Chest Pains
When pain strikes in the chest, one question leaps to the foreground. Is the pain coming from the heart or somewhere else? It is the same for all people including doctors themselves, who
Fig. 63. Chest pain strikes fear of heart trouble and possible sudden death. Most pain in this region is not from the heart, however, but from several other distinct causes. It is important not to disregard this pain which may be a warning of more serious possibilities ahead.
as a group seem particularly singled out for heart difficulties.
There is marked fear of chest pain today because most people have the idea that a heart attack is a painful story. This idea, usually correct, is an impression gleaned from newspapers, neighbors and educational literature. However, most people have only a portion of the true story, and they probably differ quite a bit one from another.
A well-rounded idea of chest pains is as important to us today as the much publicized danger points of cancer, because heart disease is the greatest killer in the United States today. Its chief symptom, chest pain, more than any other symptom, will alert an individual to seek expert medical advice regarding the status of his heart. It should, of course, be obvious that the greatest importance in chest pain is the opinion of a competent physician. He is skilled in interpreting pain and associated findings into an exact diagnosis, and will direct the treatment possibly for a severe heart attack or perhaps dismiss the difficulty as due to some less serious cause, such as heartburn.
In studying chest pain possibilities, we know that a slight pain for one of us might be described as unbearable by someone else. Also, we must realize that the severity of chest pain does not always reflect exactly the seriousness of the underlying disease. Chest pain, however, may never be taken lightly, and all too often, severe chest pain is regarded with a shrug, as caused by indigestion. This tragic error has aided many useful intelligent people to slip into eternity far before their time. The story is frequently heard after it is too late, “He thought it was only a little indigestion.”
Keywords: Skin, Head, Eye, Ear, Cancer, Face, Lips, Teeth, Thyroid, Chest, Breast, Lungs, Heart, Nail, Asthma, Tongue, Neck, BP, Migraine, Scalp, Eczema, Shingles