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Chest pain
Key points about chest pain
Chest pain means any pain, tightness or discomfort felt in your chest area.
There are many causes of chest pain. Most of the time, it's not caused by heart problems, especially if you are younger than 40 and otherwise well.
But chest pain can be a sign of something serious. If you have new symptoms of chest pain and you smoke, havehigh blood pressure,diabetes,high cholesterol or are more than 50 years old, you are more likely to haveheart problems.
Don’t try to diagnose yourself, you need to talk to a healthcare professional who can give you proper advice.
Treatment will depend on what is causing your chest pain.
feels like crushing pain, heaviness, tightness or pressure in your chest or
is accompanied by nausea (feeling sick), sweating, dizziness or shortness of breath.
You could be having a heart attack. Stop, rest and call 111 for an ambulance straight away as you need immediate treatment in hospital.
If you have angina medicine, stop, rest and take your angina medicine according to your action plan. If you still have symptoms after 10 minutes, treat it as a heart attack.Call 111 for an ambulance straight away.
See your GP if:
you have chest pain that comes and goes
you have chest pain that goes away quickly but you are still worried.
Ring Healthline 0800 611 116 for advice now if you are unsure what to do.
Do NOT diagnose yourselffrom this information or any information you find on the internet. Also, do not ask for advice from family or friends. You need to talk to a healthcare professional who can give you proper advice.
There are many causes of chest pain. Most of the time chest pain is not caused by heart problems, especially if you are younger than 40 and otherwise well. However, even mild chest tightness or discomfort can be the first sign of something more serious such as a heart attack or a blood clot in your lung.
Some of the more serious causes of chest pain caused by problems of your heart and lungs include:
heart attack– blockage of one of the blood vessels supplying your heart
angina– chest pain that occurs when the blood supply to the muscles of your heart is restricted
pericarditis – inflammation of the lining around your heart
Sometimes it is not possible to identify the cause for chest pain after a thorough medical assessment. It may then be called ‘non-specific’ chest pain.
Chest pain is a broad term for any pain, tightness or discomfort felt in your chest area. Depending on the cause of your chest pain, it can start suddenly or slowly, and may spread to other areas such as your back, jaw, neck or arms. It can also be a sharp pain, stabbing pain or a heavy chest pain. You may also have other symptoms along with chest pain, which will help your doctor work out what is causing your chest pain.
Your doctor will ask you questions about your chest pain and other symptoms you may have. This will help diagnose what is causing your chest pain.
Some of the questions your doctor will ask about your chest pain include:
Where is your chest pain?
Did your chest pain start slowly or suddenly?
Is there anything that will worsen or relieve your chest pain?
How does your chest pain feel? Stabbing, burning, heaviness or tightness?
Does your chest pain spread to other parts of your body?
Your doctor will also ask you about your past medical history and check if you have any risk factors that can increase your chance of getting heart disease, such assmoking,diabetes,high blood pressure,high cholesterol, or if you are older than 50 years.
Your doctor will examine your heart and lungs, including checking your blood pressure and pulse, and listening to your heart and lungs.
Depending on what your doctor thinks is causing your chest pain, they may order some tests. These may include:
a coronary angiography– a procedure that uses a special dye (contrast material) and x-rays to see how blood flows through the arteries in your heart
aCT scanof blood vessels in your lungs (CTPA) to check for blood clots or of blood vessels in your heart (CT coronary angiogram)
a gastroscopy– a thin flexible tube with camera inserted through your gut to examine your stomach lining.
Treatment depends on the cause of your chest pain so it is important not to treat chest pain yourself. Your doctor will discuss the best treatment option for you for your condition.
The following links provide further information about chest pain. Be aware that websites from other countries may have information that differs from New Zealand recommendations.
New Zealand Sign Language videos about chest pain, produced by Platform Trust, in partnership with Deafradio and Healthify NZ.
These videos are NZSL translations of Healthify pages on chest pain.
On this page, you can find NZSL videos about:
Chest pain – overview
What are the causes of chest pain?
Other causes of chest pain
Chest pain – when to text 111
Chest pain – when to see your GP
Video: Chest pain – overview
This video may take a few moments to load.
(Platform Trust, in partnership with Deafradio and Healthify He Puna Waiora, NZ, 2022) Read above for chest pain key points.
Video: What are the causes of chest pain?
This video may take a few moments to load.
(Platform Trust, in partnership with Deafradio and Healthify He Puna Waiora, NZ, 2022) Read above for causes of chest pain.
Video: Other causes of chest pain
This video may take a few moments to load.
(Platform Trust, in partnership with Deafradio and Healthify He Puna Waiora, NZ, 2022) Read above for other causes of chest pain.
Video: Chest pain – when to text 111
This video may take a few moments to load.
(Platform Trust, in partnership with Deafradio and Healthify He Puna Waiora, NZ, 2022)
Text 111 immediately if you have chest pain that:
lasts more than 10 minutes or
spreads to your arms, back, neck or jaw or
feels like crushing pain, heaviness, tightness or pressure in your chest or
is accompanied by nausea (feeling sick), sweating, dizziness or shortness of breath.
You could be having a heart attack. Stop, rest and text 111 for an ambulance straight awayas you need immediate treatment in hospital.
If you have angina medicine, stop, rest and take your angina medicine according to your action plan. If you still have symptoms after 10 minutes, treat it as a heart attack. Text 111 for an ambulance straight away.
Video: Chest pain – when to see your GP
This video may take a few moments to load.
(Platform Trust, in partnership with Deafradio and Healthify He Puna Waiora, NZ, 2022)
Contact your GP or health professional if:
you have chest pain that comes and goes
you have chest pain that goes away quickly but you are still worried.
Do NOT diagnose yourselffrom this information or any information you find on the internet. Also, do not ask for advice from family or friends. You need to talk to a healthcare professional who can give you proper advice.