Patients experiencing angina often characterize the feeling as pressure, squeezing, tightening or heaviness felt across the chest and sometimes travelling to the arms, back, neck, jaw and teeth. these sensations are often accompanied by other symptoms, including indigestion, heartburn, nausea, a feeling of overall weakness, sweating, muscle cramping and shortness of breath.
Eating a heavy meal, experiencing severe emotional stress, and physical exertion can trigger an episode of angina, which can last anywhere between one and 15 minutes. Because narrowed coronary arteries can’t deliver a sufficient supply of oxygen to the heart muscle, either stable angina or unstable angina develops.
Stable angina refers to the kind of angina most commonly experienced, a condition that is usually predictable following a specific physical activity, such as carrying something heavy or running a distance. Stable angina usually has a short duration of five minutes or less and can be relieved easily by resting or by placing a nitroglycerin tablet under the tongue to help lower the body’s blood pressure and relax the blood vessels feeling strained due to the heart’s increased oxygen demands.
Unstable angina is the more serious form of this condition. there is no noticeable pattern as to when the angina episode will be triggered, the pain is more long-lasting and severe and can even occur while the patient is completely at rest. Medicating with nytroglycerin usually brings no relief for unstable angina, which requires an immediate visit to the hospital ER or doctor’s office because this kind of angina often signals an oncoming heart attack.
Coronary artery disease, also called arteriosclerosis, is the biggest single cause of angina. High cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, diabetes and smoking can all aggravate arteriosclerosis and trigger angina.
Angina can be diagnosed through an EKG (electrocardiogram) test that measures the heart muscle’s electrical activity and need for oxygen or the latest technology, an ultrafast CT scan that can detect placque blocking the coronary arteries. anyone who regularly experiences stable angina or even one episode of unstable angina should be tested for coronary artery disease because of the increased risk for heart attack.
Angina treatment beyond rest and medication involve more complicated medical procedures such as coronary angioplasty or coronary artery bypass graft surgery to correct the problem.
Heart problems should not stop you going on holiday though and you should get good cover if you’ve had major heart problems in the past.
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