You’ve just finished a substantial dinner and are experiencing a burning sensation in your chest. Isn’t it heartburn? Probably, but there’s a chance your chest pain is caused by a blockage in your heart’s blood supply (angina) or a heart attack.
Stomach acids moving up into your oesophagus produce heartburn also known as Gastroesophageal reflux disorder (GERD), which is a common ailment. This can result in chest pain that spreads to your neck, throat, and jaw. When food reaches your stomach, a valve at the end of your oesophagus called the lower oesophageal sphincter fails to seal properly, causing acid reflux. Acid backwash then travels up your oesophagus, through your throat, and into your mouth, leaving you with a sour taste.
As the name suggests, the important concept to take away is that our stomachs are built for acid and can tolerate it, but our oesophaguses aren’t.
This can be caused by a number of factors, including:
- An excessive amount of pressure applied to the abdomen. Because of the additional pressure, some pregnant women feel heartburn almost every day.
- Food preferences (dairy, spicy, or fried dishes, for example) and eating habits.
- Painkillers, sedatives, and antidepressants are among the medications used to treat asthma, high blood pressure, and allergies.
- A hiatal hernia is a hernia in the stomach. It protrudes into the diaphragm, preventing normal meal intake.
When one of the arteries supplying the heart becomes clogged, it causes heart attack discomfort. Angina is a type of chest pain that occurs when these arteries become narrowed as a result of heart disease. A heart attack is a life-threatening condition caused by a blockage in the coronary arteries. These blood vessels carry oxygen and energy to the heart, keeping it alive. A heart attack occurs when coronary artery disease causes a lack of blood supply to a portion of the heart muscle. The heart can cease beating as a result of a heart attack. A cardiac arrest is the medical term for this. A person suffering from cardiac arrest will be unresponsive and have no pulse.
The table below is for guiding differences between heartburn and heart attack.
| Heartburn | Heart attack | |
|---|---|---|
| Both cause sudden chest pain | ||
| Type of origin of chest pain
|
Non-cardiac | Cardiac |
| Typical characteristics of pain | Burning sensation after meal or at night or after exertion, develops behind or underneath the breastbone, usually no radiation
|
Crushing pain after exertion, may relieve with rest
May radiate to jaws or left arm |
| Associated symptoms | ● Sour or bad taste in the mouth
● Tooth decay ● Difficulty swallowing/ dysphagia ● Hoarse voice
|
● Intense pressure or tightness in the centre of the chest
● Heaviness or weakness in one or both arms ● Pain, numbness, or a tingling sensation in the arms, neck, jaw, lips, or stomach ● Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath/ dyspnoea ● Nausea and vomiting ● Dizziness or light-headedness ● Fatigue ● breaking out in a cold sweat
|
| Severity | Non-life-threatening
|
Life threatening |
Indeed, there are other non-cardiac causes of chest pain to be ruled out for more effective treatment. For example, pneumonia, oesophageal spasms, costochondritis and panic attacks.
GERD isn’t harmful or life-threatening. But certainly, you will feel its effect on your routines as the oesophageal tissue is eventually ruined. You can see how chronic acid reflux and heartburn affects your everyday eating and sleeping patterns if you experience it. Long-term GERD might cause more serious health concerns due to the constant irritation of the oesophagus lining caused by acid backflow. Esophagitis, Barrett’s oesophagus, strictures and oesophageal cancer are some of the issues that can occur (Adenocarcinoma or squamous cell types). The majority of people can manage their GERD symptoms. You should be able to manage your GERD symptoms if you modify your eating and sleeping patterns and use medications as needed.
Heartburn is not proven strongly to cause direct higher risk of heart attack but there are evidences suggesting the link between proton pump inhibitors (PPI) and heart attacks, however that link does not prove cause-and-effect relationship but more of an association relation meaning the possibility of other changing factors lead to slightly higher cases of heart attacks among PPI users. Still, PPI such as lansoprazole and omeprazole is one of main drug classes used in managing GERD. Patients should not cease taking their medications based on the findings, not least since the study was unable to conclusively verify that the pharmaceuticals were to blame for the heart attacks. Important similarities of GERD and heart attack is that obese is common risk factors for both condition, which usually comes with metabolic syndrome (hypertension, hyperlipidaemia and Type 2 Diabetes). Losing weight is a good way to relieve symptoms of heart attacks and heartburn.
If you’re not sure if it’s heartburn or a heart problem, visit a doctor straight soon. It’s easy to mix up the two problems, so consult a doctor to rule out the most serious scenario.
Here are some tips to relieve your heartburn symptoms.
- Avoid alcohol, tobacco, aspirin/anti-inflammatory medications, and citrus (which can relax the valve between the oesophagus and the stomach, allowing acid to splash up more easily)
- Give gravity a helping hand with some methods such as raising the head of your bed on blocks (about 6 inches) so gravity can help keep the contents of your stomach down in the stomach
- Avoid eating too close to bedtime or too late at night. Allow your stomach to finish its function before going to bed if it is full of food or busy digesting food.
- Over-the-counter drugs under doctor’s prescription and supervision such as proton pump inhibitors and H2 receptor antagonists may also be beneficial.
- Find doctor to discuss your symptoms.