It's a sign that your heart isn't getting the blood it needs, most likely because fatty plaque has built up in the arteries that feed your heart and has narrowed them to a threatening tightness. Not everyone with heart disease has angina, however. Some people don't have chest pain until they have a heart attack. Even during a heart attack, however, not everyone has the same symptoms. If you think you may be having a heart attack, call 911, says Dr. Pashkow.
Heart attack requires immediate attention.
Though we rarely have symptoms before midlife, plaque starts building up in our arteries during youth. Angina, or chest pain, may be the first warning that plaque has built up to the point that it is shutting off blood flow to your heart. Or you might not experience angina at all. Researchers used to think that most heart attacks were the result of a gradual buildup of plaque that eventually sealed off blood flow to the heart. But more recent studies find the vast majority of heart attacks happen long before then, when plaque that only partially blocks an artery ruptures and triggers the formation of a blood clot that shuts off blood flow.