Pain in the heart due to nerves. Heart problems from nerves

Often I hear: “I can’t take a deep breath, it hurts on the left side.” Patients always associate these sensations with heart pain, but it is not always characteristic of the main organ. It's more about the musculoskeletal (ribs, spine) or nervous system. In the thoracic region there is still the esophagus, lungs, bronchi, and discomfort can occur there. And if, for example, pain in the chest is accompanied by fever, this is a signal of inflammation of the lungs or pleura.

How the heart hurts

The first option is angina pectoris. For example, during sports, a burning, baking, pressing pain appeared in the chest. It is worth stopping the load - and the discomfort gradually disappears. This is an alarming signal that your vessels have long been out of order. You should have consulted a doctor many years ago, but it's not too late to do it. Unlike the second option.

The second option is acute coronary syndrome, which in turn forms myocardial infarction. Pressing, pain sensations behind the sternum and in the center of the heart can spread to the neck, arm, abdomen, or go to the right or left shoulder. The essential difference is that this pain is very intense, it is accompanied by fear of death, excessive sweating, pallor and weakness. In this case, there is no such thing as falling ill and then passing away; pain arises, and it cannot be distracted from it. Call an ambulance immediately, do not self-medicate. An urgent operation will help here, the sooner you get to the operating room for stenting, the better about a larger piece of heart muscle can be saved.

What happens to the heart

Angina pectoris occurs as follows. In the arteries that supply the heart, an atherosclerotic plaque has already appeared and narrowed the lumen of the vessel by 60% or more. When playing sports or walking fast, the need for blood supply increases. The heart begins to pump blood intensively. An obstruction in the form of a plaque does not allow blood saturated with the necessary oxygen to pass to the heart in a timely manner. There is a mismatch between capabilities and needs. Hence the pain.

With a heart attack, the cause of the pain is the same - an atherosclerotic plaque already exists. But here it is already torn inside the artery (vessel), and its liquid contents enter the lumen of the artery (an atherosclerotic plaque resembles a fresh pimple that sticks out in the lumen). Blood coagulates on the surface of the plaque and clogs the lumen of the artery. It stops flowing to the part of the heart that this artery supplies blood to. Then this area dies off, and his death is accompanied by intense pain in the chest.

If it happens in the heart, it's a heart attack, and if it happens in the brain, it's an ischemic stroke. Strictly speaking, a stroke and a heart attack initially are not a disease of the heart and brain, but a vascular disease (atherosclerosis), which can lead to the death of part of the heart, brain or other organs, because all organs receive blood supply through the arteries.

Reasons for education

The occurrence of atherosclerotic plaque inside the vessel directly depends on lifestyle and heredity. The plaque grows due to the deposition of cholesterol in the walls of the artery. This process occurs in all people, but at different speeds. Deposition depends on four main factors: pressure, smoking, cholesterol and blood sugar levels. High blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood sugar, as well as smoking, overweight and a sedentary lifestyle lead to the fact that cholesterol is more intensively deposited in the walls of the artery and plaques appear at a young age.

Can a heart hurt due to stress?

After a heart attack, a person may not die, but a piece of the pump does not work. The heart does not perform its pumping function well and delivers nutrients to all tissues of the body poorly. This is heart failure. When the heart is not pumping blood well, it can lead to fluid retention - primarily in the lungs. The respiratory surface of the lungs decreases - shortness of breath occurs. But the causes of shortness of breath can be many, among the most common being overweight, smoking and physical inactivity. Moreover, stress and nervous condition, which, according to patients, are always and in everything to blame, are not related to heart failure. By the way, fatigue (fatigue) is considered a symptom of all diseases in general, according to the medical reference book. Although an absolutely healthy person can get tired.

What affects vascular health

You can build your diet from broccoli and breast, but this is only a partial help to the body in the fight against cholesterol. Of course, fast food should be avoided, but the production of cholesterol depends not only on food. By 80% it is produced independently, with proper nutrition, its level can be reduced by a maximum of 10-15%. Cholesterol levels are largely determined by heredity. It is elevated in 54% of Europeans. The same is the case with blood pressure, which mechanically damages the walls of the arteries and is considered the second cause of plaque rupture and vessel wear. You can be a slender or athletic person, a vegan, lead a healthy lifestyle, but if the parents had high blood pressure, then there is a high probability that this tendency will be passed on to children.

According to the new American classification, normal pressure is 120/80 and below. Anything above 130/80 is hypertension. Most girls have low blood pressure. Female hormones protect blood vessels, and only after hormonal changes (pregnancy, menopause) can arterial hypertension occur if there is a hereditary predisposition.

The third factor is cigarettes: in Russia, 31% of the population smokes. Smoking creates chemical damage on the arteries. It turns out that if the vessels are fragile, the pressure is high, there is a plaque, then it can break, clog and lead to unpleasant consequences.

Problems with blood vessels, which in the future can go to the heart, are a combination of the above factors. In addition, overweight and a sedentary lifestyle. Stroke and heart attack are diagnoses that cause significant harm to later life. A plaque rupture can occur in any other organ (there are arteries in the liver or kidneys, and they can have plaques), but we can't always notice it.

Heart pain that has arisen against the background of psycho-emotional overstrain can be functional. In the normal state of the vessels, it disappears after taking sedative drugs. But stress can be a provoking factor for the manifestation of coronary heart disease, in which case the attacks are repeated, there is a violation of the rhythm of contractions, signs of circulatory failure.

In order to correctly diagnose and receive recommendations for treatment, it is required to undergo an examination by a cardiologist.

Read in this article

Can the heart hurt from experiences, stress?

Cardiac pain occurs when the myocardium receives insufficient amounts of oxygen and energy substances for its work. Stressful situations lead to disruption of the central nervous system (CNS). It could be:

• loss of loved ones, anxiety about their health;
• excitement;
• social or family conflicts;
• sleep disturbance;
• work in conditions of mental or psychological overstrain.

The coordinating and regulating role of the central nervous system for vascular tone, including coronary ones, is lost. The release of adrenaline and cortisol by the adrenal glands leads to total vascular spasm. Ischemic zones appear in the muscular layer of the heart and this is felt as pain.

At the same time, the high excitability of the nervous system perceives impulses from the myocardium as excessive, which explains the feeling of fear, respiratory failure, and sweating that accompany such attacks.

What is the nature of the pain

A distinctive feature of neurogenic pain in the heart, not associated with angina pectoris, is the variety of its manifestations. Patients tend to describe it verbosely, and attacks are not similar to each other. Therefore, the nature of the pain can be - stabbing, aching, dull, muffled or pronounced, but there are main criteria that distinguish it from:

• There is no connection with physical activity, or even after it it becomes easier. This never happens with angina pectoris.
• The pain may get worse with intense breathing.
• Reception does not affect the intensity in any way, and relief comes from soothing drops.

According to the intensity of the pain syndrome and the duration of the attack, it is also impossible to make an unambiguous conclusion about the diagnosis, but more often neurotic pains are quite long, they can gradually increase, and patients perceive them as strong. Localization, as a rule, is vague, extends to the back, neck, under the shoulder blade, sometimes encircling.

Differences between spasms in nerves and experiences from diseases

It is possible to suspect that the matter is not only in a stressful situation, but there is reason to assume about it, according to the following signs:

• an attack occurs against the background or immediately after physical or emotional overstrain,
• in a calm environment it becomes easier,
• pain comes on suddenly and doesn't last long
• from Nitroglycerin there is a significant improvement in the condition,
• the general condition is inhibited, the description of complaints is brief,
• poor exercise tolerance - in addition to pain, there is a strong heartbeat and difficulty breathing.

Pain in the heart with angina pectoris

None of these criteria can be considered objective because most patients are well aware of the characteristic signs of coronary heart disease. Since people with cardioneurosis consciously or unconsciously try to attract attention to themselves, it is impossible to focus on complaints in such cases.

The only reliable method is the survey. Most often, an ECG is enough, best of all with stress tests, in extremely rare cases, ultrasound, CT with angiography are used. In case of disruption of the central nervous system during all examinations, it is not possible to detect any significant deviations from the norm.

Watch the video about pain in the heart after the experience:

Actions in the event of unpleasant symptoms

No matter what disease the pain in the heart is associated with, you need to stop working, moving for a while, sit in a comfortable position, unbutton the collar and provide fresh air.

After that, if the attack occurred for the first time, then it is better to start with taking and any drops (20 - 25) with a calming effect - Barboval, Valocordin, valerian, or peony.

If this does not lead to pain relief after 15 to 20 minutes, then you can place a Nitroglycerin tablet under the tongue and chew the tablet. The next step should be to call an ambulance, since only a doctor can prescribe further treatment.

When and why is it better to see a doctor

These include:

• smoking,
• alcohol consumption,
• high blood pressure,
• overweight,
• elevated blood cholesterol,
• diabetes,
• diseases of the heart and blood vessels in the next of kin,
• elderly age,
• menopause.

Therefore, if there are doubts about the state of health, or the patient belongs to one of these categories, observation by a doctor and a full range of diagnostic tests is mandatory.

Pain in the heart from experiences, stressful situations is caused by a spasm of the coronary arteries and a violation of the regulation of the work of the heart from the nervous system. If there is no concomitant atherosclerosis or other vascular disorders, then such an attack is removed with sedative drugs.

With angina pectoris, the pain syndrome provokes physical or emotional stress, it has distinctive clinical features, patients report relief after the use of Nitroglycerin. The final diagnosis is made after an instrumental examination. In any case, cardiac pain requires the establishment of a cause and treatment.

Read also

Pain in the heart or neuralgia - how to distinguish similar symptoms? After all, first aid measures will differ significantly.

If the heart hurts from nerves, then when the stress factor is eliminated, everything returns to normal. It can also hurt after stress and strong nerves, as well as with hormonal disorders and others. What to do?

In order to understand what to take for pain in the heart, you need to determine their type. With sudden, strong, aching, dull, sharp, stabbing, pressing pains, different drugs are needed - sedatives, relieving spasms, for arrhythmia, tachycardia. What pills will help with pain from stress, with ischemia, arrhythmia, tachycardia? Will aspirin, analgin, No-shpa help. Folk remedies from herbs for the heart. What to buy without a prescription for the elderly, with an attack.

Drawing pain in the region of the heart may indicate diseases that are completely unrelated to the organ itself. The nature of the pain will tell you which doctor to contact.

If the heart hurts after alcohol, then there are several reasons for this. For example, high blood pressure can cause pain in the heart area. Can the heart hurt itself? What to do if the heart hurts after alcohol, the pressure rises?

A rapid, irregular heartbeat with menopause is quite common. Additionally, pressure can jump, the heart beats more often at night. If the situation is not critical, then instead of drugs, treatment with folk remedies is carried out.

I am 23 years old. I have been suffering from anxiety related to heart problems for a month now. Sometimes panic sets in, tears roll in and a desire to give up. I'm trying to control myself. I would like to confirm my guesses regarding the VSD. My description will not be short.

It all started after quite a lot of stress and spending a couple of hours in the cold. There was severe pain behind the sternum - it lasted for three days. The temperature was 37.5. Once he broke - his pulse jumped sharply. I thought it was a heart attack. They called an ambulance, injected analgin, etc. The move passed quickly. The next day, I went to the therapist. I was prescribed a bunch of heart pills and antibiotics. Gave direction to the ECG and fluorography. Everything was in order there. Took a course of antibiotics.
I went skiing over the weekend. In the evening the temperature rose again. Two days later, a dry cough and runny nose appeared. Two days in the bath, mustard plasters, soared legs. In five days everything went away, but I began to worry about the lack of sputum. On Sunday and Monday I worked out with dumbbells and in the evening I again felt a rise in temperature. For two days I felt a slight burning sensation between the ribs, and once every three hours I felt an unpleasant pressure on my chest right in the middle. The sensation was - as if the bone is compressed.

What I have now:
- Regularly elevated temperature in the evening (37.2).
- Sometimes after waking up at night or in the morning I have a fever.
- A constant feeling of squeezing and burning in the region of the left chest, in a sitting or reclining position, sometimes sharply intensifies for a second, as if an attack. It disappears either with gurgling in the stomach or with complacency. I also often experience pulling-burning sensations in the region of the heart from the chest to the armpit, but more often on the right.

- I can almost always hear my pulse. I stop hearing when I manage to get distracted.
- The pressure is increased in the region of 130/70, sometimes it rises to 138, and sometimes drops below 130.
- In the toilet, by and large, it turns out to go only in the morning after sleep.
- Lost 4 kg.

What made me write to you? Today I woke up and felt a shiver in my left chest, as if my heart was beating twice as fast. The temperature never dropped overnight. Yesterday I felt a strong burning sensation in the center of the abdomen for about an hour, and then a little under the navel. At the same time, I never experienced attacks of suffocation, except for a slight lack of air, as with excitement.

I apologize for such a long story. I'm very worried. The most disturbing thing is the temperature, slight fever and weakness in the late afternoon. I passed the general tests - the result will be only on Monday, I need to somehow hold out and not go crazy. I am very afraid of angina pectoris, heart attack and stroke - I lost a distant relative last year (a blood clot broke off from him). I try to reassure myself that I'm young and thin. I have been training with dumbbells and barbells regularly for 5 years. I even drink tea and coffee without sugar, but these arguments are not enough. I hope that everything I have described above lies in my head.
And finally. I read your articles and remembered that twice in my life I almost lost consciousness in the subway and train, returning from the institute. It happened in early spring. Then weakness set in. I just sat down and, in two minutes, everything passed. Maybe it was the background?
I ask for at least some help, hoping for your experience. Since the examinations will not be completed in one day, and the therapist sees a healthy person in me, I continue to worry.

Answer to the question:

Panic anxiety disorder.

In short, you are in a swamp of panic and fear. You can pull yourself out of it only by independent work to change your attitude towards life and death. Great attention to one's own health and contemplation of the internal state only aggravates the situation. You yourself say that everything passes when you manage to forget and calm down. From here the answer is obvious. Everything that happens to you is the result of an overexcitation of the nervous system. The root of the problem lies in the terrible thoughts with which you are trying to intimidate yourself, and the brain is trying in this way to protect the body. If you carefully read the article, then you will understand what is happening to you. Be sure to do an analysis for thyroid hormones to rule out violations on her part.

Your therapist is right - you are a completely healthy person, the whole problem is in your head and fear. A slightly elevated temperature during exercise is one of the leading symptoms in VVD. Consult a psychotherapist and begin treatment with sedative medications. You will be very surprised when, after the start of treatment, the temperature begins to return to normal and the pain in the heart and abdomen disappears. But for this you need to come to terms with fears and stop scaring yourself with terrible thoughts about the future. Live for today!

Read the section "All about VVD" and act.

Unfortunately, our modern life cannot be imagined without stress and worries - almost every day we are faced with situations that make us nervous, which, of course, cannot but affect our health. After all, everyone has heard the saying that all diseases are from nerves? And it is difficult to disagree with this statement, because all the stresses and experiences we have experienced really have a negative impact on our health. So, for example, almost every one of us during the next stressful situation experienced such a symptom as pain in the heart area. Why does this pain syndrome occur? And how dangerous is it? In this article, we will answer all these questions for you.

Why does the heart hurt when you are nervous: reasons

We all know that pain in the region of the heart is a very dangerous phenomenon, which, having arisen, always plunges anyone who has encountered it into a panic. As a rule, at the slightest pain sensation in this area, we begin to get nervous, thereby only aggravating our situation. But what if everything happens exactly the opposite? What to do in a situation if, as a result of nervous experiences, the heart began to hurt? It is this question that specialists often hear from their patients, who, in turn, are in a hurry to reassure their wards, because, as it turns out, the resulting pain syndrome most often has nothing to do with the heart. Then what is it? Next, we will answer this question for you.

So, as we have already said, chest pain that occurs during nervous experiences does not indicate the presence of any problems with our most vital organ, and we mistake this pain syndrome for pain in the heart. In fact, such pain sensations indicate a completely different disease, namely, vegetovascular dystonia, which, in turn, also poses a certain threat to health. Next, we will tell you what the essence of this disease is.

So, to put it more simply, the work of our heart and all other organs in particular, as well as the work of blood vessels, is “monitored” by a special group of nerves, which is called autonomic. It is thanks to the autonomic nerves that our body is reliably, and most importantly, instantly informed about changes in pressure, humidity, temperature and other external factors. In addition, our autonomic nervous system controls our body temperature, metabolism, and even our sleep. If we summarize all of the above, we can say that it is thanks to our vegetative system that our body responds correctly and adequately to all internal and external factors. In order to make it all more clear, the following argument can be made: for example, when we are languishing from the heat, it is the autonomic nervous system that transmits a signal to our body, as a result of which our sweat glands begin to work in an enhanced mode, and our body cools down. .

In the event that there are any malfunctions in the operation of this system, then in this situation such a diagnosis arises as vegetovascular dystonia. Of course, one can ask the following question - how to understand that this disease is already taking place? Next, we will give you a list of those factors, the presence of which indicates that you are suffering from vegetovascular dystonia:

Your body temperature is always slightly either lowered or vice versa - increased;

You have become weather-sensitive: during a change in the weather you begin to have headaches;

For no reason you are thrown either into the cold or into the heat;

Your blood pressure often changes, which causes weakness and fatigue;

You have problems with sleep, and in the morning you feel a feeling of weakness;

Periodically there are sharp pains in the region of the heart;

There is a general weakness, as a result of which a pre-fainting state may appear.

Quite often in patients with this disease there are attacks of vegetovascular dystonia, which in turn can be conditionally divided into two types.

So, for example, in the first case, the patient's blood pressure and body temperature rise, the face becomes pale, and the pupils dilate. At the same time, he is also very thirsty and trembling. By the way, such a panic attack does not go away immediately and can last for several hours.

In the second case, the patient's pressure, on the contrary, decreases, while the heartbeat slows down and it tends to sleep. As a rule, this type of attack passes quickly enough.

However, vegetovascular dystonia is not the only cause of chest pain during nervous experiences and stress. For example, there are a number of diseases that can cause pain in the heart due to nervous experiences. And such ailments include the following diseases of our nervous system - neurosis, depression, neurasthenia and psychasthenia. Intercostal neuralgia, myositis of the intercostal muscles and neuritis of the intercostal nerves can also cause pain in the region of the heart at times of various experiences.

What to do if your heart hurts in a stressful situation

Of course, we all know that jokes are bad with the heart, which is why if any concerns arise in this area, it is necessary to contact a cardiologist as soon as possible to identify the diagnosis and prescribe adequate treatment. However, in some cases, we simply do not have such an opportunity, and it is urgent to provide any assistance to the victim. Next, we will describe the order of all necessary actions in case of pain in the heart during nervous experiences.

Most of us know that if any kind of heart pain occurs, it is necessary to take a drug such as nitroglycerin, however, in fact, this medicine can only be used if you know the true reason why you are worried about the pain in the heart area. Few people know, but in fact this drug can be used for a narrowly limited number of heart diseases, and that this remedy can cause a violation of the full functioning of the nervous system. That is why, without the instructions of your doctor, taking nitroglycerin is strictly prohibited.

If pain occurs in the region of the heart, the most correct action will be to provide the patient with maximum peace and quiet. It is also necessary to remove bright light and all possible noise. The best option is to put the patient to bed in a room with subdued light; another important condition is to give access to fresh air, that is, it is also recommended to open the window in the room.

As a rule, with pain in the heart, we immediately begin to panic, which is why our emotional background becomes more excitable and why the pain only becomes more intense. In order to relieve the excitability of the patient, he needs to be given some kind of sedative, which may be suitable for the following drugs: corvalol, validol, valocordin, motherwort tincture, valerian or peony tincture. If none of the above is at hand, then as an alternative, you can take one tablet of analgin or one tablet of acetylsalicylic acid, which must be washed down with plenty of cold water. If all of the above measures do not bring relief, it is necessary to urgently call an ambulance.

The nervous system is linked to heart disease like no other. The thing is that the human heart is very sensitive to various emotional fluctuations. The strength of the heartbeat and its frequency is directly related to the sad and joyful moments of our lives. Emotional changes in both the heart and blood vessels are the effect of our nervous system on them.

But it happens that changes in cardiac reactions do not depend on our sensations. The fact is that the brain centers with the nervous apparatus of a well-functioning heart can adapt to the rhythm of heart contractions and strength, often changing conditions of the human body. All information about the state of the body is processed by nerve centers and only after that they change the rhythm of heart contractions.

There is no doubt that heart disease on a nervous basis, lead to constant physical and emotional overload. And in order to restore the cardiovascular system, you need both positive emotions and a well-organized daily routine.

You need to take care of your health from a young age, and not when something serious happens. For example, people who smoke, knowing full well that cigarettes kill them from the inside, give up this addiction only after a myocardial infarction.

Conflict situations existing in work collectives, improper organization of work and rest leads to an overstrain of the nervous system. That is why various heart diseases arise on nervous grounds: hypertensive and coronary heart disease, changes in heart rhythm, and others.

The nervous system controls the heart and blood vessels very competently. But it is very difficult to determine the defeat of these connections in time. However, in the early stages of the disease, the nervous system, the sympathetic, is excited. In order for her to return to normal, special medicines are drunk. Studies have shown that after 35 years, healthy people have a deficiency of this sympathetic nerve plexus located in the heart, and in sick people this shortage doubles. Which leads to a decrease in the properties of the nervous system and the adaptation of the work of the heart to different everyday conditions. Specialists then need to identify at what moments on the heart it is necessary to reduce the nervous influence, and in what moments to activate and restore nerve connections.

An important conclusion was made by Academician Myasnikov A.L. where he argued the commonality of the formation of hypertension and atherosclerosis. He assured that the first reason for their formation could be an overstrained nervous system. With tension in excess of the nervous sympathetic system, these diseases are formed. This process also involves peripheral nodes, the adrenal gland (adrenaline for the body), and the nerve center. The kidneys, which are well supplied with sympathetic plexuses, also participate in this process.

Hypertension occurs not only due to nervous overexcitation. With poor blood circulation, the kidneys are released into the blood - renin, which leads to vasoconstriction.

Most often, hypertension occurs in people of those professions who work in noisy workshops or drive cars, that is, those who have increased responsibility and make quick decisions in some situations.

The human body is a complex thing, so it is impossible to find one cause of hypertension, it is, of course, a complex of several regulatory systems that affect the functioning of the heart and vascular tone.

Another nervous disease is atherosclerosis. It all starts with the shell of the blood vessels, into which, although the nerve plexuses do not penetrate, but periodically acting on them, substances released from these same nerve plexuses.

According to the latest theory, the first signs of atherosclerosis is the appearance of fatty spots (lipid). Experiments show that the nervous system affects the metabolism of lipids and cholesterol in the blood. For example, the employees who compiled the report had an increased emotional tone, excessive mental work stress increases cholesterol in a person's blood. Which leads to atherosclerotic changes in the vessels.

Studies have shown that when taking drugs that stimulate the nervous system, cholesterol in the blood rises, and if vice versa, it decreases. It follows that the state of the nervous system depends on the amount of cholesterol in the blood.

The following, heart disease, myocardial infarction - a blockage of a blood vessel occurs in the heart, as a result of which the muscle in the heart is affected.

Diagnosis - angina pectoris is made by a specialist in cases where an attack of narrowing of the lumen of the heart vessels occurs for a long time. Attacks are strong and painful in nature, which forces specialists to take serious steps to eliminate this pain and return blood circulation to the heart muscle. Very often, pain occurs not only in the region of the heart, but also in the region of the left shoulder blade and left arm.

Due to impaired blood circulation in the heart muscle, as well as due to the altered state of the nervous apparatus, myocardial infarction and angina pectoris occur.

Myocardial infarction happens without pain, but the reasons for this have not yet been identified. There is an assumption that in some cases, painful sensations are not very perceived by the nerve centers of the brain. It may also indicate changes in the intracardiac nervous system. In case of a heart attack, signaling receptors refuse to fulfill their role, which should notify the body of abnormalities that have appeared in cells and tissues, so there are no painful sensations. Cardiologists consider myocardial infarction as a prolonged nervous stress. And neuropathologists assure that in people (every third) with a heart attack, a brain storm occurs, due to which there is a strong focus of irritation of the nerve heart plexuses. Changes occur in all organs of our body, since everything is interconnected, and the “wires” of the nervous system connect all these cells. Take care of your nerves.

Autonomic dysfunction (vegetative-vascular dystonia)

What it is?

Vegetative-vascular dystonia (VVD, it is also neurocirculatory dystonia, NCD) is an obsolete name for autonomic dysfunction that is characteristic only of domestic medicine. This syndrome includes disorders of vegetative (related to the work of internal organs) functions of various origins and manifestations, caused by a disorder in their nervous regulation.

Why does this happen?

This development of events is facilitated by the initial imperfection of autonomic regulation, socio-cultural factors, psychological traits (especially alexithymia - the inability to verbally express one's emotional experiences). Concomitant depression, hysteria, emotional instability, anxiety, hypochondria, tobacco smoking, and alcohol abuse can further worsen the situation.

What is manifested?

Manifestations of autonomic dysfunction can affect a variety of organs and systems, individually or together. Below are the most common of these syndromes.

1. Cardiovascular (cardiovascular) syndrome. It can be manifested by cardiac arrhythmias (tachycardia, bradycardia, extrasystole), inconstancy of blood pressure, vascular reactions (pallor or "marbling" of the skin, hot flashes, chilliness of the hands and feet). Often there is a cardialgic syndrome - aching, stabbing or throbbing pains or hard-to-describe discomfort in the region of the heart, which, unlike angina pectoris, are not associated with physical activity and do not go away when taking nitroglycerin.

2. Hyperventilation syndrome. It is manifested by rapid breathing, a feeling of lack of air, retention of incompleteness or difficulty in inhaling. In this case, the blood loses too much carbon dioxide, which leads to its alkalization and depression of the respiratory center. As a result, muscle spasms, sensory disturbances in the perioral region, hands and feet, dizziness develop.

3. irritable bowel syndrome. It is manifested by spastic and aching pains in the lower abdomen, frequent urge to defecate, bloating, stool instability. Other disorders of the digestive tract may include anorexia, nausea and vomiting, dysphagia (impaired swallowing), pain and discomfort in the stomach - all this in the absence of an organic disease (for example, stomach ulcers).

4. Sweating disorder. As a rule, it occurs in the form of hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating) more often on the palms and soles.

5. cystalgia- frequent painful urination without signs of urinary system disease and changes in the urine.

6. sexual disorders. Manifested by erectile dysfunction and ejaculation in men, vaginismus and anorgasmia in women. In this case, libido (sexual desire) can be preserved or reduced.

7. Violation of thermoregulation. It is expressed in a persistent slight increase in temperature, chills. Moreover, the elevated temperature is easily tolerated, sometimes higher in the first half of the day, it can be increased asymmetrically in the armpits. It occurs predominantly in childhood.

Diagnosis and treatment

First of all, it is necessary to exclude an organic disease of the corresponding system with the help of a specialized specialist and the studies assigned to him. Further diagnostic search and treatment is carried out by a psychoneurologist, who helps to work out the psychological material that led to the development of autonomic dysfunction. At the same time, there should not be any embarrassment here - it is important to understand that these unpleasant manifestations can and should be got rid of. Remember the statistics at the beginning of this article - it is unlikely that the majority of the population is "abnormal". Moreover, neurosis is not schizophrenia and diseases similar to it in severity, which are under the jurisdiction of psychiatrists.

To maintain the success of treatment and prevention of autonomic dysfunction, it is possible to recommend training in breathing exercises, mastering one of the relaxation techniques (yoga, qigong, etc. - to your taste), quit smoking and regular alcohol intake. And, of course, in everyday life, one should not forget about alternating work with walks, rest and communication with people of interest to you.

Nervous heart disease

Many of the patient's sensations, such as painful palpitations, a feeling of pain and pressure in the region of the heart, as well as symptoms such as accelerated heart rate, some arrhythmias, are due to organic heart diseases (myocardial damage or heart defects). However, discomfort and arrhythmia can also occur when the most thorough examination reveals neither heart disease nor myocardial damage. Such heart diseases are called functional (or nervous) heart diseases. They can arise from various reasons.

Easily excitable people, even in the presence of a completely healthy heart, for one reason or another (unpleasant conversation, excitement, etc.) experience palpitations, stabbing pains in the region of the heart, interruptions of the heart. Such people, along with general excitability, also have an increased excitability of the heart: a slight physical exertion is enough for their pulse to increase to 120 or more beats per minute. Under the influence of coffee, tea or alcohol, they experience an increase in heart rate, a painful sensation in the region of the heart, palpitations and sometimes interruptions. It should be noted that sometimes stenosis of the left atrioventricular orifice is initially manifested only by palpitations. Patients with congenital hyperexcitability of the heart often have a fragile physique; long, narrow chest, long neck, heart sometimes smaller than usual, the so-called "drip heart" (asthenic constitution).

Finally, functional disorders of the heart can occur as a result of diseases of other organs. Hyperexcitability of the heart, tachycardia, palpitations are observed with increased activity of the thyroid gland (with Graves' disease), with diseases of the female genital organs, during menopause, with uterine fibroids, after ovarian extirpation, and often in violation of normal digestion, especially with bloating of the stomach. Quite often, these functional disorders of cardiac activity occur as a result of smoking abuse, in which there are not only palpitations, but sometimes significant pain in the region of the heart.

Treatment of functional disorders of cardiac activity consists, firstly, in the elimination of the producing cause (prohibition of smoking, alcohol, treatment of thyroid diseases, diseases of the female genital organs, digestive organs); secondly, care should be taken to strengthen the nervous system: provide the patient with sufficient rest (for example, in a rest home) with hydrotherapy, therapeutic exercises, prescribe enhanced and rational nutrition.

With tachycardia and palpitations, the application of cold to the region of the heart (a bladder with cold water or ice) several times a day works symptomatically well. Bromides and valerian preparations are prescribed.