Do you have chest tightness and pain at night? And your first thought is maybe you are having a heart attack. It may be serious, but stop right there. There are many other less serious conditions than heart attack, such as: Gastrointestinal, Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), Anxiety and stress, Gallstones, Acid Reflux and many others that could be caused by one of the many conditions that are less serious. Chest tightness at night is one of the most frequently mentioned reasons for visiting the hospital’s emergency rooms. It could be experienced as a sharp painful ache or a mild pain.
Causes Of Chest Tight And Pain At Night
The pain in your chest could be caused by medical conditions that are present in your chest and can get worse when you sleep. There 4 are the main reasons for chest tightness and shortern of breath at night that can occur while you are sleeping includes:
1. Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)
Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease, commonly called GERD, is a disease which occurs when your stomach acid is frequently flowing through the tube that connects your stomach and mouth (esophagus). This condition may cause acid indigestion or heartburn. According to the doctors, this may be treated by a diet and a change in lifestyle, but most people need surgery or proper medication to cure this disease.
Causes of GERD
“Gastroesophageal” is a term used to describe the stomach and the esophagus, while Reflux is the flow back or return process. Many people suffer from acid Reflux occasionally, but GERD is also known as mild acid reflux that happens more than twice per week and moderate-to-severe acid reflux that occurs at least every other week. Some reasons which may cause you GERD at night
- Heartburn can cause after eating and can be mild at night.
- The sour liquid or Foods that are reabsorbed.
- Pain in chest
- Lump’s sensation in throat
- Difficult to move food or liquid from mouth to stomach – Difficulty in swallowing
GERD Treatment: Medication
You can treat your GERD by changing your lifestyle and diet plan. Most of the patients prefer to give a shot to surgery as they are not satisfied with the medication and changing their diet plan etc. But it is better to visit your doctor on time.
2. Acid Reflux
Acid Reflux and GERD refers to the same condition. While Acid Reflux can be caused by heartburns or burning sensation in the chest, which may cause Tightness in the chest and throat at night, this may be worse while you are sleeping this may disturb your sleeping schedule.
Causes of Acid Reflux
Common reasons for having acid reflux while sleeping:
- Acid reflux is when your diaphragm is not helping to keep acid in your stomach, while hiatal hernia can move that acid to your esophagus, this may cause you to have Acid Reflux.
- Laying down right after eating large meals.
- Drinking beverages
- Being pregnant
- Obese and overweight
- Smoking
Acid Reflux Treatment: Medication
- Don’t sleep right after eating large meals.
- Quit smoking
- Don’t drink beverages, this may cause sending the acid into the esophagus.
- Moving too fast or doing a workout after eating or drinking may cause acid reflux.
Even After changing your lifestyle and habits, if you’re not getting good results, you must visit your doctor.
3. Gallstone
Gallstones are calcified digestible fluids that may form inside the gallbladder, the gallbladder is an organ which is beneath your liver, Gallstones can be as small as sand and as big as golf balls, gallstones can be one at a time or can be many it depends.
Gallstone patients need to have surgery to remove those gallstones from their gallbladder. Its symptoms can be noticeable within 5 years.
Symptoms of Gallstones
Gallstones can cause pain in the centre of your stomach and abdomen upper right area. The pain can occur at any time due to eating fast food, which is high in fats. Gallbladder pain can be severe and can be felt at any time which can last for a few hours.
- Sudden pain in your upper abdomen
- Fast heartbeat
- Yellow skin and white eyes (jaundice)
- Itchiness of skin
- Having diarrhea
- a loss of appetite
- Having pain in your right shoulder
Gallstone Treatment: Medication
If you have small stones you don’t require any treatment or medication, they are able to pass through from your body on their own.
- Try not to skip your meals, try to maintain your meal routine skipping meals can cause a higher risk for gallstones.
- If you are trying to lose weight do it slowly, fast weight loss can increase high risk of gallstones.
Most people require gallbladder to take out from their body if they have gallstones, you can digest food without gallbladder. But you have to follow your doctor’s approach.
There are 2 surgeries that can be done to remove your gallbladder.
One is Laparoscopic cholecystectomy and the other is Open cholecystectomy.
If you have any other medical issues, your doctor would prefer to give medication instead of surgery.
4. Anxiety
Anxiety is a common human emotion that can cause fear, nervousness and feeling of danger or panic attacks. Most commonly, anxiety occurs at night. Many people face chest tightness anxiety, this may occur due to an irregular sleeping schedule and many other things which can be a reason for anxiety attacks at night.
Symptoms of Anxiety
Symptoms of anxiety at night includes:
- Nervousness, stressing, worrying about something, feeling of danger.
- The problem of gastrointestinal.
- Proper eating schedule
- Proper sleeping schedule
Anxiety Treatment: Medication
You can try some activities to get yourself free from technology for some time.
- Reading books
- Exercise or do yoga
- Taking a bath
- Getting involved in social activities to be more active in your community
- Talking with friends or someone you can share your thoughts with, let them help you.
How to relieve Chest tightness using home remedies
It is not easy to say whether your condition is serious or not. Everyone should have to consult their doctors first before doing anything by themselves, but If you are tired of visiting doctors and don’t want to do medications and know what is your exact issue than, for chest tightness and shortern of breath at night, some home remedies that can be helpful and easy to make for you during your difficult time.
To cure Tightness in chesthere are top remedies that can help you:
- Almond milk or eating almonds can help tightness in chest
- Drinking hot drinks can help boost your digestion.
- Acid reflux can be prevented by drinking apple cider vinegar before and after a meal.
Conclusion
If you face chest tightness and shortern of breath at night regularly, you must consult your doctor as soon as possible. Although chest tightness or pain have different reasons, when you consult your doctor about the issue they will guide and examine you to figure out the root cause of your issue.