Winter is a high-risk season for cardiovascular diseases. Angina pectoris should not be taken lightly, as it is not just "pain", and if not treated in a timely manner, it is likely to develop into a myocardial infarction. Quickly identifying angina becomes particularly important, but in clinical practice, it is common to encounter patients who self-report as having "heartburn", but upon examination, it is discovered that this is not the case. Of course, there may also be patients who experience heart wrenching pain without realizing it. So, what exactly is angina pain? Today, let's invite a cardiologist to talk about the "right and wrong" of angina pectoris. Keep in mind that angina pectoris is a common cardiovascular disease and a common manifestation of acute myocardial ischemia and hypoxia. During a typical angina attack, the pain is often located behind the sternum and in the precordial area. Sometimes the pain can radiate to the left shoulder, left back, throat, and even the left face and oral teeth. According to patients with angina, this is a "compressive" pain, like "a stone pressing on the chest, so heavy that it's hard to breathe", with pain ranging from a fist sized or larger. In addition to pain, patients often experience symptoms such as chest tightness, palpitations, shortness of breath, and cold sweats. Generally speaking, angina can have certain triggering factors, such as exercise, emotional excitement, fatigue, straining to defecate, sudden exposure to cold, etc. Of course, there are also some more severe cases of angina that occur during nighttime sleep. The duration of common angina pectoris is relatively short, only a few minutes (up to half an hour in particularly severe cases), and patients can relieve it within a few minutes after resting or taking medication such as nitroglycerin. Especially for people with a history of coronary heart disease, hypertension and diabetes for many years, we must be highly alert to angina pectoris. If severe discomfort symptoms such as chest pain, tightness, and pressure in the precordial area occur, immediate sublingual nitroglycerin should be taken and medical attention should be sought as soon as possible. It is very important to quickly identify the right and wrong of angina pectoris. However, the manifestations of angina pectoris are relatively variable and sometimes lack typicality, which can easily be overlooked. For example, some patients may not show "pain" during angina attacks, but only feel "chest tightness", "shortness of breath", or "throat tightness", "nausea and vomiting". These atypical symptoms are often not given sufficient attention and can easily delay diagnosis and treatment, so it is even more important to be vigilant. In addition, there are various situations of sudden chest pain in clinical practice, such as gastrointestinal diseases, aortic dissection, esophageal rupture, spontaneous pneumothorax, etc., which can also be manifested as sudden chest pain. When we cannot directly determine the cause, we must go to the hospital for treatment in a timely manner. These types of pain can rule out the pain of angina and needle like pain. You may have experienced this feeling before, where the heart feels like a needle in an instant. This condition is generally not caused by myocardial ischemia, but mostly neuropathic pain. Occasional attacks need not be ignored, if they occur frequently, it is necessary to go to the hospital for examination. After inhaling forcefully, some people experience pain in the heart area, especially when taking a deep breath, the pain worsens, and when holding their breath, the pain decreases or even disappears. This condition is more common in patients with abnormalities in the pleura and lungs, and angina is not affected by the depth of breathing. If there is only pain after pressing and no pain without pressing, then angina pectoris is generally not considered. It may be caused by local tissue injuries such as muscle and bone injuries in the patient. If the pain cannot be pinpointed to a specific location or is a "serial pain", then this condition is generally not angina pectoris. Although angina attacks can radiate to multiple areas, most of them have relatively clear "pain points", which means patients can clearly identify where the pain is and then radiate to other areas along with the pain. If the range of pain is small or long-lasting, only about the size of a finger or even smaller, angina should generally be ruled out; If the pain lasts for a long time, all day long, then angina should also be ruled out. (New Society)