Knowing When to Seek Medical Care for Chest Pains

All of a sudden you have pain in your chest. You may get nervous about what it is or you may just ignore it and hope it doesn’t happen again. If this sounds like you, there are some things you need to know about chest pains. Knowing when to seek medical care for chest pains is important. Sometimes chest pains are no big deal but other times they can be serious. Find out more about chest pains and what you need to do about them.

Heart Disease

There are thousands of people who pass away every single year due to heart disease. One of the most common symptoms of heart attacks is pain in the chest. That is what is mentioned by many medical professionals and other resources. However, when people talk about chest pain, it is sometimes misguided. Pain in the heart isn’t always inside the chest. Many people believe they aren’t having a heart attack because they think the pain must be in the chest.  Don’t be one of those who believe in that. Learn more about chest pains so you know when to seek medical care.

Chest Pains with a Heart Attack

How do you know when chest pains are signifying a heart attack? You will need to note what your symptoms are and your risk factors as well. Generally, you will feel heaviness, squeezing or tightness in your chest. You may feel like a huge weight is sitting on your chest or even like someone is squeezing your chest hard. You will probably feel the pain on the left area of your chest. It will be just on top of the lower area of your ribcage. More than likely you will be short of breath, nauseous, sweaty and feel anxious as well. The pain you experience may radiate through your jaw, neck and left arm. If you recognize these, seek medical care right away. Even if you aren’t having a heart attack, it is better to be safe than sorry.

Other Symptoms Associated with Heart Attacks

In addition to the symptoms above, there are other symptoms that are associated with a heart attack. Sometimes the pain won’t be on the left area of your chest. It could be in the center, on the right or also in the top part of your abdomen. Some people who have a heart attack don’t have any pain. They are only short of breath. Some people never even have any symptoms and don’t even know they have had a heart attack. The type of pain may vary from one individual to another. You might feel like you have indigestion, gas pains, burning pains or sharp pains.

Length of Pain in the Chest

If you are having pains in your chest, you need to focus on how long your pain is lasting. If you are having pain in your chest associated with other conditions, it may just last a couple of seconds. If you are having a heart attack it could last a minimum of around 5 minutes and may end in less than 30 minutes.

Risk Factors to Heart Attacks

There are many risk factors that could lead you to have a heart attack. Find out about them here and talk to your doctor about them as well. Your age could increase your risk of having a heart attack. Heart attacks are more common in men over age 40. If your family has a history of heart attacks, that increases your risk. If you are a smoker, that could increase your risk as well. If you have diabetes. Hypertension or high cholesterol, that increases your risk of having a heart attack.

If you are ever worried about chest pains you have, get checked out immediately. Even if it turns out to be nothing except for gas pains or indigestion, it is better to be safe and have things checked out. The sooner you get medical care if you are having a heart attack, the more you will safe your health.