All about angina

If you have chest pain, see a doctor right away – don't assume that it is angina. But if you have been diagnosed with angina, here's what to know.

Symptoms
Specific symptoms of angina include:

• Pain that starts in the centre of your chest and spreads to your left arm, neck, back, throat or jaw
• Tightness, pressure, squeezing and/or aching feeling in your chest or arm(s)
• Persistent moderate to severe indigestion
• Sharp, burning or cramping pain
• Discomfort in your neck or upper back, particularly between the shoulder blades
• Numbness or a loss of feeling in your arms, shoulders or wrists.

If you experience one or more of these symptoms for the first time, see your doctor right away. If your particular pattern of angina changes, you should also go in right away.

A warning signal
Pain is often our body's signal that something is wrong. In the case of angina, it is the heart sending the signal that your body is working too hard for your heart to handle and that you need to slow down; stop what you are doing, and rest. It commonly occurs during physical activity, exercise, stress, during extreme cold or heat, after heavy meals, and while drinking alcohol or smoking – essentially whenever the heart is working a littler harder.

Angina is most often caused by coronary artery disease (CAD) which itself is due to atherosclerosis, or a building up of fatty deposits inside the arteries that block the flow of blood.