Angina: Causes, Symptoms, and What You Need to Know

When your heart doesn’t get enough oxygen, you feel it—not as a sharp stab, but as pressure, tightness, or a heavy weight in your chest. That’s angina, a symptom of reduced blood flow to the heart muscle, often caused by narrowed or blocked coronary arteries. Also known as stable angina, it’s not a heart attack, but it’s your body’s warning sign that one could be coming. Many people mistake it for indigestion, especially women, who often feel it in the jaw, back, or stomach instead of the chest. This isn’t just discomfort—it’s a signal your heart is struggling.

Coronary artery disease, the main cause of angina, happens when fatty deposits build up in the arteries that feed your heart. This isn’t something that shows up overnight. It’s the result of years of high blood pressure, smoking, poor diet, or diabetes slowly clogging your system. Heart attack, a sudden blockage that kills heart tissue, is the dangerous next step if angina is ignored. And chest pain, the most common way angina presents, can look totally different in women—less crushing, more like fatigue, nausea, or shortness of breath during simple tasks like walking or climbing stairs.

What makes angina tricky is that it often comes and goes. You feel it when you’re stressed, exercising, or even in cold weather. It fades with rest or nitroglycerin. But if it starts happening more often, lasts longer, or shows up at rest, that’s unstable angina—and it’s an emergency. You don’t need to wait for a heart attack to act. Early treatment with medications like beta-blockers, statins, or aspirin can slow the damage. Lifestyle changes—quitting smoking, eating real food, moving daily—aren’t just "good advice," they’re life-saving.

The posts below cover real-world stories and science-backed advice about angina and related heart conditions. You’ll find how women experience chest pain differently, what drugs like digoxin or apixaban do for heart patients, and when a simple change in routine can make all the difference. No fluff. No jargon. Just what you need to recognize the signs, understand your options, and protect your heart before it’s too late.