Stabile Angina vs Unstabile Angina

[TomJoad]

Hi there.  Is it possible to have unstabile angina, but no angina during heavy exercise?  I get stabbing chest pains, on the left side that last a few seconds, a minute or two at most quite often while at rest, but I can ride a bike 40 miles with no chest discomfort at all.  It seems to me that if whatever might cause angina while at rest would certainly act up when the heart was working very hard.

[Pepperliveson]

My cardiologist has told me that stabbing pains at rest are not thought to be cardiac, that cardiac pain is more of a pressure and/or squeezing that takes your breath away.  He also said that angina will always get worse with exertion so I think if you have no chest pain with 40 minutes of exercise, you are ok.  

[Flycaster305]

Chest pain is difficult to understand.  I use the chest pain I get when I have had stents installed as the model. The heart artery is blocked by a balloon device to open it which allows the stent to be placed.  The pain for me is a squeezing sensation dead center in the chest and radiates out to my left side.  Using this model I can identify whether chest pain is angina or not.  I exercise daily, and I can verify that Pepperliveson is on the money, exercise really affects angina pain.  One of the easiest tests is simply to take a nitro pill.  If the pain goes away quickly it's probably angina.  If not, its arthritis or something else.