It would be safe to say that a good majority of the general public does not fully understand the concept of angina, which is the sensation of pain in the chest that is associated with heart problems. The term angina was derived from the Greek word "ankhein," to choke. The term angina was first described by William Herberden in 1768 to describe a symptom of substernal chest discomfort, usually associated with some form of exertion or activity. However, it was not until 1799, when Caleb Parry defined the term as an insufficient supply of oxygen to the heart, which results in the sensation of pain. The pain is usually felt in the chest area, under the sternum, and, typically, the cardinal sign of chest pain is Levine's Sign, demonstrated when someone with chest pain holds a fist to the chest wall. This is, by the way, a universal sign of chest pain, much like when one signifies choking when holding two hands around the throat.
Like most areas of medicine, there are different forms of this disease or problem; angina is the classic term, which, as described above, usually presents when someone is exerting himself or herself; the classic example would be someone who is shoveling snow. With a history of some form of heart disease, although the person may or may not be aware of it, during the exertion, and for many different reason, the heart does not receive a sufficient amount of oxygen. The result is the sensation of pain. The pain is a warning sign of possible "impending doom," in that when the heart does not have enough oxygen, parts of the muscle (the heart) can actually die. During this period, commonly referred to a "heart attack," or a Myocardial Infarction, there is a high probability of death; but it all depends on a number of factors, one of which is how long it will take to get to a hospital.
Stable or exertional angina is that which was previously described, when a person experiences the chest pain, but only during increased activity. Unstable angina, on the other hand, is more serious in that it can occur at any time, even, for example, when lying on a bed or sitting in a chair. And then there is a type of angina that comes without a warning sign, called "silent angina," which sometimes occurs in diabetics. There are no warning signs as there is no pain. This is typical in diabetes because the disease (diabetes) is often associated with "neuropathy," which means that there is a loss of sensation in certain areas of the body. Silent angina can also occur in other diseases and it is not limited to only diabetics.
