Tingling in the chest: causes, diagnosis and treatment

The human chest contains many organs, vessels and nerve endings. All the organs of the upper chest are located next to each other.

When certain disorders occur, it can be difficult for a person to independently determine the cause of the ailment. Everyone knows that heart disease is the most common problem of modern people in middle and old age.

Therefore, when an unpleasant sensation or pain occurs in the chest, a person first of all assumes a heart disease. To clarify the situation and prescribe the right treatment, you must first visit a doctor.

Heart disease is one of the most dangerous diseases

Soreness can occur due to a disease that can cause damage without treatment, or it can be the cause of minor problems that are not dangerous to health, easily corrected with the help of well-chosen therapy. Any organ or system located inside the chest can cause pain and discomfort in the chest, on the right, left side, or in the middle.

Discomfort on the right

Often a person is able to listen to his feelings and determine where exactly the pain is localized. Often the discomfort is widespread, and this is difficult to do. But if a person clearly feels a tingling sensation in the chest on the right, then there is a high probability that the cause lies in one of the following conditions:

• Injury resulting from vigorous physical activity. If, for example, a person’s body is not prepared for high loads, then he can simply stretch his chest muscles.
• Fractured ribs. This is usually indicated by sharp tingling sensations. If a person coughs or squeezes that area, the pain will become much stronger.
• Injury. If this is indeed the reason, then a bruise will be visible at the place where the discomfort is localized.
• Pathologies of the respiratory or gastrointestinal tract.

If in the first three cases everything is more or less obvious (it is difficult not to notice the fracture), then in the case of diseases it is a little more complicated. Therefore we should dwell on them.

If the cause of pain is problems with the spine and ribs

The spine is the foundation of the body; with pathology, pain can radiate to different places

Often, pain in the chest and abdomen is caused not by problems with the organs located in this area, but by pathological changes in the spine.

Table No. 7. Spinal problems that cause pain in the chest area:

Pneumonia

With this acute lung injury, tingling in the chest often occurs. Pneumonia is caused by a bacterial infection. The disease can also develop due to chest trauma, exposure to allergens or toxic substances. At risk are people who smoke, as well as anyone who abuses alcohol.

In addition to tingling in the chest on the right side, the following symptoms are observed:

• High temperature (more than 39 °C).
• Chills.
• Weakness.
• Dyspnea.
• Dry and unproductive cough, which is replaced by “rusty” sputum on days 3-4.
• Cyanosis of the nasolabial triangle.
• Hyperemia of the skin.
• Rapid shallow breathing.
• Frequent, arrhythmic pulse, low blood pressure, muffled heart sounds.

For diagnosis, ultrasound of the pleural cavity, echocardiography, X-ray of the lungs, blood and urine tests, and sputum analysis are performed.

Treatment is carried out in a hospital, in the pulmonology department; bed rest, a high-calorie diet, and plenty of fluids are required. In serious cases, oxygen inhalations are prescribed.

But the main principle of treatment is antibacterial therapy. Doctors also often prescribe antihistamines, expectorants, mucolytics, antipyretics and immunostimulants.

Ripple

It is detected during developing myocardial infarction or an attack of hypertension.

The first condition has already been described. As for hypertension, we usually talk about a significant increase in the tonometer reading. This is the so-called crisis state. Characterized by intensification and overload of cardiac activity.

The patient can only be removed from this situation in a hospital. The longer the experience of hypertension, the higher the risk of emergency.

Throbbing pain accompanies every heartbeat. Indicates insufficient efficiency in supplying the muscular organ itself with oxygen and nutrients.

Pleurisy

Under this name, inflammation of the parietal and visceral layers of the pleura is known. The cause is not always an infection. It can be trauma, a malignant tumor, diffuse lesions, pulmonary or myocardial infarction, etc.

Pleurisy can be dry and exudative. Typically the symptoms are:

• Tingling in the chest, aggravated by movement, breathing and coughing.
• Gentle, shallow breathing.
• Slightly elevated body temperature.
• Chills, night sweats, weakness.
• Dull pain in the side.
• Painful dry cough.
• Hoarseness of voice.
• Swelling of the neck and face.
• Hemoptysis (if serous pleurisy).

As part of the diagnosis, an ultrasound, x-ray, pleural puncture, and blood test are performed. Thoracoscopy with pleural biopsy may be necessary.

The goal of treatment is to eliminate the etiological factor and alleviate symptoms. If pleurisy is caused by pneumonia, the patient is prescribed antibiotic therapy. A rheumatic disease is treated with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, as well as glucocorticosteroids. For tuberculous pleurisy, streptomycin, isoniazid, and rifampicin are prescribed. To eliminate symptoms, diuretics, analgesics and cardiovascular drugs are prescribed.

Possible complications

Complications can develop if the patient ignores the discomfort and does not consult a doctor in a timely manner. Colitis in the chest - this may be a sign of a developing pathology; if treatment is not started, then in the future it can lead to disability and even death.

A woman has colitis under the sternum on the left or right side - this is the first symptom that requires contacting a specialist and undergoing a comprehensive examination.

Therapy includes taking medications, using traditional recipes and other methods, which may include diet, physical therapy and getting rid of bad habits. The main thing is to reduce the development of complications and strictly follow the doctor’s recommendations, then the treatment will be quick and effective.

Cholecystitis

Inflammation of the gallbladder is also accompanied by tingling in the chest. Cholecystitis occurs due to stagnation of bile and infection.

It does not appear on its own; it is preceded by some illness. This could be cholelithiasis, dyskinesia, congenital anomaly, tumor, cyst, etc. In addition to tingling, the following symptoms are observed:

• Paroxysmal pain in the right side of the abdomen, which radiates to the shoulder, collarbone and scapula.
• Neurosis-like conditions.
• Weakness.
• Insomnia.
• Sweating.
• Dyspnea.
• Nausea and vomiting with bile.
• Bloating and bowel irregularities.
• Belching with an unpleasant aftertaste.
• Feeling of bitterness in the mouth.
• Chills.
• Tachycardia.
• Hypotension.

After a general examination, ultrasound of the gallbladder, fractional duodenal intubation, cholecystocholangiography, and laboratory blood tests are prescribed.

Usually these measures are enough, but they can additionally perform MSCT, FGDS, hepatobiliscintigraphy, and laparoscopy.

The patient is prescribed a strict diet No. 5, physiotherapy, as well as taking antispasmodics, painkillers, and antibacterial agents. When remission occurs, the patient is prescribed choleretic, choleretics and cholekinetics.

Symptoms for which you should call the emergency room

If one or more of the above symptoms are present, the patient will not be able to identify the cause of discomfort without the help of a doctor. An experienced specialist will help you properly relieve pain due to osteochondrosis of the spine, which has affected the thoracic region, or eliminate other pathologies.

There are a number of cases when you should consult a doctor without delay. Be sure to call an ambulance if:

• there is a piercing pain that causes a feeling of loss of consciousness;
• discomfort from the chest area radiates to the shoulder or jaw area;
• there is a feeling of constriction of the chest, with instability of the pulse, vomiting, and dizziness;
• the pain does not disappear and lasts more than 15 minutes;
• unpleasant sensations in the cartilage tissue are complemented by high temperature and unstable breathing;
• there is a bloody cough and chest discomfort.

When should you see a doctor?

There are also cases when the patient can independently visit a specialist, but without unnecessary delay. You need to make an appointment with a doctor if:

• after a meal there is a burning sensation;
• pain appears when inhaling and coughing;
• when changing the position of the body, the discomfort intensifies;
• While taking the medication, the manifestations of the disease intensify.

Coronary heart disease (CHD)

This ailment is often indicated by tingling in the left side of the chest. IHD is a functional and organic damage to the myocardium, caused by cessation or lack of blood supply to the heart muscle. About 97-98% of cases are caused by atherosclerosis of the coronary arteries.

The disease is usually asymptomatic and can last for decades. But the manifestations are still present. Most often the symptoms are as follows:

• Pain in the lower jaw, arm and back.
• Increased heart rate.
• Dyspnea.
• Nausea.
• Dizziness and weakness.
• Blurred consciousness.
• Excessive sweating.
• Fainting.

IHD often leads to heart failure. Therefore, if a person feels a suspicious tingling sensation in the left side of the chest, he should go to a cardiologist.

Diagnosis is carried out in a dispensary or hospital. They prescribe the study of specific enzymes, ECG, echocardiography, stress echocardiography, functional exercise tests, 24-hour monitoring, transesophageal electrocardiography, coronography.

The treatment is specific. It can be non-drug, drug, surgical or endovascular. It all depends on the specific case.

Diagnosis and treatment

MRI of the thoracic region

To reliably determine the cause of discomfort, you need to undergo an examination. To visualize the changes, you can do an x-ray, ultrasound, computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging.

The discomfort should be treated by a doctor after receiving the diagnostic results. To reduce pain, you need to take different medications or herbal remedies, the choice of which depends on the cause of the pathological process. Cardiac drugs, anti-inflammatory drugs, antibiotics, expectorants, and antacids are used. With pronounced changes that are associated with pathology of the musculoskeletal system, surgical intervention may be required.

Angina pectoris

This is one of the forms of ischemic heart disease, and therefore it also causes tingling in the chest on the left side. Predisposing factors for its development include physical inactivity, smoking, hyperlipidemia, arterial hypertension, obesity, diabetes mellitus, severe stress, increased blood viscosity, intoxication and anemia.

The main symptom is pain. The discomfort first manifests itself as a tingling sensation on the left side of the chest. As the disease progresses, the sensations become squeezing, burning, pressing, drilling, pulling, cutting. At first, the pain is simply unpleasant, but then it becomes so severe that patients have no strength left to restrain their screams.

In addition to the examination methods already listed, a blood test is required for cholesterol, ALT and AST, lipoproteins, electrolytes, creatine kinase and other substances. Velgoergometry is also required.

If we talk about treatment, it is aimed at stopping and further preventing attacks of angina pectoris. Patients are prescribed nitroglycerin, which must be taken when they approach. Planned therapy involves taking antianginal drugs, molsidomine, b-blockers, as well as calcium channel blockers, antioxidants, antiplatelet agents and anti-sclerotic medications.

Shots

Periodic, short-term tingling extremely rarely accompanies cardiovascular diseases. The approximate frequency is 20-25%. If there is a connection with cardiac pathologies, then they talk about the following conditions:

• Prolapse, stenosis or fusion of the mitral valve. This anatomical structure closes the gap between the left atrium and the ventricle, preventing blood from flowing in the opposite direction. With developmental defects, regurgitation of the MV occurs - a reverse flow of liquid connective tissue.

As a result, the contractility of the myocardium decreases, dilatation (stretching) of the chambers is formed, and the amount of blood ejected into the systemic circle is significantly reduced. Gradually, the process leads to disturbances in the anatomical development of cardiac structures.

Recovery involves early surgery. The sooner it is carried out, the higher the chances of a complete cure.

Episodes of pain are short. Often patients do not pay attention to this manifestation at all.

• Aortic valve stenosis. This structure is located at the level of the transition of the left ventricle into the main artery of the body. The role is identical: the movement of liquid connective tissue strictly in one direction. In a big circle.

Treatment is also surgical. Intense stabbing pain in the sternum is uncharacteristic, since the basis of the symptomatic complex is made up of other manifestations: shortness of breath, weakness, a drop or increase in blood pressure, and others.

• Aortic aneurysm in the development stage. It is a special formation, a wall protrusion of the artery. At the stage of formation, the pathological process makes itself felt with minimal discomfort.

Often there are no unpleasant sensations at all; the diagnosis is made on the basis of an objective assessment of the condition of the blood vessels. Surgical restoration involves excision of the changed area, but with great care.

• Neurosis of the heart with cardialgia. Why exactly heart pain occurs is not completely clear. It is assumed that we are talking about the work of the central nervous system, insufficient braking speed.

The development of discomfort is directly caused by stress and mental overload. Typically, a symptomatic complex appears in patients with a special personality type: vulnerability, impressionability, emotional lability as components.

A typical feature of pain of neurotic origin is the absence of evidence of organic pathology. Objective diagnostics show no abnormalities.

No special treatment is required. Despite this, the intensity of the shooting turns out to be significant. Hypochondriacal patients may falsely mistake an episode of neuralgia for a heart attack.

• Vegetative-vascular dystonia. It is a nonspecific syndrome. Develops as a result of diseases of the brain, hypothalamus, and endocrine system.

Contrary to the beliefs of a large part of the population and even the medical community, this is not a diagnosis, but a manifestation of a certain condition. The underlying disease needs to be treated, but not the symptom.

The restoration is carried out under the supervision of a group of specialists. Heart pain is relatively short in duration and does not pose a real threat to life.

• Myocarditis. Or inflammation of the muscle layer of the heart. It is an infectious (viral, bacterial, fungal), less often an autoimmune process. Requires urgent treatment in a hospital. The phenomenon quickly leads to tissue destruction. This is a direct indication for prosthetics.

In rare cases, the pathological manifestation is caused by a change in the innervation of the heart.

Stitching pain almost never indicates cardiac problems. The probability is 20% or so.

Attention:

The cardiac nature of the manifestation should not be completely ruled out. If there are complaints, it is recommended to urgently carry out a diagnosis using ECHO, ECG and at least measure blood pressure and heart rate.

Pericarditis

Do you feel a tingling sensation on the left side of your chest? Perhaps the reason lies in inflammation of the pericardial sac. It may be post-infarction, rheumatic or infectious in nature. Prerequisites include viral and bacterial infections, heart damage, allergic and systemic connective tissue diseases, metabolic disorders, defects, etc.

In addition to tingling, the following symptoms are observed:

• Conditions resembling an angina attack.
• Dyspnea.
• Dry cough.
• Chills.
• Increased heart rate.
• Feeling of tightness in the chest.
• Hiccups.
• Dysphagia.
• Fever.
• Swelling of the neck and face.
• Skin cyanosis.
• Swelling of neck veins.

Diagnostic measures are similar to those listed above. Treatment is determined taking into account the clinical and morphological form of the disease. In any case, until the activity of the process subsides, the person must remain in bed.

Psychological diseases due to stress

What to do for back pain between the shoulder blades? Or how to soothe the muscles of the ribs if your back and chest hurt? Finding answers to these questions on your own is very problematic, especially if they arise against the backdrop of stressful situations.

Such diseases can form if people are very worried. During this process, there is compression of the muscles as spasms occur in the chest.

If, in the presence of such disorders, people limit physical activity for various reasons, then it is very difficult to eliminate pain in the lower chest or in its upper part. The fact is that it is impossible to get rid of muscle blocks while constantly sitting.

Inflammation of the trachea and bronchi against the background of ARVI is often the cause of pain behind the sternum. In addition to pain, there may be an increase in body temperature, cough, and hoarseness.

Pleurisy

The mediastinum is located between the lungs. Therefore, when the layers of the pleura (the lining of the lungs) facing the mediastinum become inflamed, severe pain occurs in the middle of the chest. Most often, pleurisy develops against the background of pneumonia. The pain syndrome is accompanied by cough and fever.

Persistent, prolonged pain can be caused by tumors growing in the mediastinum. These include neoplasms of the respiratory system. Lymph nodes can be affected by metastases of distant tumors, and also enlarge due to oncological blood diseases.

Myocarditis

Another common reason why tingling sensations are felt in the chest area. Myocarditis is an inflammation of the muscular lining of the heart. It is usually caused by viral, bacterial, parasitic and fungal diseases.

Clinical symptoms depend on how severely the myocardium is damaged, where the damage is localized, how quickly the inflammation progresses, etc. In any case, there is a disturbance in the heart rhythm and insufficiency of contractile function.

Mostly, patients who are subsequently diagnosed with myocarditis complain of increased fatigue and weakness, increased sweating and joint pain. Attacks of atrial fibrillation occur less frequently.

In addition to the diagnostic methods listed above, bacteriological blood culture is also required to identify the pathogen. They may prescribe PCR diagnostics, endomyocardial biopsy, scintigraphy, MRI and radioisotope studies.

The acute stage is an indication for hospitalization. The patient is prescribed bed rest for 4-8 weeks, a diet enriched with proteins and vitamins, as well as therapy in 4 areas - metabolic, etiological, symptomatic and pathogenetic.

Why you can't live with pain

Important: pain in the heart area should be examined and treated under the supervision of a cardiologist.

Such attacks of heart pain are unacceptable to endure. Problems with the coronary vessels can lead to sudden death.

With prolonged and often repeated attacks of oxygen deficiency in the tissues of the heart, a heart attack occurs - the heart is no longer able to perform its main function of pumping blood. Heart failure develops and blood pressure drops rapidly.

In this situation, a person urgently needs to go to the hospital, since only under constant medical supervision can one count on a favorable outcome in the event of a myocardial infarction.

Important: it is not a rare case when a person suffers not very intense pain and continues to go about his daily activities, so a micro-infarction is suffered literally on his feet, and the person risks at any moment being left without the help of doctors at the most necessary moment.

Aortic aneurysm

This illness is possible if a person feels a tingling sensation in the middle of the chest. An aneurysm is a condition in which a section of the main artery is pathologically dilated. The reason is the weakness of its walls.

Clinical manifestations are variable. Often there are no symptoms at all. But specific manifestations include increased pulsation in the abdomen, tachycardia, headaches, swelling of the upper half of the body and face, as well as shortness of breath.

Increased salivation, bradycardia, hoarseness, dry cough, pain in the left shoulder blade and arm are rare.

As part of the diagnosis, ultrasound, tomography and x-ray examinations are performed. And not only the heart, but also the abdominal cavity and esophagus.

If the disease does not progress, the patient is simply observed by a surgeon and undergoes regular X-ray monitoring. If the diameter of the thoracic aneurysm exceeds 5-6 cm, surgery is indicated.

What to do?

After considering so many possible causes of pain in the center of the chest, it becomes obvious that they all have the same chance of triggering pain behind the sternum in the middle. What to do with such pain syndrome?

1. If the pain is sharp, burning, pressing or throbbing, but most importantly, sharp, and heart medications do not help within 20 minutes, you must call an ambulance.
2. Before the ambulance arrives, the patient should be provided with peace and a comfortable position lying or reclining; if he cannot lie, allow him to sit in an inclined position or in a way that is comfortable for him.
3. If the pain is dull, aching, or constant, you should visit a doctor as soon as possible.
4. You should not try to eliminate dull pain with painkillers, as this will only mask the pronounced symptoms and make it difficult for the doctor to diagnose.

Remember - chest pain is a serious and dangerous symptom that should not be “treated” on your own.

Myocardial infarction

A sharp, dagger-like pain in the middle of the chest, radiating to the lower jaw, collarbone, ear, teeth, neck and shoulder, indicates an acute violation of coronary circulation.

An attack can last from 30 minutes to several hours, or even days, and cannot be stopped by taking nitroglycerin. The patient feels severe weakness, but at the same time excitement. There is pallor of the skin, shortness of breath, anxiety, and high blood pressure.

There is only one indication here - emergency hospitalization in the cardiology department. After emergency assistance is provided, treatment will continue there. And in the first 24 hours, perfusion is restored through emergency balloon coronary angioplasty or thrombolysis.