General Health

No matter what your age is, if you feel a pain in your chest, you should be concerned, since chest pain is one of the most serious complaints people can bring to their doctor. Heart attacks can happen at any age, but over the age of 50 the risk increases. As most of you already know, your risk also increases if you answer yes to any of the following questions:

1. Do I have a strong family history of heart disease?

2. Do I smoke?

3. Do I have hypertension or diabetes?

4. Am I obese and leading a sedentary life?

5. Is my total cholesterol level high, above 200?

Nevertheless, not every pain in the chest signifies an impending heart attack. To alleviate some of your worries, answer the questions below. If you ever feel a pain in your chest, your answers will help determine the possible cause, which is listed after each question.

1.   Where is the pain occurring: in the center of the chest, in the back, or on the left side? Does it move into the arm or jaw (heart problems)
2. Does the pain occur after eating or physical activity (heart)?
3. Does it last for a few seconds (not heart), several minutes (heart), or more than ten minutes (heart)?
4. Am I coughing, and do I feel short of breath (heart or lungs)?
5. Am I sweating (heart or esophageal spasm)?
6. Does it get worse when I inhale or move (muscular pain)?
7. Can I feel it in one small area (muscular), or do I feel it all through my chest (heart and/or lung)?
8. Is the pain burning and sharp (gastrointestinal problem) or heavy (heart)?
9. Am I belching (gastrointestinal problem or heart)?
10. Am I having heart palpitations (gastrointestinal problem or heart)?
11. Do I feel there is something seriously wrong (heart)?

Your answer to each of these questions will help your doctor to determine the cause. There is often tremendous overlap between symptoms that appear in the chest. For instance, if you are having palpitations along with sweating, belching, and a heavy feeling in your chest, it’s probably due to a problem with the heart. However, if you are belching and having palpitations but no other Body Signals, the problem could be in the heart, but it could also be caused by an accumulation of gas in the stomach or a hiatal hernia. This is why it’s important that you try to be as specific with the descriptions of your Body Signals as you can: your treatment will depend on it.

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General Health