Referred pain?

Can someone confirm something that has been sort of puzzling me lately? I have heard many times that Angina is "the heart complaining that it is not getting enough Oxygen". Now, the reasons for that are obvious, however I have never really understood why this is felt as pain in other parts of the body, arms, jaw back and so on. I had thought it was because other parts of the body were also suffering from a lack of Oxygen due to the heart "struggling" - is this the case? For me, my right arm in particular was badly affected, and my wife commented it felt cold and dead during one of the worst bouts, it certainly felt very numb. I have now read that these feelings are in fact "referred pain", due to the heart sending pain signals to the same part of the brain as the parts the brain believes are affected? I am now a bit confused and any explanation from someone in the know would be much appreciated!

[Nathan53]

If you look up referred pain in heart attack, wikipedia explains that the cardiac sensory pain fibers follow the pattern to the spinal cord as pain fibers in the thorax and abdomen. It is all to do with the Central Nervous System (CNS). I am not sure I have summarised that very well but that is my understanding and that is why some people experience different symptoms when having a heart attack. I was one of those people who thought I was having some sort of stomach problem - I think the key is not to ignore other symptoms which are also usually present like shortness of breath for example

[Kristin1812 Heart Star]

My GP explained that the angina pains, pins and needles, numbness etc were due to reduced peripheral blood flow as the heart and brain took precedence, when the heart was struggling. Not sure why this effects mainly the left side.

When exchanging experiences about severe angina and HAs with paramedics and heart patients, many (myself included) have describe a feeling of ‘overwhelming doom’ and being unable to hardly move a muscle, or talk, even though their thoughts are fairly clear.

I do wonder if this is, again, the blood flow centering on brain and heart, and restricting flow to less ‘vital’ organs?

These are personal observations, is there any research knowledge out there?

[Hidden in reply to Kristin1812]

That makes more sense to me. I could get the referred pain bit, but that doesn't explain why my arm went numb and was actually cold - I have assumed it was reduced blood flow to it.