Chest Pain – Am I Having A Heart Attack?

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Causes Of Chest Pain

  • When you experience chest pain, your initial thought might be that you are having a heart attack.
  • While chest pain is a possible indication of a heart problem, some other, less severe illnesses can also cause chest pain.
  • Only about 10% of all emergency calls for chest pain lead to the identification of a severe heart-related disorder.

Causes of Chest Pain: Heart-Related

  • Heart attack.
    When you experience chest pain, your initial thought might be that you are having a heart attack.While chest pain is a possible indication of a heart problem, some other, less severe illnesses can also cause chest pain.
    When you experience chest pain, your initial thought might be that you are having a heart attack.While chest pain is a possible indication of a heart problem, some other, less severe illnesses can also cause chest pain.
  • Pericarditis—enlargement of the sac near the heart.
  • Angina—chest pain due to blockages in the blood vessels near your heart.
  • Myocarditis—inflammation of the heart muscle.
  • Aortic separation—a rare illness involving a fragmented part of the heart’s main artery.
  • Cardiomyopathy—heart muscle disease.
  • Pericarditis—inflammation of the sac adjacent to the heart.

Causes of Chest Pain: Gastrointestinal

  • Acid reflux (also known as heartburn).
  • Gallstones or swelling of the pancreas or gallbladder.
  • Problems with swallowing connected to disorders of the esophagus.

Causes of Chest Pain Lung-Related

  • Pneumonia
  • Viral bronchitis.
  • Pneumothorax – a leak of air from your lung into your chest.

Causes of Chest Pain:  Muscle or Bone

  • Injured or broken ribs.
  • Painful muscles from physical labor or prolonged pain.
  • Compression fracture, placing direct pressure on a nerve.

Further Causes of Chest Pain

  • Panic attack – an unexpected episode of extreme fear when there is no real risk or cause.
  • Shingles—an infection the affects the nerves and skin as caused by the chicken pox virus.

Related Video On Chest Pain

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