Can Constipation Cause Chest Pain?

A doctor gets a patient that comes with a chest pain and frequent sweats. The patient says that he’s sure that he’s having a heart attack. However, upon examination the doctor just diagnose that patient with a gastric issues that led to feeling of burden in chest and making the patient believe that he is having a heart condition. Well, this can be a pretty common confusion given the location of stomach and heart are pretty close. But what if someone told you that you may feel chest pain when you have constipation? It’s confusing right? Let us get to know what happens during constipation and how the symptoms lead to chest pain.

Let us first understand the chest pain. Chest pain is the feeling of discomfort that we feel in the area where rib cage is present. Being the lay man, the person might think that this area is close to heart so there must be a heart issue lying there. But the reality is far more different. According to human anatomy, several organs are located inside the rib cage, causing certain pains in the area while Incase of any clinical problem.

When we talk about constipation, we should know that the term is used when a person is unable to pass normal stool and hardened stool needs to be eliminated with the help of an external source. This might cause pain, discomfort, and even bleeding from the rectum. So, how does it lead to chest pain overall? Let us look into that for deep understanding.

Constipation is related to gastrointestinal tract. Usually gastrointestinal motility or GI motility decides the fate of the stool that we pass. GI motility is the ability of gastrointestinal tract to contract and relax. If the GI motility increases abnormally, we can get a patient of diarrhea. If the GI motility decreases abnormally, the patient gets constipation complaints. And, if GI motility works in optimum condition, normal results are observed. GI motility disturbance can be observed from several areas of gastrointestinal tract. This disturbance can also be caused by gas pains and these pains also travel through the whole gastrointestinal tract.

So, if your GI motility is disturbed by gas pain and it may lead to constipation, then you’re most likely to observe chest pain during this condition. But, chest pain is not considered the main symptom for constipation given that it may rise in specified occasion. That was all about addressing chest pain during constipation. Hope this helped.

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