Guest Author - Carolyn Chambers Clark, RN, EdD

What causes chest pain?

Although the first thing you may think of when you think of chest pain is a heart attack, there are many other causes of chest pain. Here are some of them...

* heartburn
* muscle spasm
* disc trouble in the neck
* hiatal hernia
* spasm of the esophagus
* pneumonia
* fractured rib
* shingles (a specific type of viral infection)
* inflammation of the heart or surrounding tissues (pericarditis)
* clot in the lung
* collapsed lung

What should you do?

First, rule out a heart attack. If your health care provider tells you it's not a heart attack, there are plenty of things you can do to feel better including...

* Eat for a healthy heart and less heart pain

Many heart conditions are due to eating too many saturated fats (animal meats, milk, cheese, butter), transfats and sugars most pies, and many baked goods found on shelves and in bakeries, candies, sodas contain sugar that's linked with heart disease because high levels of insulin, needed to process sugar, promote heart disease. Always check labels. The best oil to use for cooking and as a salad dressing is olive oil. Concentrate your meals around fresh (of frozen if you can't get fresh) organic fruits and vegetables, whole grain breads and cereals (contain the B-vitamins you need to reduce heart pain), oily fish (salmon, mackerel, tuna, sardines provide the type of oils that heal the heart), seeds and nuts (without oil or salt; use them in salads; be sure to eat a handful a day), legumes (peanuts without oil or salt, dried beans and peas), soy (besides fish, make it your daily source of protein in soy milk, soy cheese, soy burgers, soy meats, tofu, and tempeh). Once in a while have chicken. Make sure you eat a half a cup of five to ten of these every day to get the amount of beta carotene, vitamin E, and selenium you need to reduce heart pain (angina): cooked carrots, sweet potatoes, peaches, apricots, broccoli, spinach, kale or arrugala, brown rice, oatmeal, watercress or dandelion greens. Eggs will also provide you with vitamin E and they contain lecithin that protects you against high cholesterol. Potassium reduces pain and can help with many heart conditions. In addition to the foods already mentioned (many of which contain potassium), daily eat at least one serving of potatoes, raisins, winter squash, yams, bananas, avocados, and/or dates. Eat smaller, more frequent meals to keep your energy up and reduce pain.

* Try coenzyme Q10 helps keep fatty acids from accumulating in heart muscle. CoQ-10 is manufactured by your body, but as you age, you make less of it; find it in your health food store and follow directions on the bottle.

* Try 1,000 mg of lysine (an amino acid you need daily) with 500 mg of vitamin C.

* Drink more water, at least 10 glasses a day of well-filter or distilled water can help relieve pain and remove toxins from your body.

* Stop smoking. Reduces risk of heart disease and helps hiatal hernia, too.

* Eliminate caffeine or reduce to no more than 1 cup or coffee or tea a day.

* Eliminate alcohol in any form. Reduces risk of heart disease and helps hiatal hernia, too.

* Adopt a program of supervised exercise program (there's evidence that lack of exercise puts more people at risk for heart disease than high cholesterol levels).

* Adopt a stress management program (there's compelling evidence that uncontrolled stress promotes heart disease).

* For heartburn, esophagitis and hiatal hernia, elevate the head of your bed, take acidophilus capsules or plain yogurt with active cultures, avoid coffee and tea, chocolate, citrus fruits and juices, onions and tomatoes. Avoid antibiotics, slow-release potassium, aspirin, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory pain drugs whenever possible and especially right before bedtime. Avoid antacids that contain aluminum or magnesium. Drink 3-4 ounces of aloe vera gel (health food store item) after each meal or when in pain. Eat smaller, more frequent meals.

This article is for information purposes only. For treatment, consult your health care provider.

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