was this a heart attack??

[daisydoo]

Hi i am a 41 year old female. I need to loose some wieght. In the last six months i have an ecg, echo, exercise ecg and blood pressure monitir. Slight hypertension but not treated. Palpitations shown but all ok. Last night i woke about one with an idegestion tpye pain that was also in my shoulder. Im nit sure if i paniced and that made me worse but i felt unwell. Sweating, cheeks bright red and heart racing. Got up and to have my bowels open. Opened the window and cooled down. Lay on the bed and the chest pain went mostly and was left with a pressure type burning in my throat. Stayed awake for three hours things didnt get worse. This morning my tummy is very sore and bloated and have a burning sensation round my belly button have had diarrhoea. I have only had indegestion when pregnant before. My diets not great and last night had a few of the kids oven chips on a brown roll then wholemeal toast and jamabout nine ish. What does everyone tjink?? My stomach is so painful today i could cry. Keep going to the gp so dont want to run there but obviously if it gets worse or doesnt improve i will be straight there. Thank you xxxx

[Stormsky]

Could be peri menopause- im 45 and been going through it a while... but anxiety and panic can cause the symptons too... i dont think at all that you had a heart attack,. my dad had one recently and i recall very well the symptons, as he rang me while having it...

[bettykitten]

Oh Daisy :(

It sounds like you've had a full-on panic attack.

I had a very similar experience to you last October. Got a pain in my shoulder blade, got worse and worse, felt clammy/sick/dizzy. Convinced I was having a heart attack so husband rushed me to A+E. I got wired to an ECG for an hour, then they monitored me for another 3 hours. Checked me on x-ray for blood clots on the lungs/pneumonia etc. Bloods done, normal. They asked if I'd had anxiety ever and I said yes. The doctor said "honestly? I would say that this is a panic attack. A big one."

Also, whilst at the hospital I had the urge to poo/wee every ten minutes. This is your body's "fight or flight" response kicking in (shedding waste so that you can fly from strassful/dangerous situations easily)

Do you suffer acid reflux? It does sound like a GERD related problem but could also be IBS. My best friend has terrible IBS and has bloaty tummy that is sore/sore belly button. Do you have any peppermint tea to hand? It really helps with the type of thing you have described.

[daisydoo]

Thank you so much for replying. You dont know how much it means. You have bith given lovely answers and i think i am menopausal!! Yes i think i do have ibs and never had gerd but that was certainly what i was hoping it was. Thanks again x

[nomorepanic]

A heart attack would almost certainly present itself with pain in the middle of the chest.

There is a stomach bug going around as well so you could have that

[bettykitten]

Stormsky could be right, actually. Peri-menopause presents symptoms similar to this. And yes, there are lots of vile tummy bugs doing the rounds at the minute. In fact, a mum at my son's school said this morning that her weekend was ruined by one and that she had terrible tummy ache!

[daisydoo]

Hi nicola the pain was central sort of bottom of the throat down. And felt like it was in my shoulder. But i moved about a bit and that seemed to get rid of that. Do you think it sounds like an mi then?

[Rain]

I can’t believe that people are actually answering the question ‘Was this a heart attack?’
I appreciate that health anxiety drives people to seek out reassurance but surely when someone lists serious sounding symptoms such as pain in the chest and shoulder, the only advice we should be giving is that that person should see a doctor.
It makes sense to me that if you have serious symptoms you should gain reassurance from a doctor who is able to examine you.
I am in no way suggesting that the people who have replied mean to be anything but helpful. I appreciate that you are trying to put someone’s mind at rest.
But none of us here are doctors and even if we were, we could not come to a conclusion without examining the person with the symptoms.
I am really not trying to be controversial here, but we are getting more and more titles appearing on No More Panic such as, ‘Is this X illness? Please answer.’
We can not know, have no way of knowing and I fear it may be dangerous to simply say ‘Don’t worry, you are probably just anxious/ suffering from a bug.’ This could prevent someone from seeking medical intervention when they need it.
Maybe we could all bear this in mind. This is not a forum meant to diagnose illnesses.

[Stormsky]

I can’t believe that people are actually answering the question ‘Was this a heart attack?’
I appreciate that health anxiety drives people to seek out reassurance but surely when someone lists serious sounding symptoms such as pain in the chest and shoulder, the only advice we should be giving is that that person should see a doctor.
It makes sense to me that if you have serious symptoms you should gain reassurance from a doctor who is able to examine you.
I am in no way suggesting that the people who have replied mean to be anything but helpful. I appreciate that you are trying to put someone’s mind at rest.
But none of us here are doctors and even if we were, we could not come to a conclusion without examining the person with the symptoms.
I am really not trying to be controversial here, but we are getting more and more titles appearing on No More Panic such as, ‘Is this X illness? Please answer.’
We can not know, have no way of knowing and I fear it may be dangerous to simply say ‘Don’t worry, you are probably just anxious/ suffering from a bug.’ This could prevent someone from seeking medical intervention when they need it.
Maybe we could all bear this in mind. This is not a forum meant to diagnose illnesses.

I get what your saying, but people who post these threads are asking if anyone has had the same symptons and found it wasnt serious...(they ask before running off to doc again)... Im sure if the person posting the thread truly believes its serious, they will get to the doc.. and indeed if the symptons become unbearable they would know they NEED to see a doc..
People with HA know deep down their symptons arent life threatening, i mean its been going on for years, and they are still here...

[bettykitten]

She didn't mention chest pain/crushing feeling, Rain which is a pretty big pointer.

That aside, the OP is a grown woman. If she needs a doctor, I would hope she'd phone a doctor/ambulance. I had an almost identical experience to her that wasn't a heart attack so I think that it's relevant to tell her about it.

It is very common for people in the clutches of a panic attack to think that they're having a heart attack. In truth, if they ^were^ having a heart attack, they'd be feeling a lot more ill than they are.

[daisydoo]

Hi sorry to cause any problems, it felt like heart burn and suppose as i am ok now i just wanted to see if anyone else experienced this. If i feel it again i will certainly get it checked and that is very much my responsibility. Sorry again. Please ignote this now looking at it i suppose it is silly and obviously it cant be answered. Just having a bad day worrying. Sorry

[Rain]

Lay on the bed and the chest pain went mostly and was left with a pressure type burning in my throat.

I am not trying to suggest that the OP has actually had a heart attack, far from it. I am trying to say that she is mentioning sypmtoms which can be indications of that and that we are doing her a dangerous dis-service by saying it 'probably isn't serious.' We are simply not qualified to say that.

My own father had a heart attack when I was 14 and I was the only other person in the house. Symptoms do vary. It is my view that they should be checked out.

[Stormsky]

Hi sorry to cause any problems, it felt like heart burn and suppose as i am ok now i just wanted to see if anyone else experienced this. If i feel it again i will certainly get it checked and that is very much my responsibility. Sorry again. Please ignote this now looking at it i suppose it is silly and obviously it cant be answered. Just having a bad day worrying. Sorry

dont apologise daisy, thats what this forum is for... and dont let this stop you from posting in future! At the time of physical symptons, we need assurance sometimes, advice, opionions, and then we can decide 1. whether we have actually now calmed down and it wasnt anything serious, or 2, whether infact we should actually get checked out at GP

[theharvestmouse]

If that happened to me I would see a doctor.

[crystal17]

I have to be honest - I would recommend going to see a doctor because of the indigestion-type symptoms you've been getting. My mum had a heart attack and she didnt have crushing chest pain. Not saying you've had one, but best to check out that it isn't anything more serious than simple heartburn.

[xtremx]

Hi dasiydoo. I have alot of chest pain (well to tell the truth from morining to night) I suffer from acid reflux/Gerd and a condition called costochondritis (that is painfull and effecte the sternum area). As my doctor says i have alot going on in the chest area.

But i am slowly learning that each pain is different but sometimes i will feel a pain that feels worse or sometimes just out of the normal and the first thing i will do is contact my doctor or nhs direct (that is what they are for). No matter how silly i may feel being told it is my gerd or costochondritis playing up it is better safe than sorry.