What is Angina?

Heart disease has you in its grip and it's squeezing. That's what a bout of angina feels like: A pressure like pain in your chest, perhaps flaring to your left shoulder blade and arm, neck, jaws, or back. It feels a lot like you're having a heart attack.

The pain tends to be more constant for men, while women may experience chest discomfort that comes and goes or have shortness of breath. Angina occurs when the heart muscle temporarily doesn't get enough blood and oxygen. It's usually triggered by emotional stress, extreme temperatures, heavy meals, alcohol, cigarette smoking, or physical exertion, all of which increase the heart's demand for oxygen.

Angina is a potentially life-threatening condition that always needs to be treated by a physician. At the very least, you may need to take nitroglycerin (Nrtrolingual) or other prescription drugs. For an angina attack, the usual recommendation is to place one tablet of nitroglycerin under the tongue every 5 minutes until the pain is gone, taking up to a maximum of three tablets. If the pain is severe when it begins or continues after taking three tablets (or more than 15 minutes), have someone take you to the nearest hospital.

Doctors who specialize in natural medicine, however, be­lieve that with natural remedies, it's often possible to gradually reduce your reliance on medications or, in some cases, to elim­inate angina entirely. That's why they recommend seeing a nu­tritionally oriented doctor to treat angina. When angina persists, many alternative doctors recommend a treatment called EDTA chelation therapy, which they say is safer, less expensive, and much more effective (because it may cure the problem) than coronary bypass surgery or other inva­sive cardiac procedures.

EDTA chelation therapy consists of a series of intravenous treatments with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, an amino acid­like molecule that binds with and removes excess metals from the arteries.This may be important, says Michael Janson, M.D., consultant physician at Path to Health in Burlington, Massa­chusetts, because these metals are thought to trigger the for­mation of free radicals, unstable oxygen molecules that play a role in coronary artery disease. Chelation treatments are administered two or three times a week and usually last 3 hours, with most patients receiving a total of 25 to 40 treat­ments. Be sure that the doctor you choose has experience in using chelation therapy.

The oxygen supply is limited, however, when the arteries lead­ing to the heart are narrowed by buildups of plaque, the sub­stance that signals heart disease. The result is pain, to 20 minutes of scary discomfort, as if a heart attack were sending you a telegram from the future. What can you do to treat Angina naturally? There are a number of treatments available.