Chest pain causes in women

Probablyeveryone’s first association to tightness in the chest and pain is to a heartattack. And while in the majority of cases that is a valid concern, there aremany other possible causes of chest pain, particularly in women, and they mayor may not be as alarming.

Cardiaccauses of chest pain in women

Angina isone of the most frequent causes of chest pain in women and when it causes chestpain, it means that the heart itself is not supplied with sufficient oxygen. Thishappens due to the excessive amount of cholesterol which is sometimes detainedin the artery walls, preventing the blood to circulate as efficiently as itshould and causing pain in the chest area.

A different kind of angina, called Prinzmetal’sangina, has a very similar effect and it basically affects the heart in such away that it leads to tremors. The thing about this disease is that the tremorsaren’t associated with any kind of movement or action, as they happen while one’sresting.

Anothercardiac cause of chest pain in women is called pericarditis. Pericarditis isthe inflammation of the lining around the heart which causes pain in the chestby accumulating an excessive amount of fluid around it. This happens when avirus infects the said area around the heart. A very similar condition topericarditis, which provokes the same symptoms, is called myocarditis, except thatit is an infection of the heart itself.

Finally, acondition of cardiac nature that causes the aching in the chest and can, infact, be lethal, is called the dissection of the aorta. Aorta is the mostessential artery of the heart and what happens when this condition occurs isthat its walls begin tearing apart letting the blood flow through the rips.This kind of condition requires immediate medical care as it can turn out to bedeadly in a very short time period.

Non-cardiaccauses of chest pain in women

Althoughchest pain is mostly associated to issues with the heart, it does not necessarilycome from those. Conditions like the inflammation of the bladder, sensitivityand aching in the muscles, respiratory problems, particularly pneumonia, someissues with digestion which can potentially result in heartburn and evenconditions which are connected to one’s nerves, like panic attacks, anxiety, andstress accumulation can all lead to chest pain of noticeable intensity. In avery small minority of cases, chest pain can be a sign of cancer.