Acid Reflux vs. Heart Attack

Doug627

Doug627

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I was experiencing acid reflux earlier this month. One day at work, it got to the point that I couldn't control it with antacids. I made an appointment with my family doctor. He sent me to a cardiologist. I had a full cardiac work up this past Tuesday. I had suffered a heart attack and now have damage to my left ventricle. If the antacid doesn't work quickly, think again and get it checked out.
 
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Good info! My cardiologist told me that if the pain is between nipples and nostrils front or back to get to the ER. My pain was presenting in my jaw.

I had angina so bad one night that I checked into the ER. Six hours later they said I hadn't had a heart attack so they treated me for GERD.

Two weeks later, I had a heart attack.
 
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I had a weird weakness all over and was sweating the worst I had ever sweated. Couldn’t even sit up and sweating all through my underwear. Laid on the bed until it seemed to pass somewhat. Happened to be at my Dr. Office the next day or so. Described it to him. He asked why I didn’t go to the ER and I told him I thought I had just gotten overheated in the shower. He wanted to do an EKG, then he said I had had a heart attack and sent me on to a larger hospital immediately. I had a triple bypass and was there for about ten days. I was amazed, because there was no pain when it occurred. But after laying in bed so long and being weak from the operation, I felt like I had to learn to walk again. My balance has never been the same. They did an MRI and told me that I had a stroke while being operated on in an area where balance could be affected. Other than that, the worst thing about it was waking up being on a ventilator with what felt like a shovel handle down my throat. And some of the drugs they gave me while there made me hallucinate. I definitely am not a candidate for mind altering drugs. Like a firm grip on reality as much as possible.

Bob


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
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I was lucky. Back in May 1997 I was at the office when all of a sudden I was having chest pains. In another post I outlined the details about the situation I was in so I won't repeat them here. One of the bosses had a father who had a heart attack at a relatively young age, so she took charge and ordered someone to call an ambulance for me. I was carried out on a stretcher and taken to the emergency room. The only thing that kept me from flipping out was thinking that I had an EKG the week before and no problems showed up. Luckily it was an acid reflux but the ER doctor told me to stay home from work the next day. I was not admitted to the hospital but my aunt (a nurse) and uncle who lived in the same town as me had me stay with them that night. I heard that the next day at the office I was the topic of conversation.
 
Doug627 said:
If the antacid doesn't work quickly, think again and get it checked out.
Click to expand...

Last July, it took me six hours to figure this out. I eventually walked over to the fire station. They hooked me up to some instruments, then took me to the hospital. Fortunately, I had little heart damage.

It's very hard know it's a heart attack if you've never had one. Doug's advice is good.
 
A few years ago I was having chest pain one night. I told my wife I thought I might be having a heart attack so she drove me to the ER. It really got their attention fast when I told them I thought it might be my heart.

Got into a room and all hooked up to monitors. I was throwing up and at times my heart rate was down to about 35.

Eventually I was diagnosed with a gall bladder attack. The doc recommended having it removed and after some consideration I agreed. After the operation the doc used a highly technical medical term and said that my gall bladder had been "full of junk".

Once the incisions healed up I was fine. Having my gall bladder out resulted in zero change to my diet or life. Not sure what the dang thing is for if I can get by without it with no problem.
 
Its commonly know as the Volcano. It happened to me in March of 2000. It felt like the absolute worst case of heartburn I ever had. It was so bad that I couldn't function. I had to leave work and go home. Antacids did nothing. Then I realized that my arm was going numb. My wife called 911 and when the ambulance arrived, they took one look and hooked me up to an EKG. They ended up giving me 5 hits of Nitro on the way to the hospital. Then 5 days in cardio intensive care before they dared to operate. End result was a triple by-pass.
I was 46 at the time. Never dreamed I could be having a heart attack at that age. Thankfully, I'm fine now.
Don't ignore it and don't take chances.
 
In '04 I was in a golf league with my brother as my partner. At #13 he told me that my game sucked and asked what was wrong. I told him that my jaws and ears hurt. He said it was probably gas and to drink more beer.

We finished the round, hit the 19th tee and ended the night at the Old Engine House Inn and I felt better. (Alcohol thins out the mix)

Around 3am all the pain came back. I went downstairs and hit the Maalox and backed it up with baking soda and water to no avail. I woke Ruthie, handed her my wallet and told her to call 911.

I woke up in recovery with chest tubes and a 6" zipper.

It wasn't gas.
 
Grayfox said:
Its commonly know as the Volcano. It happened to me in March of 2000. It felt like the absolute worst case of heartburn I ever had. It was so bad that I couldn't function. I had to leave work and go home. Antacids did nothing. Then I realized that my arm was going numb. My wife called 911 and when the ambulance arrived, they took one look and hooked me up to an EKG. They ended up giving me 5 hits of Nitro on the way to the hospital. Then 5 days in cardio intensive care before they dared to operate. End result was a triple by-pass.
I was 46 at the time. Never dreamed I could be having a heart attack at that age. Thankfully, I'm fine now.
Don't ignore it and don't take chances.
Click to expand...

Your case is practically a carbon copy of what happened to my brother in 2001, right down to your age when it happened. His heart stopped on the way to the hospital and the EMTs had to hit him with the paddles to restart his heart. He ended up getting a quintuple by-pass, the first time I had ever heard of that. He was real lucky in being at home in a city with a major cardiac hospital. He was having what he thought was heartburn when we were visiting our parents in northern Ohio. He could just as well have been stricken on the road in the middle of nowhere. He calls the scars on his legs from where they took the veins for the by-passes his "racing stripes." He's still alive and kicking now.
 
I've had a couple of scares, but so far no heart problems.

I woke up in the middle of the night with severe pain in my upper back - kind of between and in front of the shoulder blades. Went to the ER and it turned out to be pleurisy.

Years later, just a couple of months after my gastric sleeve surgery, I had what felt like a major case of indigestion one evening. I virtually NEVER have indigestion, but this was so bad I could hardly breathe. After an EKG and a bunch of other tests in the ER they basically said they didn't know for sure what it WAS, Just that it definitely WASN'T a problem with my heart. Never happened again.

Funny thing is, in both cases, I went from checking in, right onto a gurney, and into an exam room in a matter of just a couple of minutes. I've shown up with the ends of a couple of fingertips basically amputated - bleeding like a stuck hog - and had to sit around in the waiting room for over an hour. But when a big guy shows up complaining of severe chest pain they don't mess around. They get you hooked up to machines and get right to checking you out in a BIG hurry...
 
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pharmer said:
When I sold Protonix my top prescribers were gastroenterologists naturally. Second place went to the "busy" cardiologists. Joe
Click to expand...

I always wondered about your screen name. Now it makes sense.
Pharmer isn't a funny spelling of the crops and husbandry profession is it? I is a reference to being a pharmaceutical sales rep, isn't it? Clever...
 
It isn't always a case of gastrointestinal problems mimicking a heart attack. Sometimes, there is overlap and stomach problems can cause cardiac symptoms...and vice versa. I learned this over a two year period of tests and hospital visits which kept coming back inconclusive. I suffered with lightheaded spells with tachycardia, bradycardia, palpitations and panic...but the EKG's, treadmill, blood tests and echocardiogram all were normal. Then I learned about Roemheld - Roemheld Syndrome - Gastric Cardia - which is little known to doctors...apparently. Sometimes something as simple as having gas trapped in your esophagus can do really weird thing to your heart...one minute you think it's "the real thing" and your'e going to go down and end up on an ambulance ride...then you belch and almost immediately the symptoms stop.
 
Now, you folks are all scaring me to death! :eek:

Not long ago, I thought I had heart problems. I went to my PCP and then a cardiologist. I had all sorts of crazy tests done and after all was said and done, they upped my HBP drugs and gave me a prescription for Nexium. They said all that was wrong with me was way too much stress, way too much weight and occasional GERD. I remain very skeptical, but that's what they said. :confused:

Well, the last couple days have been brutal with neck and chest pain like you can't even imagine. I came this close to having the good wife drive me to the ER... twice! Lord knows I couldn't have done it myself. Today, miraculously, I'm doing somewhat better. My ENT doc has me on an antibiotic for some yet-to-be-identifed throat pain, most likely related to use of my PAP machine, so I'm wondering about a possible connection there. :confused:

So please, try not to scare me too much today! :p Much more of this heart attack talk and I'm gonna go call me an ambulance! :D
 
bjrjar said:
I had a weird weakness all over and was sweating the worst I had ever sweated. Couldn’t even sit up and sweating all through my underwear. Laid on the bed until it seemed to pass somewhat. Happened to be at my Dr. Office the next day or so. Described it to him. He asked why I didn’t go to the ER and I told him I thought I had just gotten overheated in the shower. He wanted to do an EKG, then he said I had had a heart attack and sent me on to a larger hospital immediately. I had a triple bypass and was there for about ten days. I was amazed, because there was no pain when it occurred. But after laying in bed so long and being weak from the operation, I felt like I had to learn to walk again. My balance has never been the same. They did an MRI and told me that I had a stroke while being operated on in an area where balance could be affected. Other than that, the worst thing about it was waking up being on a ventilator with what felt like a shovel handle down my throat. And some of the drugs they gave me while there made me hallucinate. I definitely am not a candidate for mind altering drugs. Like a firm grip on reality as much as possible.

Bob


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Had a mechincial heart valve 2013. Yes the whorse was waking up to vent tube for sure. My stay was a month and day. Had vent out same day thank God and was up walking next day. Just threw a bunch of clots and infection kept me there
 
BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY.

MY younger brother died at 42 y/o in "apparent" good health. I would say he died from stubbornness and denial, actually it was a heart attack that may have been non fatal if he had acted sooner. "IT'S JUST HEARTBURN" could be carved on many tombstones. If the "heartburn"/pain doesn't go away, and their color becomes ashy/grey, call for an ambulance asap.
 
TTSH said:
Now, you folks are all scaring me to death! :eek:

Not long ago, I thought I had heart problems. I went to my PCP and then a cardiologist. I had all sorts of crazy tests done and after all was said and done, they upped my HBP drugs and gave me a prescription for Nexium. They said all that was wrong with me was way too much stress, way too much weight and occasional GERD. I remain very skeptical, but that's what they said. :confused:

Well, the last couple days have been brutal with neck and chest pain like you can't even imagine. I came this close to having the good wife drive me to the ER... twice! Lord knows I couldn't have done it myself. Today, miraculously, I'm doing somewhat better. My ENT doc has me on an antibiotic for some yet-to-be-identifed throat pain, most likely related to use of my PAP machine, so I'm wondering about a possible connection there. :confused:

So please, try not to scare me too much today! :p Much more of this heart attack talk and I'm gonna go call me an ambulance! :D
Click to expand...

Take some pressure off the ticker, stop chasing those minty 3rd Gens. :eek::rolleyes:;):p:D
 
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