The nurse's best response to a patient who reports chest pain after fearing someone is breaking into the house is which statement?

The nurse's best response to a patient who reports chest pain after fearing someone is breaking into the house is which statement?

• A. "Fear causes an increase of the body's heart rate and blood pressure, which can place additional stress on your damaged heart and cause chest pain."
• B. "Fear causes the parasympathetic system to use all available adrenaline, leaving you so tired that you developed chest pain."
• C. "The decrease in the need for oxygen during the fight-or-flight response experienced with fear is most likely the reason that you developed chest pain."
• D. "Fear causes an increase in glucose levels, which limits blood flow and causes chest pain."

Answer: (A)

Fear activates the sympathetic “fight-or-flight” response, releasing catecholamines that raise heart rate and blood pressure and increase the heart’s workload. For someone with a damaged heart, this extra stress can provoke chest pain because the heart needs more oxygen than is being supplied. This explanation directly links the symptom to a physiological process the patient is experiencing, which helps validate what they’re feeling and guides appropriate nursing assessment and reassurance. The other statements misstate how the autonomic nervous system works or how the body balances oxygen supply and demand during fear (for example, the parasympathetic system doesn’t unleash adrenaline, fight-or-flight increases oxygen demand, and chest pain in this context isn’t due to a decrease in oxygen need or a simple glucose effect).

Fear activates the sympathetic “fight-or-flight” response, releasing catecholamines that raise heart rate and blood pressure and increase the heart’s workload. For someone with a damaged heart, this extra stress can provoke chest pain because the heart needs more oxygen than is being supplied. This explanation directly links the symptom to a physiological process the patient is experiencing, which helps validate what they’re feeling and guides appropriate nursing assessment and reassurance. The other statements misstate how the autonomic nervous system works or how the body balances oxygen supply and demand during fear (for example, the parasympathetic system doesn’t unleash adrenaline, fight-or-flight increases oxygen demand, and chest pain in this context isn’t due to a decrease in oxygen need or a simple glucose effect).