Chest Pain And Central Nervous System
Chest pain can be brought on due to numerous reasons, and it goes without saying that one of them is cardiac problems. Hence, no pain in the chest should be ignored and people should get a thorough medical checkup done, no matter how insignificant the pain seems. |
Chest pain and the central nervous system are associated and linked to one another. It has been seen that many non-cardiac related chest pain invariably cause the central nervous system to act and this in turn causes the chest pain. Basically, it ends up being a vicious cycle with one feeding the other. For instance, when a person suffers from anxiety, it is common for the person to experience pain in the chest along with other symptoms like perspiring, and rapid beating of the heart. Usually when a person is having an anxiety attack, the brain sends a signal to the other parts of the body against the perceived threat. This threat can be physical or psychological in nature and the central nervous system prepares the body for the fight or flight response.
The central nervous system is composed of 2 parts, namely the somatic nervous system and the autonomic nervous system. The autonomic nervous system is responsible for automatic functions of the body like breathing, blood pressure, perspiration and beating of the heart. This nervous system is further sub-divided into parasympathetic nervous system and sympathetic nervous system.
When a person suffers from an anxiety attack, it causes the release of adrenalin in the blood. This, in turn, causes the heart to start beating faster and the muscles to contract. This response is controlled by the central nervous system. People suffering from an anxiety attack or panic attack tend to have increases heart rate, pain in the chest as well as tightness in the throat due to contractions of the muscles. In addition, the person may experience more release of acid in the stomach that could cause heartburn and subsequent pain in the chest.
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A lot of people who suffer from anxiety attacks often complain of chest pain that is quite similar in characteristic to the pain felt during a heart attack. Hence, it is very common for people suffering from an anxiety attack to think that they are getting a heart attack. However, the chest pain anxiety can be treated using several methods.