It’s natural to panic when you experience chest pain, as you may think you’re having a heart attack. However, there are lots of other things that cause the pain that aren’t immediately life threatening. This isn’t to say these problems aren’t serious. It’s always best to ask a doctor about them.
Indigestion is common and often mistaken for cardiac pain. You’ll feel pain in much the same area as you would if you were having a heart attack. Typically, you will feel it after eating something like spicy food, but there are other triggers as well, including drinking, smoking, stress, and pregnancy.
You probably know indigestion in this case as heartburn, since it only stays in this area of your body. There are various treatments, ranging from ordinary antacid tablets which you can quickly pick up from a drugstore to less common things like omeprazole, rantidine, and lanzopazole, among others.
Sometimes, the pain you’re feeling is simply to due to stress. This is especially true if you’ve just experienced a big shock. This triggers responses like your heart beating faster and your breath speeding up. Because of this sudden extra energy, you may feel pressure and pain around your chest.
These sensations, in which your body goes into survival mode, are much more common for some people than others. It’s still a good idea to go to the hospital to make sure they’re not anything more serious. Trying to learn relaxation techniques can go a long way in overcoming these panic attacks in the future.
Of course, these two are just a couple of the many things that could be causing your chest pains. Muscle strains, nerve damage, and even broken ribs could be culprits as well and you should get to a hospital to have them checked out right away. Just because you’re not in danger of dying, it doesn’t mean you’re not in trouble.
