ACS and angina: what you should know

Stable angina often follows a familiar pattern, such as discomfort during exertion that settles with rest or prescribed medicine. Acute coronary syndrome, or ACS, includes unstable angina and heart attacks. It may cause pressure, squeezing, heaviness or tightness in the chest, sometimes spreading to an arm, shoulder, jaw, back or upper abdomen. Breathlessness, sweating, nausea, dizziness or unusual weakness can occur alongside it. Symptoms may be new, stronger, more frequent, happen at rest or feel different from a person's usual angina.

Only a clinical assessment can distinguish these problems safely. An electrocardiogram, blood tests and repeated observations may be needed because an early test can be inconclusive.

Stop activity and sit somewhere safe. If you have a prescribed angina action plan, follow it exactly, including instructions for your own medication. Do not take someone else's medicine or drive yourself for urgent assessment. If discomfort is new, severe, occurs at rest, does not settle as your plan says, or is accompanied by breathlessness, sweating, faintness or nausea, call the UAE ambulance service on 998.

While waiting, keep the person at rest, loosen restrictive clothing and follow the emergency call handler's instructions. If they become unresponsive and are not breathing normally, the handler can guide cardiopulmonary resuscitation and use of a nearby automated external defibrillator.

Treat sudden or unfamiliar chest pressure, tightness or heaviness as an emergency, especially when it persists, returns, starts at rest or comes with pain spreading beyond the chest. Emergency care is also needed for chest symptoms with marked breathlessness, cold sweating, collapse, confusion or a grey or bluish appearance. Atypical symptoms such as unexplained breathlessness, nausea or profound weakness can also accompany ACS, so do not dismiss a concerning change simply because chest pain is mild or absent.

Arrange prompt medical review for a change in a known angina pattern even if symptoms have settled. Routine follow-up should address blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, smoking, medication use and safe activity.

Ask what pattern should trigger an ambulance call, how and when to use each prescribed medicine, and whether your current symptoms fit stable angina. Clarify which tests are planned, what changes in activity are appropriate, and how blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar and smoking affect your heart risk. Bring an up-to-date medication list and describe what brings symptoms on, where they spread, what accompanies them and what makes them settle.