“What is angina?”
I'm 30 years old, and my doctors diagnosed me with angina after I had some chest pain. I'm taking medications to manage it, but are there other treatment options for me?
2 Answers
I am surprised that at 30 you have angina. I presume you have had an exercise ECG or angiogram to confirm this. There are a number of treatments including drugs, but angioplasty and stenting are also often used.
Regards,
Gerald Lewis, MD
Regards,
Gerald Lewis, MD
Are you a woman or a man? That makes a difference in terms of your risk at age 30. Premenopausal women are protected to some degree against angina.
Angina means that some part of your heart muscle is not receiving enough blood. When your level of activity or anything that increases the oxygen needs of your heart exceeds the supply of oxygen-carrying blood, angina occurs. The lack of blood could be from a blockage in an artery or even diseased smaller blood vessels supplying blood to your heart. There are a number of risk factors for these blockages including cholesterol, diabetes, smoking, hypertension, and family history. Having coronary artery disease significant enough to cause angina at the age of 30 is unusual. Your doctor should have done a stress test. If the stress test was positive, he/she should have referred you for computed tomographic angiography with a coronary calcium score.
If your symptoms truly represent angina, then an angiogram should be performed. A specific diagnosis must be made. You are too young to rely on probabilities. A diagnosis of angina at your age affects your life expectancy and your ability to get insurance. Intensive therapy is mandatory.
Angina means that some part of your heart muscle is not receiving enough blood. When your level of activity or anything that increases the oxygen needs of your heart exceeds the supply of oxygen-carrying blood, angina occurs. The lack of blood could be from a blockage in an artery or even diseased smaller blood vessels supplying blood to your heart. There are a number of risk factors for these blockages including cholesterol, diabetes, smoking, hypertension, and family history. Having coronary artery disease significant enough to cause angina at the age of 30 is unusual. Your doctor should have done a stress test. If the stress test was positive, he/she should have referred you for computed tomographic angiography with a coronary calcium score.
If your symptoms truly represent angina, then an angiogram should be performed. A specific diagnosis must be made. You are too young to rely on probabilities. A diagnosis of angina at your age affects your life expectancy and your ability to get insurance. Intensive therapy is mandatory.
