Heart problem or heart pain usually happens due to decreased blood supple to heart muscle or due to sudden block in blood supply to any part of the heart. It is usually felt behind the sternum or left side of chest and usually accompanies symptoms like breathlessness, palpitations, vomiting or sweating. It usually worsens with any physical activity, Dr. Karunakaran Deepan, Consultant and Head, Dept of Emergency Medicine, Prashanth Hospitals, Chennai told Financial Express.com.
“Gastric problem may be gastritis, esophagitis, gastric reflux disease, ulcer, or trapped gas. It is usually felt over the upper abdomen along with bloating, indigestion, nausea or belching and will not worsen with any physical activity,” Dr. Deepan said.
Gastric pain usually settles with antacids or dietary enzyme supplements or preprobiotics and may last for a few minutes whereas heart pain will never settle and may worsen overtime. Gastric problem cannot be taken lightly as heart attack can also present with upper abdomen pain. Even though a person used to have gastric issues any sudden onset of pain over the upper abdomen cannot be taken lightly unless an ECG is done to rule out a heart problem, he said.
If the gastric pain is overlooked without any treatment or any ECG it may even lead to death as it may be masking an underlying heart attack. “Heart attack diagnosed in time and treated appropriately with medicines and followed by angiogram and angioplasty or coronary artery bypass surgery can completely reverse the damage caused to heart whereas misdiagnosis or treated late may lead to irreversible heart muscle damage and death in some patients,” he told Financial Express.com.
Any gastric pain or upper abdominal pain which is sudden in onset and worsening gradually over time cannot be taken lightly even in patients with known gastric issues. Do hurry to a nearby hospital and do an ECG to rule out a heart problem before self-treating it as a gastric problem, he added.