Symptoms of Coronary Heart Disease – Part 1

What are the signs and symptoms of coronary heart disease?

Doctors spend many hours educating patients about prevention of heart disease in both men and women. Understanding how to prevent heart diseases often gives you clues as to the warning symptoms of coronary heart disease. Coronary artery disease, also called coronary heart disease, has specific signs and symptoms, which are warnings of the increased risk of a future heart attack.

Angina is a specific type of chest pain that is a symptom of coronary heart disease in both men and women. Men appear to complain of angina more than women but this condition exists in both genders.

Angina happens when there is not enough flow of blood through the blood vessels of the heart muscle. This deprives the heart of life sustaining oxygen and causes the muscle to react in pain. This might be peripherally compared to running a long distance under conditions where your legs don’t receive enough oxygen. The next day you’ll have very sore legs from the build up of lactic acid. In the heart muscle the reaction is much more immediate to the lack of oxygen and you’ll feel pain in your chest.

Angina has three major forms. Stable angina is predictable and is relieved by nitroglycerin. Unstable angina increases in frequency and duration and Prinzmetal’s angina is unpredictable and caused from spasms in the arterial system surrounding the heart.

The intensity of angina is different from person to person. The pain can be typical or atypical. Typical chest pain from lack of oxygen to the heart is experienced under the sternum and the patient feels like there is something heavy on their chest or that the chest is being squeezed. The patient experiences angina after exercise or increased emotion.

Resources:

Cleveland Clinic: Symptoms of Coronary Artery Disease

http://my.clevelandclinic.org/heart/disorders/cad/cadsymptoms.aspx

MayoClinic: Coronary Artery Disease

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/coronary-artery-disease/DS00064/DSECTION=symptoms

MayoClinic: Heart Disease

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/heart-disease/HB00040

National Heart Lung and Blood Institute: What is Coronary Heart disease

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/cad/

University of Southern California Cardiothoracic Surgery

http://www.cts.usc.edu/hpg-symptomsofcoronaryarterydisease.html