How do you treat chest pressure? | Pressure in the chest – What to do?

How do you treat chest pressure?

The type of treatment depends largely on the causative disease. In case of a heart attack, immediate inpatient treatment is necessary. Immediate drug therapy with blood thinners such as aspirin, heparin and clopidogrelPrasugrel is initiated.

Depending on the type of infarction (STEMI = ST elevation myocardial infarction, NSTEMI = non-ST elevation myocardial infarction), immediate or prompt cardiac catheterization is necessary. Cardiac arrhythmias are treated differently. For example, if there is atrial fibrillation, a permanent blood thinning is usually necessary.

A rhythm-stabilizing therapy is also frequently used. If pneumonia is present, it must be treated with antibiotics. Depending on the patient’s general condition, this treatment can be carried out on an inpatient or outpatient basis.

A pulmonary embolism usually also has to be treated as an inpatient; here, blood thinners are used. A pneumothorax sometimes has to be treated surgically, but in some cases a wait-and-see approach is sufficient. A reflux esophagitis can best be treated by changing one’s lifestyle and eating habits and by taking stomach acid-inhibiting medication such as pantozole.

If nerves are trapped, waiting, heat application and physiotherapy are usually helpful. Physiotherapy and application of heat also help with degenerative changes in the spine as the cause of the complaints. Patients with recurrent panic attacks often require psychotherapeutic treatment.

Duration/prognosis of chest pressure

The duration or prognosis also depends mainly on the underlying disease. In the case of a heart attack, there is a significantly increased risk of life-threatening complications occurring, especially in the first hours and days. Once patients have survived this phase, the prognosis depends, among other things, on lifestyle changes.

In addition, long-term medication is helpful. Cardiac arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation are chronic in many cases. An optimal therapy reduces the complication rate.

Depending on the general condition and additional diseases of the patient, pneumonia usually heals without consequences with an adequate antibiotic therapy. The symptoms usually last for several weeks until they disappear completely. A pulmonary embolism can be potentially fatal if it is not treated adequately.

The symptoms of reflux disease are often relieved very quickly by taking acid-inhibiting medication. Diseases of the spine are almost always chronic in nature, i.e. they last a lifetime. Trapped nerves are very painful, but the complaints usually disappear completely after a few days.

Panic attacks are usually a chronic mental illness. They occur repeatedly and are very stressful for the patient because they are unpredictable. A psychotherapy can significantly reduce the illness.