Diagnosis
First of all it is important to keep calm. It is best to consult your family doctor and describe your symptoms and fears. Your doctor will refer you to a cardiologist who will check the health of your heart.
An echocardiography, ECG examinations such as the exercise ECG and other diagnostic measures can detect and reveal disturbances of the heart rhythm or organ. Other imaging examinations or even invasive measures such as cardiac catheterization are also available to examine and treat the heart. If the heart is healthy and all relevant diseases have been ruled out, the search for the cause is steered in a different direction. The question of anxiety, stress or other psychological strain should be clarified. Possible causes, such as tension in the muscles of the chest, are also included.
Symptoms
The accompanying symptoms of a “heart sting” when inhaled depend on the underlying cause. Diseases of the heart can show many more symptoms. Angina pectoris, for example, which occurs in the context of coronary heart disease, shows a feeling of tightness in the chest in addition to a piercing of the heart.
Affected people often describe this with the comparison of an elephant sitting on the chest. Nausea, restlessness, fear and radiating chest pain are also typical. The pain can radiate into the left arm, back, lower jaw, neck or upper abdomen.
The symptoms usually disappear again when the patient is at rest. The situation is different in the case of a real heart attack, which can also manifest itself in a heart sting when breathing in. The symptoms of a heart attack are usually more severe than those of angina pectoris.
It is accompanied by fear of death, sweating and sometimes vomiting. The pain is perceived as much stronger and the symptoms persist and do not subside at rest. Shortness of breath, a drop in blood pressure and skin pallor also occur.
It is therefore a highly acute clinical picture. However, “heart stabbing” when breathing in can also be stress-related or related to psychological stress. In most cases, the “heart sting” does not manifest itself in the same way as with angina pectoris or a heart attack.
It occurs much more in situations of stress and is accompanied by anxiety, a high heart rate, sweating or dizziness.Other possible accompanying symptoms are muscular pain, for example in the chest or back muscles. “Heart stabbing” when inhaled can occur in combination with back pain. A very strong pain, shortness of breath and sweating form the typical symptom combination of a heart attack.
A radiation of the pain into the left arm, the upper abdomen or neck as well as the upper jaw is also typical for a heart attack. Angina pectoris can also lead to “heart stabbing” when inhaled, which is accompanied by back pain. The symptoms are usually less pronounced than those of a heart attack and disappear at rest after 10 to 20 minutes.
Back pain can also be caused by muscular tension of the back muscles. Some sufferers also report a kind of “heart stabbing” that is caused by muscular tension. Formally, however, this is not a “heart stabbing”, as the heart is healthy.
However, the subjective impression of a stabbing chest pain may exist. Rarely does it appear stronger when inhaled. However, the connection can only be vaguely established.
These are very subjective complaints that cannot necessarily be attributed to one another. A flu as such does not lead to a “heart sting” when inhaled. Some infectious diseases of the respiratory tract, such as pneumonia, can lead to inflammation of the pleura (pleuritis).
This inflammation, in turn, is a possible cause of stabbing chest pain, which most sufferers refer to as “heart stabbing”. Typically, this “heart stabbing” is intensified during inhalation. However, influenza does not usually lead to such symptoms.
A simple cold does not lead to a “heart-prick” on inhalation. However, pneumonia can lead to an inflammation of the pleura (pleuritis), which causes chest pain that may appear like a “heart sting”. It is also typical that it is then a breath-dependent pain that increases with inhalation.
“Cardiac stabbing” is a very misleading term, as it is rarely a pain that actually comes from the heart. It is usually much more a general chest pain that is felt as a stabbing pain. Typically, an irritation of the pleura feels like this.
The pleura may be inflamed in the context of pneumonia or acute bronchitis. Typical is a stabbing pain in the chest when breathing in, which is accompanied by a dry or productive cough. The latter refers to a cough with sputum.
This can be accompanied by fever, fatigue and a general feeling of illness. During pregnancy, women are in a state of physical and mental emergency. The whole life situation, the body as well as the stresses and strains to be overcome change.
Stress during pregnancy can lead to a “heart sting” when breathing in. In the course of adapting to pregnancy, the woman’s heart rate also increases naturally. Usually there is no damage to the heart or lungs.
Therefore, this is no reason for concern. Nevertheless, a doctor’s examination should be carried out, just to calm the pregnant woman and for safety reasons. Also a stretch pain or a pain due to an irritation of the pleura can mimic a heart sting when inhaled and is much more obvious than a disease of the heart or lungs.
Posture can also influence the extent of the “heart sting” when inhaled. For example, posture can increase muscular tension or change the subjective feeling of “heart stinging”. Muscle tension in the chest or back muscles can become noticeable when bending down, for example, and thus imitate a “heart sting” when inhaling.
However, a direct correlation is difficult to deduce. Bending as such has no effect on the heart and therefore one should not assume that it causes a “heart sting” in any way, which really comes from the heart. Rather, the posture can make breathing more difficult and, in the case of already existing tension or muscular dysfunction, can reinforce the impression of a “heart sting” when breathing in.
