Pain in the sternum in the middle of the cause of the treatment. Causes of pain in the chest area. Problems with the organs of the respiratory system

In any case, one should be attentive to the appearance of such pains, especially those associated with physical exertion or stressful situations.

Causes of chest pain

Myocardial infarction almost always causes pain of varying severity from moderate to intense. The pain of a heart attack does not go away quickly. It is impossible to completely relieve pain with rest and medication. Myocardial infarction should be remembered even with the appearance of severe pain in the chest during physical activity, even in fairly young people.

Attacks of angina pectoris also lead to pain that is felt like a myocardial infarction, but this is a different disease. Most seizures last about 15 minutes.

Heartburn can cause a feeling of burning pain in the chest.

Physical exercise, falls, coughing can lead to painful overexertion of muscles and other tissues of the chest wall. In this case, the pain increases with pressure on the affected area.

Anxiety, panic may include chest symptoms such as tachycardia (frequent, strong and irregular heartbeats), shallow breathing. Other symptoms of anxiety include anxiety, fear of suffocation, fear of death.

Peptic ulcers and gallbladder disease also cause pain that may radiate to the chest.

A pulmonary embolism is the presence of a blood clot in an artery that runs from the heart to the lungs. Risk factors for pulmonary embolism include surgery in the last 6 weeks, wearing plaster casts, prolonged sitting in airplanes, cars, and conditions that limit mobility. Symptoms of thromboembolism include sudden shortness of breath, sudden chest pain that gets worse with breathing, and sometimes coughing up blood.

Symptoms

Immediate medical attention required:

What can you do

If you suspect a heart attack in yourself or someone close to you, call an ambulance immediately.

To relieve tension from the muscles of the chest, take a pain reliever, for example. Apply hot and let the muscles relax. If the pain is associated with eating or vice versa occurs on an empty stomach, try to eat fractionally.

What can a doctor do

Ask about your family history of cardiovascular disease, current symptoms, and medications you are taking.
Conduct an examination to determine whether the pain is related to heart disease or not.
Conduct the necessary examinations, including ECG, exercise test, angiography of the coronary vessels (a series of x-rays of the vessels of the heart), studies of the stomach, etc. Be sure to visit your doctor regularly and conduct the necessary studies. Any health problem is easier to prevent or manage the disease in the early stages.

Chest pain can occur in people of all ages. It not only brings with it discomfort, but also a signal that it is necessary to undergo a thorough examination by a doctor in a medical institution.

As you know, in the chest there are organs that are very important for life, and a failure in the work of one of them can lead to death. Consider all the possible causes of chest pain and methods for its elimination.

Pain with what characteristics you need to pay attention to:

The nature of the manifestation of pain: pulls, pricks, whines, burns.
Pain type: dull or sharp.
Place of localization: right, left, center chest.
Where does it send: hand, spatula.
When it appears most often: day or night.
What can cause pain: coughing, physical activity, breathing or something else. Read about it here.
What helps relieve pain: change in body position, drugs.

Pressing pain on the left

When you feel a pressing pain in the left side of the chest you need to see a doctor without delay.

The main reasons for its development:

Aortic aneurysm. A very serious illness. There is an accumulation of blood in the vessel as a result of the fact that their membranes have exfoliated.
Myocardial infarction or angina attack. The condition requires immediate hospitalization. Pain in this condition indicates a problem with a large muscle.
Gastric ulcer. Pain occurs after eating. Often a common antispasmodic drug (no-shpa) can alleviate a person's condition.
Inflammatory process in the pancreas (pancreatitis). Pain in this organ is projected onto the left side of the chest and is pronounced. In most cases, discomfort provokes eating.
Hernia in the diaphragm. This pathology occurs due to the prolapse of intestinal loops through weakened places in the diaphragm into the chest cavity. As a result, it is very difficult for the patient to breathe.

Presses on the right

There are many reasons for feeling pain on the right, both easily eliminated and very serious:

Intercostal neuralgia or panic attack.
If, with pain on the right, the heart contracts very quickly, then this can be a signal for the development of cardiac pathologies.
Associated cough, sputum production, and fever may indicate lung problems.
and rapid breathing indicate tracheitis.
With pathological processes in the stomach and esophagus, the food eaten will cause discomfort.
If there is pain when swallowing and compression of the chest at the top right, then this may be a symptom of ordinary laryngitis. Visit an otolaryngologist to confirm the diagnosis.
Right-sided fracture of the ribs is also the cause of discomfort in the chest.

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Presses in the middle

The sensation of pain in the central part of the chest signals all of the above diseases.

In addition to them will be:

Stress.

Nervous breakdowns and anxiety states.

In the presence of these factors, muscle spasm and unpleasant pain may develop.

Also, the infringement of the nerves and the sensation of pain in the middle of the chest are affected by:

Scoliosis.
Osteochondrosis.
Hernias of small vertebrae.

Disease symptoms

When pain occurs behind the sternum, the symptoms are quite different. This is due to a wide range of diseases that provoke unpleasant pain.

Dangerous symptoms, the appearance of which, you must immediately consult a doctor:

A sharp jump in body temperature.
Nausea and urge to vomit.
Increase in sweating.
The appearance of shortness of breath and impaired breathing.
Loss of consciousness. It can become one of the main symptoms of myocardial infarction.
An increase or decrease in heart rate.
During a change in body position, coughing or active movement, pain may increase.
Muscle weakness.
Body aches.

Symptoms are rarely alone, often they are combined and interfere with the correct provision of first aid.

If the following symptoms appear, you should immediately call an ambulance:

When the nature of the pain changes.
Pain in the left side of the chest, then in the right.
Increased pain when lying down.
First aid drugs do not show effectiveness.

After carrying out all possible types of diagnostics, the patient is sent to a specialist for treatment.

Treatment

Treatment begins only after the attending physician makes a diagnosis.

Depending on the causes of pressure behind the sternum, the following drugs are used:

Angina. It is possible to remove the attack with the help of nitroglycerin.
Cerebral atherosclerosis. First aid to reduce high blood pressure - "Farmadipin" drops, and for normal blood circulation in the brain, "Glycine" is prescribed.
Myocardial infarction. It is forbidden to take drugs at home. The patient must be urgently admitted to the hospital. Often these patients end up in the intensive care unit.
Osteochondrosis. In this disease, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (diclofenac, ibuprofen), () are used. Actovegin is prescribed to improve blood circulation. Also, a positive effect in the treatment of this disease produces massage and acupuncture.
Intercostal neuralgia. Often this disease is confused with a heart attack. To stop the pain syndrome, muscle relaxants (tizanidine), corticosteroids (dexamethasone) are used, a warming patch is glued to the ribs or rubbed with an anesthetic ointment.
Gastritis in the acute stage. The first aid will be antispasmodics (no-shpa, bellastezin), sorbents (smecta, enterosgel, phosphalugel).
Angina. In the treatment of angina, it is important to provide the patient with complex treatment: antibiotics (Flemoxin, Summamed), gargling (Givalex), use sprays (Bioparox, Septolete).
Pulmonary embolism. First aid is provided only by the ambulance. In case of untimely treatment, it will not be possible to save the patient.
Depression, stress, hysteria. It is necessary to calm the person with special medicines (persen, dormiplant), provide psychological assistance.

Let's summarize all of the above and find out what needs to be done to provide first aid:

Call an ambulance.
While the team is driving, give the patient a semi-sitting position. Never place it on your back or stomach.
Help you breathe evenly and calmly.
For cardiac pathologies, put a tablet of validol or nitroglycerin under the tongue.
If the patient has fainted, wet a cotton ball with ammonia and hold it up to the nose.
Do not leave the person alone, wait together for the arrival of the doctors.
Never self-reset fractures and dislocations.
If the cause of chest pain is unknown, then warm compresses should not be used.

What could be causing the pain?

Heart attack! This first panicky thought comes as soon as there is a sharp pain in the chest. Perhaps so. Or maybe the problem is completely different. Often chest pains can be the result of diseases of the respiratory, digestive, abdominal, nervous and, of course, cardiovascular systems. There is only one answer to the rhetorical question about the correct diagnosis and treatment: urgently consult a doctor. And yet it would be useful to know how the symptoms manifest in each individual case.

Chest pain in respiratory diseases

A number of lung diseases can manifest themselves as a sudden pain syndrome. Often there is a sharp pain in the chest in the middle, which is easy to mistake for a sign of angina pectoris, and sometimes - for myocardial infarction. It is aggravated by breathing or coughing. Other accompanying symptoms may also indicate the pulmonary origin of pain: cough and sputum discharge, a feeling of pleural friction, shortness of breath, wheezing, fever. All this, along with pain, can raise the suspicion of serious lung problems: lobar pneumonia, abscess, pleurisy, tuberculosis, or tumor. However, often a sharp pain in the chest can be associated with ordinary bronchitis or mild pneumonia.

Thoracalgia how symptom diseases bodies abdominal cavities

Problems with the gastrointestinal tract and abdominal organs often make themselves felt in exactly the same way as pain in the chest in the middle. So, acute painful sensations in the chest can manifest as peptic ulcer of the stomach or duodenum, inflamed liver, pancreatitis, as well as malignant tumors in the pancreas. Chest pain in such cases is accompanied by a burning sensation, with ulcers and chronic cholecystitis, it can move to the left side of the sternum. Ultrasound will help to find out the true nature of the origin of the pain syndrome.

Chest pain in neurology and diseases of the spine

Neurological problems often cause pain in the chest in the middle. Most often this is due to diseases of the spine and muscles of the shoulder girdle - osteochondrosis and various types of muscle inflammation. Acute, obstructing movement and breathing, muscle pain in the chest is often mistaken for other diseases: a heart attack, a pulmonary disease, at best, for intercostal neuralgia. In general, a sick spine, that is, damage to the nerve roots, tends to radiate pain in completely different parts and organs, from the heart to the foot. These symptoms sometimes disappear with local treatment: acupuncture, the use of plasters and warming ointments, or competent massage. Finally, chest pain can simply be caused by nerves. To begin with, absolutely all human organs are connected with the autonomic nervous system, the trunk of which has branches from the spinal cord. That is why almost any organ, sending an impulse to a common nerve trunk, can give pain signals like heart signals. In the same way, the nervous system reacts to constant stress, overwork, ecology and other adverse factors, giving in to chest pain.

Chest pain as a sign of a heart attack

I must say that a heart attack is a fairly broad concept, however, like the very concept of chest pain. It is important to determine its localization: pain in the chest on the right, on the left, or pain in the chest in the middle. The accuracy of the diagnosis depends on this. With physical exertion, mental stress, there is pain in the chest in the middle, called angina pectoris. Starting suddenly, the pain can cause a real panic in the patient, so it should not be tolerated. Most often, a tablet of nitroglycerin is enough for the pain to pass without a trace. Spasms of the coronary arteries due to ischemia of the heart is one of the common causes of chest pain. And the most formidable disease is myocardial infarction. It also cannot be ruled out with the appearance of acute pain in the chest. In this case, the pain does not go away from the drugs, it only intensifies, sometimes provoking a painful shock.

Which specialists to contact for chest pain

First of all, to the doctors of the ambulance. Further, the problem may be in the competence of any of these specialists:

therapist;
cardiologist;
neurologist;
pulmonologist;
oncologist;
vascular surgeon.

It is important to understand that this symptomatology does not apply to cases where self-medication is acceptable. The best you can do is take painkillers and wait for the doctor. And, of course, do not forget about prevention, about an active, healthy lifestyle.

The first thing that comes to mind with chest pain is heart problems, which is not always true. Pain in the chest can occur for various reasons: from ordinary overwork to dangerous diseases.

The causes of pain can be determined by its nature and accompanying symptoms. The problem cannot be left unattended! Pain is a kind of SOS signal transmitted by the body. It is necessary to respond to it in order to avoid serious complications.

Causes of chest pain

Behind the ribs it hurts with pathologies of various organs. This is due to the structure of the nervous system. The nerve trunk divides into branches in the chest area.

Therefore, through a common trunk, pain in one organ responds in another. For example, stomach pains are perceived as heart pains and vice versa.

Pain in the chest with pathologies:

of cardio-vascular system;
musculoskeletal system;
mediastinum;
central nervous system;
respiratory organs;
gastrointestinal tract.

Note! The nature and intensity of pain vary and help establish the diagnosis. It is almost impossible to do this without the help of a specialist. Therefore, you need to see a doctor. Any pain sensations are unpleasant, but sometimes they are not life-threatening, and in other cases, you need to start fighting them immediately.

Musculoskeletal system

Painful sensations in the chest in diseases of the spine are very reminiscent of "heart."

The most common cause is osteochondrosis. Due to malnutrition or excessive load on the spine with incorrect posture or excessive training, the spine is modified.

Elastic intervertebral discs, cartilage and bone tissue are destroyed. As a result, the nerve endings are compressed, which causes spasms.

Pain in the chest responds to such pathologies of the ODA as:

scoliosis;
ankylosing spondylitis;
rheumatoid arthritis;
slouch;
Tietze syndrome;
herniated discs.

Good to know! Soreness in the chest region is felt with injuries of the spine, ribs and shoulder blades. Hardware studies in a medical institution will help establish the diagnosis.

The cardiovascular system

Vascular and heart diseases confidently occupy the first place in terms of mortality. Therefore, it is especially important to recognize alarming symptoms in time. This is the only way to prevent tragedy.

"Heart" pain is conditionally divided into two subgroups, depending on the origin:

anginal causes ischemia;
cardialgia is characteristic of defects, inflammation of the heart muscle and congenital pathologies, as well as vegetative-vascular dystonia.

Pain accompanies the course of the most dangerous diseases. Among them:

myocardial infarction;
angina;
rheumatic lesions;
inflammation of the heart;
aortic aneurysm;
pulmonary embolism;
pericarditis;
infarction of the posterior wall of the ventricle.

Note! All of these diseases are deadly. During their exacerbations, the score usually goes by minutes.

Gastrointestinal tract

Soreness behind the sternum is a hallmark of many pathologies of the digestive tract. Main:

stomach ulcer;
hiatal hernia;
reflux;
pancreatitis;
damage to the esophagus;
diaphragmatic abscess;
idiopathic expansion of the esophagus;
duodenal ulcer;
Mallory-Weiss syndrome (rupture of the esophageal mucosa);
cholecystitis.

Attention: if a gastrointestinal disease is diagnosed, it does not mean that chest pain is caused by it. Diseases of the abdominal organs are often asymptomatic and do not exclude coronary artery disease.

Respiratory system

The lungs occupy a large area of the chest, so the pathology of the respiratory organs causes pain.

Chest pain causes most lung diseases:

lobar pneumonia;
pneumothorax;
tuberculosis;
emphysema;
lung cancer;
abscess;
pleurisy;
hydrothorax (accumulation of fluid in the pleura);
lung infarction.

Good to know! Traumatic injuries of the pulmonary and pleural regions also cause pain. Most respiratory diseases are very dangerous and require immediate medical attention.

Symptoms of diseases that cause chest pain

Pain syndromes in the chest vary in location and characteristics, depending on the reasons they are caused. Accompanying symptoms also help establish the diagnosis.

Pain with problems with the musculoskeletal system can be:

Constant or attacks.
Always becomes when moving.
"Shoots" in the shoulder and shoulder blade.
It becomes more intense during inhalation and coughing (similar to intercostal neuralgia).
It can be distinguished from cardiac or gastric by the drugs that bring relief.
Pain medications and warming ointments help, not heart medications.

Cardiovascular disease is defined by several signs of pain:

The first is localization behind the sternum or in the chest on the left. "Shoots" into the left hand, the interscapular region, into the bone of the lower jaw.
By nature, heart pain is: cutting, pressing, baking.
It becomes more painful due to physical or emotional overstrain.

In diagnostics, the time factor is of great importance. With a heart attack, the pain does not last continuously for a long time. Usually the duration of the attack does not exceed 15 minutes, after rest or medication.

Pulmonary embolism is characterized by shortness of breath. Chest pain appears suddenly, it hurts to inhale. You may cough up blood.

Attention: pain in the heart for longer than 20 minutes is a symptom of myocardial infarction and aortic aneurysm. Additional signs are also characteristic of myocardial infarction: fear, anxiety, shortness of breath.

With problems in the gastrointestinal tract, the following are added to the pain syndrome:

heartburn,
excess gas,
vomit,
burp,
nausea.
chest pain begins in a hungry state or immediately after eating. Helps to cope with pain taking antispasmodics.

P good to know! With pathological respiratory organs, the pain intensifies in the process of breathing and coughing. Accompanied by sputum, fever, shortness of breath. Sometimes there may be: hemoptysis, excessive sweating, cyanosis.

Pain and crunch in the back over time can lead to dire consequences - local or complete restriction of movement, up to disability.

People, taught by bitter experience, use a natural remedy recommended by orthopedists to cure their back and joints...

When to see a doctor?

If the pain in the chest does not go away for a long time or recurs periodically, it is worth going to the hospital in any case.

It is worth expediting a visit to the doctor if the painful syndrome is accompanied by the following symptoms:

heartburn, which is not saved by over-the-counter medicines;
pain in chest after eating.

Urgent medical attention is required when the chest hurts for more than 15 minutes, or is added to it:

loss of consciousness;
hemoptysis;
coughing attacks after exercise;
dizziness;
pressing sensation from the chest extends to the back, back, neck, lower jaw;
jumping pulse;
sweating;
intermittent breathing;
vomit;
anxiety.

First aid

If a sharp pain in the chest is accompanied by the above symptoms, it is necessary:

call an ambulance;
lay the patient so that the head is slightly lower than the legs;
get rid of clothes that make it difficult to breathe;
ventilate the room;
give nitroglycerin;
wait for the doctor.

You can't self-medicate!

Diagnosis and treatment of chest pain

Diagnosis of the causes of chest cramps should be carried out by a qualified specialist in a medical institution. It is not the fact of discomfort that needs to be treated, but the primary disease that causes them.

Diagnosis begins with a survey and examination to determine the diseases of which organ is associated with pain.

To clarify the diagnosis, hardware procedures are performed:

study of the gastrointestinal tract;
exercise testing;
vascular angiography;
radiography;
CT scan of the chest.

Based on the results of the research, the doctor establishes a diagnosis and determines the necessary treatment.

In women, chest pain occurs quite often, according to experts - an order of magnitude more often than in men. Some of them are signs of chronic diseases, others signal the development of acute pathologies. Knowing the causes of pain of this nature is important - it is necessary to find methods of treatment.

Cardiac pathologies are a dangerous cause of chest pain

In women after menopausal disease of the heart and blood vessels occur with the same frequency as in the stronger sex. Before menopause, the female body protects against them hormones estrogens. Heart disease usually gives pain on the left side of the body, but in the middle of the chest they are also very characteristic.

Pain in angina pectoris is the most common. They appear during movement, after walking, physical activity: the more coronary vessels are affected, the less stress can provoke discomfort. If the pain appears at rest, it reflects the advanced stage of the disease. With an attack of angina pectoris, pain can radiate to the back and shoulder blades, arm, shoulder, neck, and even jaw. Symptoms of angina pectoris are supplemented by:

Much more dangerous condition - myocardial infarction. Painful cider during a heart attack is very pronounced, it cannot be stopped by taking pills. The pain can spread to any area of the chest, to the stomach and back, accompanied by burning, pressure on the chest, fear of death, fainting. With such an attack, an important task is to call an ambulance in time and begin treatment. Also in women, chest pain occurs with heart defects, thrombosis, pericarditis, but such causes are less common.

Diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and chest pain

If the chest hurts in the middle, the causes in women may also relate to the pathologies of the gastrointestinal tract. Most often, pain in the center of the chest is given by chronic gastritis and reflux esophagitis in the acute stage. The causes are inflammation of the walls of the stomach and the reflux of gastric contents into the esophagus. Stress, alcohol intake, smoking, consumption of spicy and hot food, treatment with certain drugs can provoke such conditions. The symptoms are as follows:

Acute chest pain is often perceived as heart, but in fact is a sign of gastric ulcer, duodenal ulcer. But it appears against the background of gastrointestinal pathologies in direct connection with food intake - on an empty stomach with an ulcer, immediately after a meal - with gastritis, an hour after a meal - from duodenal problems.

During pregnancy, pain from gastrointestinal problems is accompanied by heaviness in the stomach and is almost always combined with severe heartburn.

Chest pain - lung pathology is to blame

Since most of the chest is occupied by the lungs, their diseases may well give discomfort. In women, chronic lung pathologies are more common with a long smoking history, with autoimmune and allergic diseases, as well as with an untreated inflammatory process. Pathologies of the lungs, each of which can cause pain in the middle of the chest, are as follows:

Almost any pulmonary disease has a lot of other, more characteristic signs for it, and the pain syndrome only accompanies them. The main component of the clinical picture is cough - dry, wet, with or without sputum. Often there is an increase in body temperature, shortness of breath, wheezing in the lungs, symptoms of general intoxication - if we are talking about an acute infectious disease. The pain in this case is associated with spasms that strain the intercostal muscles, the diaphragm.

Lung tumors cause pain inside the chest only in the later stages and are often accompanied by hemoptysis.

Acute pain of the type of heart can be characteristic of pleurisy, aching - for pneumonia, pain during exertion and inhalation - for tracheitis.

Diseases of the spine and nervous system as a cause of pain

Cervical and thoracic osteochondrosis is a very “popular” cause of pain in women, which is localized in the chest. Why does discomfort appear in the chest area when the spine is damaged?

The fact is that pinched nerves lead to the development of intercostal neuralgia, which can give pain in any part of the chest. Often, such sensations even resemble a heart attack, or pain syndrome with inflammation of the stomach.

Unpleasant signs may appear after sleep if a person with osteochondrosis sleeps in the wrong position and does not use orthopedic products. Increased pain is possible when bending forward, on inspiration. Osteochondrosis is accompanied by other symptoms:

Often, scoliosis of the spine, a curvature of it in the thoracic region, also leads to intercostal neuralgia.

For women, such pathologies as heart neurosis and vegetovascular dystonia are very characteristic, and they also cause pain in the chest in the middle.

Other causes of chest pain in women

Having found pain in the chest, many women suspect that they have problems with the mammary glands, in particular, breast cancer. This disease, indeed, is common, but it gives pain only in the later stages, when there are a number of other signs (a formation that is noticeable when pressed and felt, discharge from the nipples, etc.). Pain for mastopathy is more characteristic, although it is not localized in the center of the chest, but directly in the mammary gland.

Thyroid disease is an order of magnitude more common in women. Hyperthyroidism, nodular goiter, diffuse goiter - all these diseases can give pain that radiates to the chest, as well as the following symptoms:

With the abuse of training, with physical overstrain, pain in the muscles of the chest is also possible. This symptom is characteristic in women and with stress, depression, nervous exhaustion, as well as a bruise, blow, any injury to this area.

Diagnosis and treatment of chest pain

The algorithm of diagnostic measures will depend on the nature of the discomfort, its severity and other symptoms. So, with acute heart pain or serious injuries, diagnosis and treatment are carried out after hospitalization. In chronic pathologies with subacute symptoms, diagnostic methods can be as follows:

Treatment will depend on the problem found. So, with neuralgia, you need to do massage, physiotherapy, take painkillers. With angina pectoris - drink a number of cardiac drugs, follow a diet. Antibiotics, cough medicines help with lung diseases. With pathologies of the gastrointestinal tract, special medications and special nutrition are prescribed. Delaying therapy is not recommended - this is the only way to avoid complications.