What Are The Symptoms Of Stable Angina?

Posted on Mon, 19 Oct 2015

Question: If you have stable angina, will you have chest pain for sure? Sometimes but not everytime with exertion i get pain in my chin and side front of my neck on the left side. And pain that feels inside my ear in a line to my chin. But no chest pain.

Answered by Dr. Panagiotis Zografakis (26 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
chest pain is common but not required for the diagnosis

Detailed Answer:
Hello,

although the most common presentation of stable angina is pain or tightness on the chest, sometimes other symptoms may be more evident. Angina discomfort may spread to the upper abdomen, chest, neck (front or even back), left shoulder, arm, 4th and 5th finger. Very rarely the right shoulder may be involved.

It's not very common for a 36 years old athletic man to suffer from angina, unless you've got really bad genes and you smoke. If you're in doubt, you'd better visit your cardiologist. This is too important to know!

I hope you find my comments helpful!
You can contact me again, if you'd like any clarification or further information.

Kind Regards!

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Panagiotis Zografakis (38 minutes later)

Can the pain hop around? I never have all the pain at the samw time. But sometimes my upper arm might hurt for a minute or so. Then sometimes my jaw might hurt for a little bit. And the other day i had pretty good pain in the hand between between my 4th and 5th finger. So its funny you said that. Sometimes i have sharp back pain. But the majority of the pain i feel is at the point of the left side of my chin. And this all happens randomly over the course of a couple of days, Even without exertion. They never seem to hurt all that the same time. Just one place at a time And i have had stabbing pain from chest to back and up to chin with worst pain being in my chin after about 30 minutes of exercise. But it does not happen near everytime i exercise. And i exercise the same about 45 minutes of fast walking. It hasnt happened to me in a few months. But it has happened to me about 6 times over the last two years. I have frequent PACs also. I haveNormal cholesterol normal trigs low normal bp. No family history and im not and never have been a smoker. So i dont know. Normal echocardiogram too. But its all weird.

Answered by Dr. Panagiotis Zografakis (6 hours later)

Brief Answer:
anxiety probably

Detailed Answer:
Coronary artery disease (CAD) patients with angina usually recognize angina pain because it presents in almost the same way every time. The intensity may differ but hopping around is not expected. Since you don't have enough risk factors for CAD, I don't believe that you do have it. Strange patterns of pain or other symptoms are usually caused by anxiety but since this is a very serious disease (CAD) you'd better let your cardiologist investigate it!

Kind Regards!

Note: For further queries related to coronary artery disease and prevention, click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar