A tightening sensation in your chest region has tons of reasons. Maybe you have a cardiovascular condition or a lung infection. However, the causes are not restricted to only these two factors. Muscle strain, digestive issues, or anxiety may cause it. If you get such a feeling, it’s best that you try to relax and ask for medical help early on.
This condition can comprise one side of the chest or the entire region marked by burning or squeezing discomfort. In addition to this discomfort in the chest area, an individual may feel weakness in his arms or legs. Such signs require emergency support indeed. Reach out to the best doctor pulmonologist in Siliguri for all range respiratory concerns.
What Does Chest Tightness Feel Like?
- A person can undergo a combination of symptoms, including:
- Squeezing feeling
- Pain
- Burning, crushing sensation
- Cold sweating
- Difficulty breathing
- Pain that travels up to other body parts jaw, arms, legs shoulder blades
Access to fast medical attention helps relieve the symptoms. Even if your pain goes away after a certain period and you feel ok, you should see a doctor, such as a general physician. Health conditions at times show symptoms earlier. Therefore, nothing to ignore.
In other instances, symptoms you get when the concerns become more advanced. This blog shares some of the most prominent reasons for experiencing chest tightness:
Cardiovascular Concerns: AVD or cardiovascular disease refers to an umbrella term for health conditions concerning the heart or blood vessels. Plaque accumulation inside the arteries causes blood clots. Unhealthy diet, substance dependency, physical inactivity, or genetic causes can be there. Common cardiovascular conditions involve:
- Heart attack
- Heart failure
- Stroke
- Heart valve disease
- Arrhythmia
- Aortic disease
Lung Concerns: Lung conditions keep the organ from effective functioning. The concern revolves around respiratory health, such as airway disease, lung blood vessel disease, or lung tissue disease. Sometimes, diseases develop progressively. Thus, you receive no significant symptoms early on. Some of the common conditions are:
- Asthma
- COPD/chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
- Tuberculosis
- Pneumonia
- Pneumothorax
- Lung cancer
- Pulmonary edema
- Pulmonary fibrosis
Anxiety: Response to stress is known as anxiety. It’s your body’s natural habit. The feeling of anxiety/fear is no more explored by people. But when the condition appears more often or interferes with day-to-day life, expert attention is required. Shortness of breath, restlessness, sleep issues, and chest discomfort are common signs of anxiety disorders. Types involve:
- Panic disorder
- Social anxiety
- Illness anxiety disorder
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder
- Phobia
- Major depressive disorders
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
Other conditions that may result in chest tightness entail:
- GERD/gastroesophageal reflux disease
- Gallstones
- COVID-19
- Muscle strain/injury to muscles involving the chest
- Hiatal hernia
- Shingles
- Rib fracture
- Costochondritis/inflammation of the cartilage joining a rib to the breastbone
- Pancreas inflammation
For diagnosis of chest tightness, a doctor looks for symptoms first. Plus, the doctor may associate the medical history of the patient in order to identify if the person had cardiovascular or lung conditions. Important tests may include electrocardiogram, blood tests, CT scan, chest x-ray, stress test, echocardiogram, etc. You might talk to the leading chest specialist in Siliguri forrespiratory illnesses.
Now treatments rest on the underlying reason you have. If digestive conditions are involved, medical care depends on that. Heart conditions encompass different sets of treatment. So are lung or psychological concerns.