Can anyone explain unstable angina to me. I have a health anxiety and i am always worried about my heart. After MANY test i have been told by Many doctors that my heart is fine. I have had a nuclear stress test and a calcium screening and both were good. I keep having chest pain, its never when i exert myself, but sometimes i notice i get it when just sitting or doing nothing. I have also been having alot of pain in my back on the right side. The pain i feel in my chest is like an aching feeling all across my chest. Sometimes i will have this feeling off and on up to 50 times a day it seems to last a few days then go away for a few days then comes back. It justh happens at anytime. I never get pain or anything while i am exerting myself though, so could this be unstable angina even though i dont have stable angina???

confused32,
I do the same thing and have for many years. Today is a BAD day with hurting in chest/back. I have been diagnosed with sinus tachacardia but should'nt be causing this discomfort but drs. never really tell me why I'm doing this. I do sit at a computer at least 6-7 hrs. a day and KNOW I don't sit properly but whenever I have chest hurting/back I KNOW it's my heart, am freaked out about heart problems. Through the years have had alot of testing and the most recent (which they found the sinus tachacardia) was wearing a monitor for 2 weeks. Keep asking my dr. is I need further tests and she says no but wonder. Want to trust her judgement but kind of hard. Let me know if you figure this out. I don't know much about angina pain so not much help to you. Hang in there and keep in touch.

I'm sure someone more knowledgable will correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that unstable angina is a result of SEVERE heart disease; I seriously doubt you would have "passed" the tests you have had if you had unstable angina.

Pain in your back on the right side might indicate a gall bladder problem. The pain in your chest is most likely anxiety related, or just a common sensation that we all have from time to time, or might also be gall bladder related.

I've had stable angina (for 2 weeks before a 99% blockage in my LAD was diagnosed and a stent placed) and all I can say about classic angina symptoms is you'll probably know it if it ever happens to you: it's like no other pain or chest sensation I ever had before or since and is kinda like an elephant sitting on your chest and squeezing your heart.

I do understand the issues with anxiety....now I'm much more sensitive to any aches and pains, especially in my chest area, but the doctors think I'm fine (and I suspect they're right because even though I've had some chest discomfort that has freaked me out, it has not been the same as the angina).

confused,

I think you'll have to trust your doctors. If they suspected unstable angina, they'd have tried pretty hard to pinpoint it because it is so dangerous. Nobody can survive very long with 50 bouts of unstable angina in a day becasue they are almost mini-heart attacks.

It sounds most to me like a musculo-skeletal problem and my best recommendation is some good stretching or, better yet, some Yoga classes.

To give some insight, the logic is with exercise there is a heavier demand of blood/oxygen, and due to corornary blockage (whatever) the heart doesn't receive sufficient blood/oxy as other parts of the system also demand and receive a partial amount and now less goes to the heart, and there is heart pain.

With unstable angina (pain without exercise) the blockage or cardiac output is insufficient to meet the demand even without exertion. It seems reasonable to conclude that coronary blockage has increased or valve leakage has increased so there is less blood pumped with stroke.

If the heart doesn't receive enough blood/oxy, there is no pain about 25% of the time.