Angina Alert

Arm yourself with knowledge on ways to manage your angina and reduce symptom frequency.

It may start as a feeling of squeezing or suffocating in the midchest, with pain that shoots to the left arm. But it’s not a heart attack, it’s angina – chest pain that’s a symptom of heart disease. Episodes such as these can be managed by drugs like nitrates and, in more severe cases, procedures like stenting to improve blood flow. However, research shows that you can also ease angina by making heart healthy changes in your lifestyle.

WHY DOES ANGINA HAPPEN?

Chronic stable angina occurs when your heart is deprived of blood that can’t flow freely because an artery is narrowed or blocked. Sufferers often describe angina as pressure or squeezing in the chest, not unlike indigestion, with pain that sometimes occurs in the shoulders, arms, neck, jaw or back.

Unlike unstable angina, which comes on unexpectedly, chronic stable angina has a typical pattern: It occurs when you’re physically active, under stress, exposed to extreme temperatures or eating a heavy meal, for example. Rest or nitrates usually relieve it. An attack typically lasts less than five minutes.

WHAT YOU CAN DO