Sara67

Hi Tony

Angina is caused by a build up of atherosclerosis in one or more of the arteries that feed oxygenated blood to the heart muscle. As the heart works harder in response to exercise, the heart muscle requires more oxygenated blood.

The extent of the blockage will determine how much stress the heart can tolerate before problems occur. Therefore, life would be the same until you exerted yourself to the point where the heart muscle required more oxygenated blood than the artery could deliver.

To overcome this, you would either need to rest so as to reduce the need for oxygenated blood, or you could use a Glycerine Nitrate, which causes the arteries to dialate and therefore allows more oxygenated blood to get to the heart muscle.

Taking a 75mg dose of Aspirin every day and reducing the blood lipids with lifestyle changes and medication can help to control angina. This is because the blood is thinner and less likely to clot, so it would be able to travel past the arthroma easier and therefore provide the oxygenated blood that is needed. With these changes, the patients exercise tolerance level would be higher, but the angina would still occur if they over did it

Heart muscle which is starved of oxygenated blood is very painful. The muscle does not die because there is a small amount of blood getting through. However, this is not enough to enable it to stay healthy. Therefore, failure to rest or take the correct medication would result in the muscle dying. This is known as a heart attack.

I hope this helps.

Sara