1. Pain in Proximity to meals
Frequently, people will encounter a form of heartburn relatively soon after eating a meal, especially one in which the food choices could exacerbate the symptoms. Being aware of foods that can cause, or worsen, heartburn could help to make choices avoiding many of these problem foods.
When pain strikes, take notice of how soon after eating the symptoms began, what foods were eaten and even how big the meal was. Pain relevant to a heart attack can manifest itself at any time, not just surrounding meal times. If you experience this upper abdominal and chest discomfort shortly after eating, and subsides in relatively short order with or without antacid assistance, it's a strong possibility that you are experiencing heartburn.
2. Pain With Positional Changes
Heartburn-type pain can been seen quite frequently in people who, after eating, incur increased pain when making changes to position on a full stomach, such as bending over or lying down. This can exacerbate heartburn pain significantly. Other activities such as exercising, lifting heavy objects and bending or stooping can cause an increase of heartburn-type pain. While heart attack pain can present itself with or after exertion, and typically independent of any particular positioning, this is not to say that a heart attack can't be felt while lying down or engaging in physical activities, because it certainly can.
Pain associated with heartburn can be frequently accompanied by a b bitter or sour taste in the back of the throat, whereas pain associated with a heart attack can often cause nausea, vomiting and sweating.
3. Pay Attention to Pain That Radiates
In cases of heart attacks, many times pain is felt more like a crushing type pressure on the chest, a squeezing sensation and an uncomfortable fullness which can last for several minutes, or can come and go. This type of pain is often described as that which can be felt up into the jaw area, into the neck, down one or both arms, and into the back or stomach.
Pain associated with heartburn is mainly felt in the epigastric area, just below the breastbone, and is often described as a burning pain that is mainly stationary. Although pain from heartburn can certainly radiate from the upper stomach area, it typically doesn't.
If you experience chest and upper abdominal pain that fits the characteristic patterns of a heart attack, medical evaluation should be obtained immediately. Pain that begins shortly after eating, gets worse with exercise, bending, stooping and lying down, chances are it's heartburn. However, when in doubt, get professional medical advice.
