Re: Heart burn or heart attack or heat exhaustion?

It seems to me I heard somewhere that shinypenny wrote in article
<1183818428.382490.153910@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:

During yesterday's run I had some problems. Trying to figure out if I
should be concerned about this or what.

The first 25 minutes I felt great, ran my usual 12 minute pace. The
run was doing wonders to clear my head. I sipped the water throughout

But around that time I started to get some horrible indigestion/
heartburn/nausea. Burping up the banana/blueberry/yogurt smoothie I
had for breakfast, almost feeling like I could puke. So I stopped,
slowed down, walked for awhile until it past.

I have had heartburn problems before - took nexium for about a year,
but have had it well under control for a few months, since dropping
excess weight.

As I headed
back, I decided just to be safe I'd only run during the shaded parts
of the trail, and walk during the unshaded parts.

For the next 10 minutes that's what I did, and I continued to have the
indigestion and more nausea. Just really feeling crappy now. Anxious
to get back to my car, so I cont'd to run very slowly when I hit the
shaded parts.

About 15 minutes away from my car, I was running a shaded area and
wham - a pain in my chest. On the right side - not my left side - but
it still seemed like it was my heart. It felt like a rock the size of
my fist just under the breastbone, and rapidly pounding - I could feel
it when I put my hand over the spot. I stopped and walked until it
calmed down but I cont'd to have the chest pain. I was also having
weird tingly feelings down my right leg, something I'd noticed the
other night - not while running though. And something in my back at
the left side just under the armpit, that I had also been having
recently that I've thought might have somehow been a muscle pull.

My chest calmed down eventually and just as I reached my car, I have
this weird feeling in my hands. I look down, and the fingers are
swelling right before my eyes, becoming sausages. And the laces on my
shoes suddenly start feeling really tight, so I think my feet were
swelling too. This disappeared after a few moments back in the air
conditioning, and after dumping the rest of my water all over my
head.

But later in the day I had two more episodes of similar chest pain,
despite taking some acid reducer and a baby aspirin (per my DH's
insistence). Lasts just a few minutes though. Once on the right side,
once on the left side - moves around. Except when the chest pain
happened (which is scary), I felt well and in good spirits. My DH
thinks I'd be feeling a lot more ill if it really was my heart.

I will probably call my doctor on Monday just to be on the safe side,
but curious if anyone's ever experienced this? From my googling it
seems I had all the symptoms of angina, but then again, heartburn can
mimic that so that's probably the more obvious cause.......right?

Jen, how was your pulse (compared to what would be normal for the
running you were doing)? Higher or lower; steady or variable timing
and/or force?

My first inclination would be to suggest you get to an ER earlier than
Monday for a check over. IIUC the initial pain from a heart attack can
be almost anywhere in the upper body, though it's often in the area of
the left shoulder. Mine was down near the diaphragm, and felt like I'd
been kicked in the pit of my stomach, but mine came on over a few hours
over night, not during exercise. Saturday night I though I had some
transient pain, but by mid-morning Sunday I was in the cath lab for
angiograms and a stent.

I can't account for the swelling of the hands and feet, but that doesn't
sound good either.

The aspirin sounds like good first aid, but it needs follow up; its main
function is to keep the blood from clotting so easily.

AFAIK nitroglycerin or its relatives are the only quick way to diagnose
angina or heart attack--they'll reduce or end the pain almost
immediately, but like aspirin they're not curative.

I don't want to alarm you, and others may have more logical suggestions,
but I felt like I should lay this out for you to consider.
--
Don Kirkman
.

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