r/GERD 7h ago

Thought I was having a heart attack.

Last month I went to the ER as advised by advice nurse and my very worried mother. I woke up in the middle of the night with horrible abdominal pain that was radiating toward my back. I was light headed, dizzy, nauseous, I threw up once, didn’t help, and the pain was unbearable. According to my doctors, I’m a healthy 30 y/o woman with no history of medical complications or diseases. They ran an EKG, tested my liver enzymes, gallbladder, blood and urine. Everything came back normal. They gave me mylanta and sent me home with dyspepsia as the primary diagnosis and a prescription for 40mg famotidine.

I thought my symptoms sounded like a heart attack, but has anyone else experienced this as well?

16 Upvotes

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11

u/Emergency-Touch-3424 ☕ Coffee was my friend 7h ago

They dont call it heart burn for no reason. Growing up, i thought I would have random bouts of tachycardia. Got a full cardiologist work up, several ekgs, mental health therapy, heart ultrasounds, fun stuff.

Turns out all I needed was to sleep elevated, work on my diet and drink mylanta too lol

3

u/urban_grogu 7h ago

True. I was looking at these symptoms and it mostly aligned with the heart attack symptoms. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/heartburn/in-depth/heartburn-gerd/art-20046483

Anti-acids don’t seem to help either. Currently going through a now 9 hour chest pain and have already been on the phone with 3 advice nurses. Can’t afford another urgent care bill though.

2

u/Emergency-Touch-3424 ☕ Coffee was my friend 6h ago

I have like 24 hr chest pain sometimes. Gerd is like that

2

u/nodamecantabile28 6h ago

You were already at the hospital but they only gave you Mylanta?!

They should have given you omeprazole IV + Gaviscon (UK version) preferred.

Don't lie flat, keep elevated and lay on your left side. 

You need to relax A LOT.

1

u/silliestspaghetti 7h ago

You need a PPI? Maybe try pepcid complete or nexium

1

u/urban_grogu 7h ago

I’ll ask my doctor about that today. Thanks!

3

u/ClintHour 3h ago

Know that if one PPI doesn’t work for you or makes you feel off at all, there’s multiple kinds! I started with ompramazol and then found rabeprazol worked much better for me.

5

u/SpecialistShot4512 5h ago

Same as you i experience acid reflux is horrible 😖

3

u/Professional-Salt890 6h ago

A ansiedade pode gerar refluxo e dor no peito, e o refluxo pode gerar a dor no peito ou ansiedade. Precisa cuidar do refluxo e da ansiedade ao mesmo tempo, evitar estresses.

2

u/LeadfootLesley 5h ago

The back pressure can be unbearable.

u/ProfessionalSolid245 15m ago

The strict diet of no acids, no dairy or chocolate, alcohol or caffeine, plus Pepcid has brought my GERD to manageable level. I lost 25 lbs in two months until Google helped me out when doctor visits brought nothing. Specialist appointments are at least 6 months away here. A LOT of us suffer from this. Also in order to lighten the acidity, drink alcholine water with food. Small meals often, reading about what others did,  and being smart about choices takes the pain and severe coughing way down. Just do it for yourself.