When it comes to heart disease, the general public may think that “chest pain” is a warning sign, but it is not only the occurrence of chest pain that should be paid attention to, and not chest pain is heart disease! Myocardial infarction, aortic dissection…Heart disease is always caught off guard, and can deprive precious lives in an instant! The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced that among the top ten causes of death for Chinese people in 2021,heart diseaseRanking second among the top ten causes of death, second only to cancer, it has become one of the national diseases that cannot be ignored by Chinese people.
What is the difference between chest pain and heart disease?
And it is not chest pain or heart disease, what is the difference between the two? Let Wei Zheng, the dean of Zhenxing Hospital, analyze it for you:
Causes of Chest Pain
1. Myocardial infarction:
The pain lasts longer than angina pectoris, and may last for tens of minutes or even hours. Patients will have symptoms such as night sweats, nausea, vomiting, and pale face. People with diabetes, high cholesterol or family inheritance have a high risk of blood vessel blockage (such as coronary arteriosclerosis, blockage) after middle age. The originally narrow blood vessels reconstrict, resulting in cardiac ischemia. The initial symptoms may not be obvious or even asymptomatic, but Once the blood vessel is blocked by more than 70% to 80%, chest tightness and chest pain will appear during exercise at this time. When it develops to complete blockage, the heart muscle is necrotic, which is acute myocardial infarction. Necrosis of the heart muscle, and severe arrhythmias that cause the heart to stop beating.
2. Angina pectoris (heart hypoxia):
Pain when climbing stairs, catching a bus (during exercise), the pain extends from the left front chest to the left arm, and lasts for a short time, about 2 to 3 minutes. Angina pectoris is caused by blockage of the coronary arteries of the heart, but there are different degrees of intensity. When the blood flow is blocked in the early stage, it may be just chest tightness and no pain; There will be some chest tightness and chest pain.
3. Mitral valve prolapse:
Usually accompanied by tachycardia or dull pain and discomfort, it is common in tall and thin women. Most patients will not be in immediate danger, and even many patients have no obvious symptoms, but because of health checks, they only know that they have valve prolapse.
4. Aortic dissection:
severe pain, the pain may go from the front to the back. Most of these patients have a history of hypertension. Human blood vessels are composed of three layers of intima, media and adventitia. When the intima is damaged, high-pressure blood flow breaks through the intima, and the blood flows to the middle and outer layers to form a dissection tumor. When the dissection gradually expands, the aortic wall will be torn in both forward and backward directions due to the sudden infiltration of a large amount of blood by the patient, resulting in the so-called aortic dissection. In this case, it is often too late to be sent to the hospital for emergency treatment, and the patient will die of massive bleeding.
5. Myocardial bridge:
It refers to the heart muscle spanning the coronary arteries, just like a bridge spanning a river, hence the name. Originally, normal coronary arteries would run on the surface of the heart, but in patients with myocardial bridge, the coronary arteries are covered by the heart muscle, which affects the blood flow of the coronary arteries, causing heart hypoxia and arrhythmia. During exercise, the myocardial bridge will affect the blood flow of the heart and cause heart hypoxia, which may cause symptoms of chest tightness and angina pectoris.
6. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy:
Once there is a lesion of myocardial hypertrophy, the volume of the heart will decrease, and the heart will contract during intense exercise, resulting in blood not being sent smoothly from the heart. However, the vast majority of patients have no symptoms. If they have symptoms, they are mostly chest tightness, wheezing (especially during exercise), weakness, and easy dizziness and syncope.
7. Gastroesophageal reflux:
chest pain in the middle of the night may be this kind.
8. Pulmonary embolism:
Sudden chest pain, severe immediate loss of consciousness, CPR is usually ineffective and requires Yekemo, but if a large number of blood clots block both pulmonary arteries, the survival rate is very low.
When heart disease patients have dizziness, palpitations, chest discomfort, shortness of breath, irregular heartbeat, chest pain, cold limbs, unconsciousness, pale face, and severe cases, they may be life-threatening due to myocardial hypoxia. Please seek medical attention as soon as possible. Heart problems are mostly genetic, but most are treatable. Therefore, it is suggested that ordinary people can arrange to have a high-level cardiac CT examination after the age of 50; those with family history can have a high-level cardiac CT examination at the age of 40.
Control Your Blood Pressure to Avoid Deadly Heart Disease
For the more fatal aortic dissection and myocardial infarction, in fact, part of the reason is that blood pressure is not well controlled, and it is more likely to cause sudden death in winter. Therefore, it is recommended for hypertensive patients that it is very important to measure blood pressure. Record the usual range of blood pressure so as to adjust the time to take medicine. Change the blood pressure medicine to take half a pill in the morning and evening.
Many people don’t know that blood pressure will rise in winter, especially when the weather changes or when you come to a cold area. On the contrary, when the weather gets hot, blood pressure will drop, and the antihypertensive drugs will be reduced at this time. If hypertensive patients are always dizzy in summer, it may be that they have taken too much blood pressure medicine, resulting in hypotension. So we know that when the weather gets colder, blood pressure medicines may have to be increased; when it gets hotter, blood pressure medicines may have to be decreased.