Coronary Artery Disease – Symptoms

Transcript

The most common symptom in CAD is chest pain. This chest pain can occur on exertion (which is called stable angina) or it can occur at rest or with various changes in the amount of chest pain, which is called unstable angina. Over time, this chest pain can also occur more frequently and eventually (at worst) can lead to a heart attack. It’s important to understand the symptoms of this disease, as heart attacks do need to be prevented. Some people also have what’s called an anginal equivalent. So chest pain (related to CAD) is called angina. Some people experience angina in different ways, and these are typically seen in women and in diabetics. For example, some people may have jaw pain and that will be their anginal equivalent. So people know that when they have jaw pain, that may be a sign of their coronary artery disease, they would know to go see their doctor or go to the emergency room.