Acute angina pectoris: symptoms and action

Angina pectoris is the full medical term for angina. It often feels like pressure, squeezing or a heavy band across the chest rather than a sharp pinpoint pain. The sensation may travel beyond the chest, and some people mainly notice shortness of breath, unusual tiredness, nausea or sweating.

The heart needs more oxygen during physical effort or emotional strain. Narrowed coronary arteries may be unable to increase blood flow enough, creating a predictable episode that improves when demand falls. Symptoms that appear unpredictably or while resting raise concern that blood flow has become critically limited.

Angina itself describes the symptom pattern; it does not show how much artery narrowing is present. Clinicians combine the story with examination, an electrocardiogram and, when indicated, additional heart tests. Hypertension can add to the heart's workload and is one of several cardiovascular factors considered during assessment.

Pause what you are doing and rest in a comfortable seated position. Follow your own angina plan and take prescribed fast-acting medicine according to its label and your clinician's instructions. If the discomfort is not settling as the plan says, contact emergency services instead of continuing activity or arranging to drive.

Between episodes, take preventive medicines regularly and attend follow-up even when you feel well. Management may address blood pressure and cholesterol as well as the coronary circulation. New side effects, dizziness or a reduced ability to exercise should prompt a medicine review, not an unsupervised dose change.

Request emergency help for a first episode of suspected angina, intense or persistent pressure, discomfort arising at rest, or symptoms accompanied by severe breathlessness, cold sweat, faintness or collapse. A heart attack and unstable angina can resemble an ordinary attack, so a changed pattern should not be observed at home.

Contact your usual clinician promptly if attacks begin with lighter exertion, recur more frequently or interfere with tasks that were previously manageable. Bring your medicine list and describe where the discomfort starts, where it spreads, what triggers it and how it responds to rest or prescribed treatment.

Ask what pattern of activity is appropriate, how to recognise a significant change and exactly when your action plan tells you to call for help. Confirm the purpose and correct use of each medicine, whether an ECG or further testing is planned, and which side effects require contact with the clinic.