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Causes of Chest Pain and Dizziness

Woodstock Family Practice & Urgent Care Blog Causes of Chest Pain and Dizziness

While chest pain and dizziness can be unsettling, you usually don’t need to rush to the hospital. But you do need to get to the bottom of these symptoms, because they could indicate a serious health condition. 

Dr. James Lee at Woodstock Family Practice & Urgent Care can give you the peace of mind you need when dealing with these concerning symptoms. Whether your condition is minor and easily treated, or major and in need of advanced medical treatment, Dr. Lee cares for you every step of the way. 

Here are some of the conditions that might be causing your chest pain and dizziness.

Indigestion

Believe it or not, that pizza you ate last night could be to blame for your chest pain and dizziness. When intestinal gas builds up, you feel pressure in your bowels and abdomen, but it can also reach your chest in the form of heartburn. 

This type of chest pain occurs when your stomach acid is forced up into your esophagus, and it happens to everyone occasionally.

But if you suffer chronically, you may have gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), a condition that hurts your chest, may make you feel dizzy, and can damage your esophagus if left untreated.

Anxiety

Horror films, spy novels, and spiders can make anyone feel anxious, but the emotion is only temporary. True anxiety is a mental health issue with physical symptoms, including chest pain and dizziness. 

Some people who suffer from anxiety also experience a racing heart, nausea, trembling, dry mouth, and headaches. 

Panic attack

When anxiety becomes severe, it can hit you suddenly in episodes called panic attacks. You may feel chest pain, dizziness, difficulty breathing, nausea, numbness or tingling, temperature sensitivity, excessive perspiration, or feelings of fear and paranoia. 

Typically, any four of these symptoms experienced together constitute a panic attack.

Hypertension

High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, is a condition that develops when your blood is being pushed through your arteries at a high force. Over time, this pressure damages your arteries and can cause serious heart health conditions.

Meanwhile, the day-to-day symptoms of hypertension include chest pain and dizziness, as well as nausea, fatigue, blurry vision, ear ringing, headaches, and restlessness.

Heart problems

Of course, chest pain may indicate you have a problem with your heart. Several possible culprits can present with similar symptoms, which is another reason to visit Dr. Lee and get an accurate diagnosis. 

Here are some potential heart problems that include chest pain and dizziness as symptoms.

Angina

If your heart isn’t getting enough blood, you may experience angina, which feels like someone is sitting on your chest or squeezing your heart, and the pain may travel to your jaw.

The reduced blood flow may be caused by atherosclerosis. Untreated, this can lead to heart attacks and other life-threatening conditions.

Arrhythmia

A heart that doesn’t beat to the correct rhythm can wreak havoc in your body. Skipped beats, rapid pounding, and slow and belabored pumping are all types of arrhythmia, and the symptoms include chest pain and dizziness, as well as sweating and shortness of breath. 

Heart attack

While angina develops because blood slows down, a heart attack results when blood flow is blocked completely. Also called a myocardial infarction, a heart attack is a sudden onset of chest pain, which often spreads to your back, arms, neck, and jaw. Other classic symptoms include:

If you think you might be having a heart attack, call 911 immediately, as every minute counts when treating this emergency.

Other heart conditions

Several other problems can occur in your heart that lead to chest pain and dizziness, including:

Any heart condition is potentially life-threatening, so it’s important to see Dr. Lee as soon as possible if you have any of these symptoms.

What to do about chest pain and dizziness

Clearly, all of the medical conditions that include chest pain and dizziness as a symptom are difficult to self-diagnose. To a lay person, it may be hard to tell the difference between GERD, anxiety, and angina. 

Dr. Lee runs specialized tests to quickly and accurately diagnose the cause of your symptoms and get you started on a treatment plan. 

Often, you only need lifestyle changes like losing weight, cleaning up your diet, and quitting some unhealthy habits. But if you need more advanced care, Dr. Lee is the expert you can trust. 

Call our office in Woodstock, Georgia, at 770-927-8273 or book online to set up an appointment and figure out what’s causing your chest pain and dizziness. You can also send a message to Dr. Lee and the team here on our website.

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