When should you worry? (Part 5)

8. Recently, I’ve been getting sharp chest pain that often starts when I’m sitting down. It takes my breath away for a moment, then disappears. Should I be concerned?

   This is a common type of chest pain, often caused by pressure on a nerve. It’s not typical of the pain associated with heart disease.

   If you are still having your periods, don’t smoke and are not taking the pill, you are unlikely to suffer from sudden heart attacks. One advantage of being a woman is that until about five or ten years after her last period, the female hormones provide protection for the coronary arteries. After the menopause, you slowly lose this protective effect and are just as likely as a man to suffer a heart attack.


   If ever you have cardiac pain, it is likely to be sudden, severe and across the central chest. It may also be felt in the neck, down one or both arms or in the back. It is not sharp but crushing and constricting, just as if someone has dumped a sack of cement on your chest. After a heart attack, the patient is breathless and is usually very grey, limp, sweating and faint. If you have any doubts at all about chest pain, see your doctor.

   Simple indigestion is one type of chest pain that can be confused with heart pain. This occurs in the pit of the abdomen and the lower part of the chest below the breast bone. Even more confusignly, one in five people has a heart attack without any pain. An unexpected attack of dizziness, tiredness or sudden breathlessness may be the only evidence.

   Chest pain associated with exercise, that stops once the activity is finished, is known as angina. This condition should be discussed with your doctor as soon as possible.