If you are someone who looks after your health, then you may want to be able to identify a serious ailment when it first occurs. This can help you to understand if you are experiencing an emergency situation so you can get help at a local hospital. And chest pain is sometimes a sign that there is something serious going on. If you want to know about some other red flags that indicate the discomfort is serious, keep reading.
Pain Is Constant and Consistent
There are a whole range of ailments that can cause chest pain. Discomfort is common if you pull a muscle or if you crack a rib. You may feel it if you have anxiety or if you experience indigestion. And, all of these things will produce pain that is short-lived, inconsistent, and intermittent. In other words, the pain is rarely at an elevated level unless you do something to bring on the pain like moving or eating a spicy meal.
If you are having a heart attack, the pain will often feel stabbing, central to the chest, and it will not go away. Comfort measures like taking an NSAID, lying down, or using a heating pad will not help to resolve the pain. And, the pain will usually worsen over time no matter what you do. The discomfort will likely radiate too and will spread out across the neck, shoulders, and sometimes the abdomen.
Typically, the pain experienced will be described as crushing, squeezing, tightening, or heavy with pressure.
Breathing Problems Develop
When you experience a heart attack, then your heart is not receiving the oxygen it needs. This keeps the heart from functioning properly and the organ cannot pump blood to the lungs, brain, and other tissues as effectively as normal. When the lung tissues are deprived of oxygen, you may feel a tightening and you may find it difficult to breathe. This may also occur as blood backs up into the tissues instead of moving through the heart.
If you feel that you cannot breathe at the same time that chest pain starts to come on, then this is a sign of a heart attack. In addition, you may start to feel lightheaded and dizzy as the lack of oxygen and blood flow affects the brain.
It is best to sit or lie down immediately if you feel these sorts of symptoms so you do not fall and injure yourself. When you go to do this, contact emergency services yourself or ask someone else to do so for you.
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