Holiday Heartburn Or Heart Attack? Recognizing the Difference Could Save Your Life

	Tweet

You know the drill: join the family for feasting on a high-fat, carbohydrate-filled meal followed by a generous slice of pumpkin pie. Regret—brought on by the growing storm in your stomach—begins before you even make your way to the couch.

While some people sleep off their heartburn, others are roused by alarming symptoms. The pain in their chest – is it heartburn or heart attack? The symptoms are similar, but the health consequences differ dramatically.

“We see people in the Emergency Room who think they are only having severe heartburn or experiencing the flu when they are actually having a heart attack,” said Nick Zenarosa, M.D., emergency medicine physician on the medical staff at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas.

If you think you are experiencing heartburn, Dr. Zenarosa recommends watching for the following symptoms which are not typical of heartburn and could indicate a heart attack:

- Breaking into a cold sweat
- Pain moving from the chest into the jaw, shoulder or arms
- Increased pain when you exert yourself
- Rapid onset of fatigue
- Shortness of breath
- Turning pale
- Slow or no response of symptoms to antacids
- Nausea and possible vomiting

Keep in mind that the signs of a heart attack can be subtle, particularly in women. If you are experiencing any of these signs, coupled with chest pain and/or pain that radiates through your jaw or down your arm, be sure to go to an Emergency Room.

Time is of essence when a person is having a heart attack. According to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, the sooner clot-busting drugs and other artery-opening treatments are started, the more good they will do, and the greater the chances are for survival and a full recovery.

Source: Baylor Health Care System

RELATED STORIES:
Scientists turn skin cells into beating heart muscle   Too many people get angioplasties, study suggests   New Blood Thinner May Lower Chances of Clots in High-Risk Heart Patients: FDA   Heart Damage After Chemo Linked to Stress in Cardiac Cells   What’s good or bad for the heart, may be the same for the brain   Warfarin in Heart Failure   Increased Sudden Cardiac Death Rate Among HIV Patients   Air pollution level changes in Beijing linked with biomarkers of cardiovascular disease   Lack of basic evidence hampering prevention of sudden heart attacks in sport   Blacks Less Likely to Get Help on Scene After Cardiac Arrest: Study   Heart attack patients taken to PCI hospitals first treated faster   Cameron Health’s under-skin ICD safe, effective

Comments

[ + Post Your Own ]

Now you're in the public comment zone. What follows is not Armenian Medical Network's stuff; it comes from other people and we don't vouch for it. A reminder: By using this Web site you agree to accept our Terms of Service. Click here to read the Rules of Engagement.

There are no comments for this entry yet. [ + Comment here + ]