The difference between a heart problem and indigestion/stomach bug...

[Rosemary349]

Hi everyone

I'm just wondering if anyone wants to participate in answering the question how does one distinguish between a stomach problem and what could be a heart problem.

Firstly i agree that it is important to have all regular medical checks done.

After that though, when you are alone at night and have to make a decision....how do you do it?

For the last few days i've been a little off my food, with transient indigestion (like a marble has been swallowed...that then turns into a 'bubble' and moves about in my chest, then a sense that it has burst and relief).

All my cardiology tests have been normal.  Basic stress test, BP, ECG, etc.  There are stomach bugs and flu going around my community.  I have on occasion felt like i've had the flu and felt like i was 'glowing,' etc.

here's how i've made a decision to treat as indigestion.  It's not distressing or painful, each 'marble' lasts only seconds, there are periods of relief, drinking fluids helps (suggesting the soreness is in the stomach), there have been other symptoms suggesting a flu-like illness, i'm not getting the discomfort on exertion, pulse normal and steady, still have something of an appetite.

However i can understand anyone going to the emergency room with indigestion now, after what happened to my dad.  

How do others assess their symptoms and distinguish one from the other?

[Rosemary349]

thanks for telling me.  My car is off the road at the moment or i might have considered driving to the ER the other day....

if i went to ER with indigestion, how would they tell if there was a problem with my heart?  just out of interest....is it the ECG or an enzymes test they would do?  is any test definitive?

I'm beginning to think that a quick test down at the ER would be less stressful than sitting with it .....i used to think going to the ER would be stressful....but if they can tell you yes or no.  if it's yes, it's not good but at least you are there ready for help and if it's no, well you drive home relieved....

[Rosemary349]

Hi there

I think it's true that you can't, however, if you are someone that gets a lot of oesophagal spasm, what do you do?  If you cannot assess the difference with any surety - are there some clues to help make some sort of assessment?  Even if it has to be a cautious one.

I got a bit panicky over the last week because i've had ongoing indigestion, for 7 days.  Today i decided to take gaviscon first thing this morning so that it didn't have a chance....and also as a way or trying to work out if it is the stomach.  The gaviscon (and a bit of retail therapy) did seem to work.....I phoned the GP and was told to talk myself out of the panic, that i need to start doing this....but how can i when they are not clear about it themselves?

Another day i phoned up and the receptionist said it's not an emergency but 'if you become acutely il then we will see you straight away.'  I nearly said 'if i become acutely ill i don't expect i will be able to reach for the phone and if i could i would be calling 999, not you!'

however I'm stuck as to how to assess such symptoms generally.  My dad always had indigestion, but so did his mother (she died of an MI at 80 years, but had indigestion for about 20 years prior)....however the 'indigestion' that killed him was worse, it was the one time that he didn't just sit in a chair, he went to bed for a few hours...and it didn't go away after a while, it was there grumbling away for 2.5 days....but waiting that long to work out that it's serious is too late.....

the doctor tells me that i've had a number of tests done, so i need to consider it as being stomach related.  At the same time he says don't ignore it if it doesn't go away.  He also says that it doesn't come on when exercising, suggesting it's not heart related....but the latest one is, when i so much as walk outside i get oesophagal spasm....but i'm not out of breath, feel that i could walk much, much faster and at times i do.  Also i don't get it every time i exercise, like the other night i walked home from my mother's and that invovles a steep hill....no problems and yet earlier in the day i was having the indigestion.

I'm going to go back to the doctor and ask him exactly how do i assess this because i don't have a clue....i have another cardiology appointment in about a week for an event monitor (due to some episodes of sinus tachycardia - not clear if they were panic or not- have stopped with low dose beta blocker) and then an appt with the consultant.  I will ask him too.

thanks for listening.  I am aware that i am extremely anxious about this due to seeing my father die.  For this reason i told myself that if my symptoms disappeared today with gaviscon then i won't call a doctor, if they persisted then i would....i just don't know if i'm doing the right thing.

[ed34]

"how does one distinguish between a stomach problem and what could be a heart problem"

You can't. The two are very difficult to distinguish even for experts at times which is why many front line Doctors in ER have made fatal errors.

[heartfluttersflyawayplz]

i also get thoses bubbles where my chest hurts and i have heart burn to, plus i have rods running down my spine right behind my heart lots times my chest hurts from my back so i really dont know when its hurting if its my back/rods or heart

[heartfluttersflyawayplz]

well i have a friend that dec 27 was having heartburn that night went to bed woke up with really bad stomack pains, would not go away than both his arms started hurting, they took him to hospital, he keep telling dr it was a flu but because his chest did not hurt at all, just stomack pains bad ones . after he was there for 30 mins he had two heart attacks. took him to surgery to save his life , he had 3 -100 percent blockages and one 50 -percent..  was very healthy nevr a chest pain. said he was feeling tired last couple weeks that was all. so i say its hard to tell , go to hospital anytime your unsure if he had not been in hospital he would not be here. today hes in icu recovering from his huge surgery that he had no ideal he was in that bad shape.

[Flycaster305]

It isn't always easy to determine the difference between indigestion and heart trouble. In my case, taking a nitro pill is my test.  If the chest discomfort disappears or eases, I tend to think it is cardiac.  In the past couple of years I've had three different chest/thorax area discomfort.  I had a bowel obstruction, the pain was sharp and unending, and became worse with movement (surgery fixed it).  I've had chest pains generally from sudden exertion or anger that reacted to nitro pills, plus I've had a couple of previous heart attacks, so understand angina.  I also had some GERD symptoms that fooled me, I ended up in the emergency room.  GERD masks angina nicely, as it comes and goes.  A surgery also fixed the GERD problem.
Having had baseline cardiac tests, you have covered that base.  My suggestion is to eliminate cardiac risk factors, it will give you more confidence with your heart health.

[Rosemary349]

by the way i know a MI would be a thousand times more dramatic and painful....what i am talking about is identifying things early where possible.

Sadly i think my dad thought his wasn't a heart problem because it wasn't dramatic and because it was going on for hours....because of that he thought it had to be indigestion, so mild symptoms can be deceiving as many of you also understand.