Types of Heart pain
Doctors usually divide the heart pain (angina pectoris) into two categories:a. Stable angina
Stable refers to the predictable appearance of chest discomfort with a certain amount of exertion. For example, walking fast or up a slight incline usually produces symptoms, but they never occur when you are walking at a slow pace on level ground. It disappears promptly with rest, and its severity, duration, and precipitating causes do not usually change over a period of years. In contrast unstable angina is alarming. Sometimes it is the harbinger of death So it requires immediate attention. In layman term unstable angina means when the patient gets chest pain at rest.
Canadian cardiac society (CCS) classifies heart pain into 4 categories:
1. CCS class-1 angina- This means the patient gets chest pain only during marked physical exertion and promptly relieved by rest.
2. CCS class-2 angina- It occurs after moderate exertion and relieved by rest.
3. CCS class-3 angina- Chest pain occurs after mild physical exertion. Even routine household activities may precipitate such type of angina.
4. CCS class-4 angina- Class 4 angina means pain at rest.
Unstable angina is class 4 angina. Unstable angina describes two situations. In one, pain occurs in patients with no background of prior symptoms. In the other case of unstable angina, individuals with previously stable angina will experience changes in their symptoms, the pain may be more severe, lasting longer, or it may appear with less exertion than before.
Except these types of angina there are some special varieties of chest pain. If patient gets pain just after taking food, it is called postprandial angina. Chest pain after taking food is very suggestive of significant ischaemic heart disease (IHD). Some patients awake from sleep at night due to chest pain, this type of pain is called nocturnal angina. Patient may experience pain in lying condition, which is termed as angina decubitus. Emotional stress may precipitate heart pain, called variant or Prinzmetal angina.
Stable angina does not require urgent medical attention; however, unstable angina needs immediate care. Furthermore, the circumstances under which angina takes place also will govern how the problem should be treated. For example, chest discomfort that is noted only rarely, and then only with extremes of exertion, need not be handled with the same urgency as angina triggered by walking across a room.
