that with neuralgia, pain can be longer than heart pain, in addition, they are aggravated by stress or strong excitement and are not relieved by taking nitroglycerin. If pain sensations arose during violations of the heart, then pains such asusually a few minutes, and they can be eliminated with nitroglycerin or Validol.
It is also important to understand severe pain syndromes. How to recognize heart pain in this case? After all, discomfort in the chest can also appear for other reasons, for example, with VVD, neurosis, severe depression, and they are accompanied by arrhythmia and sudden pressure surges. All these additional signs confuse a person even more and create in him the illusion of disturbances in the work of the heart. The most interesting thing is that a person can really feel the frantic heartbeats, but this is nothing more than a game of the imagination. The fact is that people suffering from VVD and other above-mentioned problems have a tendency to hysteria, and their imagination, with any problems with the body, simply paints the picture. Features of pain in VVD and neuroses are that they pass very quickly as soon as the patient calms down, in addition, such pain can last for several days, and they usually occur against the background of nervous shocks and stress.
How to tell neuralgia from heart pain?
It is not always possible for doctors to diagnose diseases, for example, it is very difficult to understand how neuralgia differs from pain in the heart. A person himself will not be able to determine the cause of chest pain.
In order to know how to distinguish neuralgia from heart pain, you should understand the signs of the first.
Neuralgia is characterized by bouts of burning, numbness of body parts, pain can occur under the ribs,blades. The reasons can be different, for example, problems with the nervous system, as well as a decrease in immunity. Long pains, which most often appear in the evening and do not subside until the morning, are all signs of neuralgia. With a deep exhalation or inhalation, the pain intensifies. If, nevertheless, pains in the heart, then they are short-lived, in contrast to the symptoms of neuralgia. With pathology in the heart, there is no pain when inhaling. Measure the pressure, if the pain is associated with cardiovascular pathology, then the pulse is disturbed, and the pressure becomes higher. Neuralgia is characterized by pain-attacks that can last about 20 minutes, congenital pathologies can affect discomfort. This disease can occur due to cervical osteochondrosis. Also, the usual uncomfortable posture can trigger discomfort.
Pain in the heart does not last so long, it happens sometimes due to physical and psychological stress. In this situation, the pain is pressing, in contrast to neuralgia (stabbing). With attacks of neuralgia, it is better to take sedatives or cardiological drugs. Everyone can have heart pathologies, age does not matter, unlike neuralgia, since most elderly people suffer from this disease.
In any case, if a person feels unwell, then you should immediately contact a specialist. After all, any attack is already a kind of call to check your he alth.
Treatment
Despite the far advanced medicine, the emergence of new diagnostic methods, methods and methods for the complete cure of heart diseases is notinvented. True, with a timely diagnosis and timely treatment of heart diseases, it is possible to improve the condition at times, slow down the development of diseases, increase life expectancy and improve its quality.
Risk Factor
The key to successful treatment of heart pain is the elimination of risk factors. That is, for the treatment to be successful, it is necessary to follow several main rules:
- Change lifestyle.
- Reduce blood pressure.
- Establish he althy sleep.
- Eat right.
- Normalize blood sugar.
- Regulate cholesterol.
- Quit smoking.
- Be physically active.
Following all these rules and adding medical treatment of heart pain, you can count on a positive result in the treatment of heart pain in 80% of cases. In addition, a patient who has followed all the rules can get rid of pain in the heart without taking medication or reduce their use. The less often you have to call an ambulance, the less often you have to undergo treatment in the inpatient cardiology department, the better for the patient, the more chances you have to live a full life and enjoy every day you live.
Deterioration implies mandatory hospitalization and treatment for heart pain. Properly selected therapy minimizes complications and deaths.
The first signs of a need for hospitalization include:
- First time chest pain.
- Appearedarrhythmia.
- Sharp deterioration.
- Increasing angina.
- Edema, shortness of breath, changes in ECG indicators.
- A condition close to myocardial infarction.
Other cases of heart pain can be treated at home. The main thing is to know how to identify heart pain, to distinguish it from other pain. Taking pills gives only the relief of an attack in order to continue to do daily work. The drug regimen is made by a doctor. Self-medication will only aggravate the situation. After all, pain in the region of the heart does not always indicate problems with it. Symptoms can be caused by other diseases and pathologies. It can be problems with the spine, diseases of the back and stomach. In these cases, the standard treatment regimen and the list of drugs for heart pain are completely useless. It is necessary to establish the root cause of the pathology. You may need to consult other specialists.
Therapy
For the treatment to have a positive result, it is necessary to establish all the causes of heart pain. Remember that the miracle pill does not exist. An individual scheme for the selection of drugs is needed, which is impossible to draw up without a comprehensive examination and the results of the analyzes obtained. In order not to drink handfuls of pills, modern pharmaceuticals offer a lot of products that combine several properties as much as possible. But even this is not enough.
Doctor prescribes medicine for pain in the heart of several groupsexposure:
- Reflex.
- Peripheral.
- Antiplatelet agents.
- Blockers.
- Beta-blockers.
- Fibrates and statins.
- Micronutrients.
Reflex medications include medicines for pain in the heart, the action of which is aimed at relieving severe discomfort. They are usually taken for heart pain caused by vascular dystonia.
The peripheral group of drugs is designed to affect the muscle tissue of blood vessels. They are prescribed for severe pain, when urgent help is required for pain syndrome, when there is a risk of myocardial infarction. Peripheral drugs should be taken for angina pectoris, for chest pain, for the treatment of cardiac ischemia, for heart failure. They are taken during the treatment of pain in the heart and as a prophylactic.
Drugs from the group of antiplatelet agents are designed to prevent and prevent the development of blood clots. Medications-blockers eliminate the penetration of calcium into the cells of the heart. They are designed to normalize blood pressure and pulse. Blocker drugs are prescribed to treat heart pain caused by hypertension, tachycardia, cardiac ischemia.
Medicines-fibrates, statins are aimed at lowering the concentration of cholesterol in the blood. They are taken as an adjunct in the treatment of heart pain caused by an increase in cholesterol levels.
Medicines
There is a huge list of medicines for heart pain. It is very difficult to figure it out on your own. It is better,if done by a specialist. There are always times when you need to help yourself or another person urgently. Therefore, first of all, you need to know the names of drugs, understand their action in order to alleviate an attack before medical assistance is provided by specialists. The main thing is to know how to relieve heart pain quickly.
Emergency medicines for pain in the heart include:
- "Validol".
- "Nitroglycerin".
- "Aspirin".
- "Amlodipine".
- "Ascorutin" and others.
If something often hurts on the left side, then the presence of such funds in the home first aid kit should be mandatory.
For pain in the heart, the following medicines are prescribed:
- Glycosides: Digoxin and Korglikon. Their action is aimed at eliminating tachycardia.
- Inhibitors: Ramipril, Quinapril and Trandolapril. Contribute to the restoration of blood vessels, aimed at dilating the arteries.
- Diuretic drugs: "Furasemide" and "Britomir", helping to reduce edema and stress on the heart.
- Vozodilatators. These include drugs "Izoket", "Minoxidil", "Nitroglycerin". Their main task is to normalize vascular tone.
- Beta-blockers. These are drugs "Carvedipol", "Metopropol", "Celipropol". They are taken to eliminate arrhythmias and enrich blood vessels with oxygen.
- Anticoagulants: Warfarin, Arixtra,"Sinkumar", to prevent and eliminate blood clots.
- Statins: "Lipostat", "Anvistat", "Zokor". They are taken to lower cholesterol and prevent plaque formation.
- Antithrombotic drugs: "Cardiomagnyl", "Aspirin Cardio", "Kurantil" - act in the same way as anticoagulants.
If medicines for heart pain do not give a positive effect, cardiologists recommend resorting to surgery. But it is carried out only after heart pain has been recognized.
