Most people believe that heart pain gives the sternum pain, but this is fundamentally wrong. There is a fairly large list of diseases in which such pain can occur. Very often, chest pain occurs with diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, such as ulcers and gastritis. Various pains of the bronchi and lungs (tracheitis, bronchitis, tuberculosis, flu, pleurisy, lung tumors) and even some blood diseases give such pain. Pain in the sternum can also have completely psychological causes: VVD and hysteria.
How to determine what hurts
It often happens that a person realizes that he needs to go to the doctor, but just can’t determine which one. Many causes cause attacks of pain in the chest area. Sometimes the pain in the stomach is given much higher, and the heart "hurts" at a time when the spine actually hurts. As for the neurosis, they can “come around” in any part of the body. Some pains in the chest area are not at all dangerous and sometimes do not need treatment at all. But it also happens that the first manifestation of pain in this area must be rushed to the doctor. Let's try to figure out these pains.
Sudden pain combined with shortness of breath
This is a clear sign that you urgently need to call a doctor. Perhaps this is angina pectoris: pain occurs due to insufficient blood supply to the cardiovascular system. As a rule, such attacks occur after physical exertion. A person feels a burning or constricting pain behind the sternum or on the left, it happens that it gives to the arm or neck. Associated symptoms may include nausea and weakness.
It may also be a sign of a massive pulmonary embolism. Severe acute pain occurs and breathing is interrupted. In addition, it can be an inflammation of the lining of the heart, in which it hurts somewhere deep in the chest. A clear sign of this disease is increased pain in the sternum when lying on your back. If the pain gradually disappears, this is not a reason not to go to the doctor, because with this disease, this means that fluid has accumulated, which can lead to heart failure.
Such sternal pain can be a sign of myocardial inflammation. Then they are accompanied by fever and shortness of breath. In pneumonia, such pain is accompanied by fever, cough with sputum, in addition, it is usually localized in that part of the sternum where the lung is inflamed. Localization of pain in the right sternum or in the left, which intensifies with inhalation and decreases, if you lie on the sick side, is a sign of pleurisy.
Pain in the arm
This may be, first of all, a sign of acute myocardial infarction. Among the accompanying symptoms are shortness of breath and pallor, loss of consciousness. Such an attack is not removed with nitroglycerin and requires immediate medical attention.
It can also be a sign of osteochondrosis of the thoracic or cervical spine. The attack associated with osteochondrosis can be very reminiscent of angina pectoris, the pain gives to the shoulder and shoulder blade.
Shooting pain
Such attacks are characteristic of nerve diseases. With intercostal neuralgia, pain occurs between adjacent ribs, which intensifies with inspiration or turns. With shingles, pain is accompanied by a rash along the nerves and numbness.
Shoulder pain
If it hurts under the left shoulder blade, it can be osteochondrosis, angina pectoris, pneumonia, intercostal neuralgia. Pain in the right sternum and under the shoulder blade, which occurs after eating and is accompanied by nausea, is a clear sign of biliary tract diseases. Also, such pain can be caused by kidney disease.
If it hurts in the left chest
Such pain should always be alarming, because more often than not, she talks about heart disease. Among other reasons, there may be vegetative-vascular dystonia, which, as a rule, “disguises itself” as serious heart disease. It can be distinguished by the fact that it does not disappear after taking nitroglycerin and does not depend on physical activity.
If chest pain radiates to the back between the shoulder blades
Very severe pain in the sternum, which is given in between the shoulder blades, can be a sign of a rupture of the esophagus. This can happen after severe vomiting and requires immediate medical attention. They can also be a sign of rupture of the aortic aneurysm.