Cardiologist explains what Heart Pain feels like

Hello everyone, my name is Hafiz and I'm a cardiologist training in London. If it's your first time here on the channel, welcome. Here I give tips on how to keep your heart healthy and also explain heart conditions in a way that is easy to understand. If that interests you, then click on the subscribe button and bell icon so you get notified every time I release a video. Detecting heart disease and reducing its risk is one of the crucial things we do as cardiologists. But I often hear patients say to me that, doctor I have angina or I have heart pain. But actually when I ask them to describe their symptoms to me, I sometimes find that the pain they are describing isn't classical heart pain. Not all chest pain is related to the heart. The chest is made up of muscles interspaced between the ribs and of course the lungs and any of these components can be the cause of the pain. Heart pain, what we call angina, is a central chest pain that can go down your arm or up the jaw. It feels like a constriction or a tightness across the chest. Angina typically comes on with exertion like walking up a hill or if you're rushing to get somewhere. Angina is a stable condition and the important feature is that with rest the symptoms go away, usually within 10 minutes. If you do experience angina, then this is something to discuss with your general practitioner who will assess you and may refer you to a cardiologist if it sounds like heart pain that needs more tests. A heart attack, on the other hand, is pain that does not get relieved with rest and persists. A heart attack can occur at any time. The characteristic symptoms are well described as a tight band across the or a heaviness in the chest associated with sweating or difficulty breathing. It's true that some people may not have the typical symptoms so it can sometimes be tricky. It can also be felt like indigestion, shoulder pain or even jaw pain so naturally to the patient you wouldn't associate it with the heart. These atypical symptoms are more common in the elderly or diabetic patients. If your pain is severe and you have the symptoms I described which persist, then it's really important to get urgent medical attention. It's also a good idea to have someone with you until the paramedics arrive. The ambulance crew will assess you and do some tests to decide whether you need to be taken to hospital. A heart attack is sadly still a common condition. In the UK, someone is admitted to hospital due to a heart attack every five minutes. But being aware of the symptoms and knowing when to get help are important steps in tackling this otherwise deadly condition. I hope that was helpful and thanks for watching.