Heart Attack v. indigestion?

My grandmother thought she was just having indigestion, but her doctor thinks that she might have has a little series of heart attacks. Can anyone tell me how you can tell whether or not you're having a heart attack or indigestion; heartburn; etc?

When you have a heart attack you can have a lot of symptoms such as:
Uncomfortable pressure, fullness, squeezing or pain in the center of the chest lasting more than a few minutes.

Pain spreading to the shoulders, neck or arms. The pain may be mild to intense. It may feel like pressure, tightness, burning, or heavy weight. It may be located in the chest, upper abdomen, neck, jaw, or inside the arms or shoulders.

Chest discomfort with lightheadedness, fainting, sweating, nausea or shortness of breath.

Anxiety, nervousness and/or cold, sweaty skin.

Paleness or pallor.

Increased or irregular heart rate.

Feeling of impending doom.

Heartburn usually takes place after you eat and worsens when you lie down and usually will go away with antacids.

the websites listed below will help a lot. the second answers your ? better than I could.

The symptoms are similar. If someone is at risk for heart problems, any indigestion symptoms should be reported to a doctor right away.

My father died of a heart attack; he assumed he was just having bad indigestion.

Sometimes it is hard to tell but if you have intense pain and it travels into your jaw line or down your left arm then seek medical attention immediately. It is always better to be safe than sorry. Also indigestion is usually mid sternal meaning in the middle of your chest where as heart pain would be left sided, and as already mentioned go down your left arm or up into your neck/jaw. If you are unsure got to urgent care or ER immediately as heart attacks are serious.

Heart attacks are serious and need urgent medical attetnion . Signs of heartattacks are , pain in chest, pain in left arm and jaw, like they cant move there left side. Indegestion would go within a short while as with a heart attack it would get worse

Believe me they feel just the same so it is very hard to tell the difference.

The symptoms are very similar. That is why a lot of people don't make it to the hospital in time. they thought they just had heartburn when it was really a heart attack. If you are having any of these symptoms you should go to the ER right away. I would much rather be safe than sorry.

can be similar but always good to double check
K

Hi there.

The symptoms might sometimes be a bit similar. Some people, especially diabetic persons, experience heart attacks, in forms of indigestions symptoms.
If your doctor tells you that your grandma might have series of heart attacks, i presume that she might have seen your grandma's 12 lead ecg, chest xray, cardiac enzymes such as troponinT or CKMB. Theses tests can diagnose your grandmas case as heart attack.

Heartburn usually presents after heavy meals.
Please remember that ...not because your grandma's was diagnosed to have heart problems, she won't have gastric s ymptoms. The two conditions- heart attack and heartburn can exist together in the same person.

heart attacks or angina can present in various ways.. as abdominal discomfort , tooth pain, chest discomfort, pain radiating to left arm..
in old age it usually mimicks as indigestion or stomach pain... As such differentaiting them is only possible in clinical settings but pain getting relieved on taking antacids suggests heart burn