Chest pain or chest Tightness
Chest pain in emphysema is often reported as a dull pain or sharp pain. However, this pain can be described as a feeling of chest tightness or crushing pain. This pain can often be referred to other areas of the body such as the neck, the jaw, back, or arms. It is often seen that this pain is worsened when the patient coughs or takes a deep breath.
However, chest pain can present in other disease conditions related to the lungs and the heart. Conditions such as aortic dissection, pericarditis, angina, pulmonary embolism, etc also present with chest pain. The physician would ask some pertinent questions to arrive at the root cause of your problem. [1]
Shortness of breath markedly on exertion
This condition is known as Dyspnea in the medical literature. It is often described as a state of not being able to take in enough air. It is quite normal to feel short of breath when you exert yourself heavily. However, in the case of emphysema, this shortness of breath comes with only little exertion. In this case, it is pathological.