What is Angina?
What are the Symptoms of Angina?
The symptoms of Angina involve chest pain and discomfort. It feels like the chest is squeezing, burning and the patient experiences tremendous pressure on the chest. The pain can spread to your arms, neck, jaw, shoulder or back.
Might Experience:
- Dizziness
- Fatigue
- Nausea
- Shortness of breath
- Sweating
What are the Causes of Angina?
Angina is caused when the heart arteries become narrowed by fatty deposits called plaques. It reduces the blood flow to the heart muscle. This condition is also called coronary artery disease (CAD). However, the causes which trigger Angina can be categorized into three types. Stable angina, Unstable angina, and Prinzmetal’s angina.
Stable angina is a condition when your heart demands more blood due to physical activities like climbing stairs, exercising, walking, etc. but unable to get that due to narrowed arteries. However, some other factors like emotional stress, cold temperatures, heavy meals, and smoking can also narrow arteries and cause angina.
Unstable angina is considered to be more severe as this condition occurs when the blood vessel got raptured due to the excessive fatty deposits and suddenly decreases the blood flow to the heart muscle. This happens as the ruptured blood vessels can form blood clots that partially block the heart’s blood vessels, and it may cause a heart attack.
Illegal drug cocaine may initiate Prinzmetal’s angina. This kind of angina is triggered by a rapid spasm in a coronary artery, which momentarily reduces the artery.
When to see a Doctor?
Lifestyle Changes to Prevent Angina
- Quitting smoking.
- Monitoring and controlling health conditions, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes.
- Eating a healthy diet and maintaining a healthy weight.
- Increasing your physical activity after you get your doctor’s OK. Aim for 150 minutes of moderate activity each week. Plus, it’s recommended that you get 10 minutes of strength training twice a week and to stretch three times a week for five to 10 minutes each time.
- Reducing your stress level.
- Limiting alcohol consumption to two drinks or fewer a day for men, and one drink a day or less for women.
- Getting an annual flu shot to avoid heart complications from the virus
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