Chest pain can be a very worrisome symptom, and rightfully so. It?s a symptom of a whole host of medical conditions, a few of which can be fatal if it?s ignored. However, some conditions associated with chest pain are pretty benign. For example, heartburn and angina both involve chest pain, but leaving one of them untreated can be a fatal mistake. So, what is the difference between heartburn and angina, and how can you tell which one you?re suffering from?

Similarities and differences

Both heartburn and angina (a heart attack) present with chest pain, but that?s pretty much where the similarities end.

Heartburn pain is generally described as a burning sensation that radiates from the chest up into the neck. It can sometimes be accompanied by reflux, or the feeling of food or liquid in your throat or mouth, a bitter taste in your mouth, burping, hiccupping and just a general feeling of indigestion. These feelings increase after eating, or after lying down.

Angina pain is more of a pressure or feeling of heaviness in your chest, associated with a whole host of other symptoms. The symptoms often come on very suddenly. They include:

? Shortness of breath

? The pain or a numbing sensation may spread to your shoulders or arm

? Fatigue

? Sweating

? Lightheadedness

When dealing with these two very different conditions, it?s important to listen to, and understand your body?s signals so that you can respond accordingly. Heartburn is nothing that you need to rush to the emergency room for, but angina is.

Treatments

If you think you are experiencing angina, walk away from the computer right now! Go to the hospital immediately! Immediate medical attention is the only thing that can help relieve chest pain due to angina.

Heartburn pain is a little easier to deal with. It can be treated naturally and dealt with fairly quickly to minimize discomfort. For example:

? Something as simple as drinking a large glass of water can often help soothe heartburn pain. It works by flushing acids out of the stomach, keeping them from doing further damage and causing irritation. Additionally, mixing the water with a few tablespoons of apple cider vinegar can help speed pain relief to the area.

? Some people have even found relief from just eating an apple during a heartburn attack.

? Various teas like ginger, chamomile and fennel have also been shown to settle acid indigestion and help soothe fiery stomachs.

? To prevent heartburn attacks, avoid foods you?ve noticed that upset your stomach. Common ones include garlic, onions, caffeine, alcohol and citrus fruits that are full of natural acids.

? Try eating smaller meals, but more often, rather than just a few large meals every day. This helps prevent your stomach from overproducing acid to try to digest the massive amount of food you just threw at it.

Hopefully you?re now armed with information and can respond accordingly if you ever experience chest pain due to one of these two medical problems. However, there?s defiantly more to it than what?s provided in this small article, so for more information please visit www.refluxremedy.com and find out more!

Just about everyone and their brother does these days. What most people don?t notice right away is the habitual need to clear your throat and the ?unfriendly? cough that accompanies acid reflux burn.

Whatever is triggering the upsurges of your stomach acid, whether it be from a lack of acid or an over production, the fact remains that caustic gastric acid is disrupting your life.

Obviously acid reflux is a serious health condition if it persists, but if it?s allowed to fester and ends up making you cough all the time, you could be headed for more serious complications.

Keep in mind that the acid in your stomach is made from hydrogen and chloride, along with some other nasty flavors. Hydrochloric acid can be a liquid or a gas and it?s dangerous in either form.

It?s very unpleasant to have acid reflux explode into your sensitive esophagus, mouth and sinus areas, but what?s worse is if you inhale the acid reflux particles or gas fumes.

You?ve had water or soda go down the wrong tube before, right? That?s no fun and people choke to death sometimes, but when you?re dealing with a stomach acid it can literally burn your flesh and damage your lung tissue.

Once lung damage has occurred inside your bronchial tubes or lung chambers an infection could trigger an over production of mucus. This is a white cell immune response that can complicate things, called a ?cytokine cascade.?

So if you have acid reflux, persistent coughing and even chest pain, it could be your heartburn is advancing toward becoming a much bigger problem, such as Gastro-Esophageal Reflux Disease or an infection of the lungs.

Chest pain could mean other things like angina, a hiatal hernia or heart problems, so see a doctor before assuming it?s just from acid reflux.

The problem with finding a cure for acid reflux cough is that when doctors aren?t sure of the root cause, they routinely treat the symptoms.

Just being free of acid reflux burning and coughing symptoms doesn?t mean you?re healthy. Being healthy is more than being symptom free, that?s why getting to the root of your heartburn issues should be a top priority for you.

If you are not eating the right foods, if you?re lying down after meals and if your popping ?useless? antacids, you?ll never find the cure to your acid reflux cough challenge.

Truth is the cure is simpler than you may think, but first things first. Stop eating things that increase toxins, eat foods that provide a natural alkaline base and walk a little after meals- you?ll be surprised how much money you?ll safe avoiding all those unnecessary medications or treatments.

Keep in mind your acid reflux and heartburn coughing is NOT a drug deficiency.

You were born to heal,

Todd M. Faass?

Health Ecologist

Heartburn can be mistaken for coronary artery disease because it can mimic angina, or chest pain

Heartburn can be described as a discomfort, heaviness, pressure, aching, burning, fullness, squeezing, or painful feeling in your chest accompanied by shortness of breath.

The difference between heartburn and angina is that angina, which is usually felt in the chest area, may also be felt in the shoulders, arms, neck, throat, jaw, or back.

So there’s no confusion, I’ve listed other symptoms of coronary artery disease:

* Shortness of breath

* Palpitations (irregular heart beats, skipped beats, or a “flip-flop” feeling in your chest)

* A faster heartbeat

* Weakness or dizziness

* Nausea

* Sweating

It is possible that a severe acid rebound event, in the right situation could cause gastric acid particles to go down the wind pipe triggering a severe coughing spell that not only may feel like an attack of angina, but could end up causing heart failure either from suffocation or overstressing an already weakened heart condition.

Acid reflux, heartburn and the acid rebound disease Over-The-Counter (OTC) antacids can induce are very serious health concerns.

I realize the drug companies have disarmed your natural sense of alarm on the subject of heartburn, but it still drastically affects your quality of life. Not only has heartburn become a casual term, it still leads to Gastric-Esophageal Reflux Disease (GERD), which can also end up as terminal throat cancer.

If you’re lucky you’ll just end up with a radical surgery that will permanently ruin your quality of life, as well as shorten life expectancy.

Then there’s what doctors call “chemical pneumonia.”

Also called “chemical pneumonitis,” which is inflammation of the lungs ?due to inhaling chemical fumes, or aspirating (breathing in and choking on) gastric acid from the stomach, mineral oil, gasoline, or other damaging chemicals.

Yes your stomach acid is equal to an industrial strength chemical, hydrochloric acid. When it’s in a gastric form the fumes can permanently damage your lungs. Once the stomach acid particles are splashed, inhaled or coughed into the lungs an immune reaction begins in an effort to fight off the noxious chemical attack.

This can lead to too many white blood cells (cytokines), severe inflammation and enough mucus to choke a horse.

Chronic chemical pneumonitis can happen after exposure to small amounts of acid reflux particles or fumes causing irritation over a long length of time. This triggers inflammation and may cause “fibrosis” (scarring) which makes it difficult for the lungs to get oxygen to the body and release carbon dioxide as waste, leading to a stiffening of the lung.

Unchecked, this long term exposure to gastric acid fumes and acid reflux may ultimately lead to respiratory failure and death.

You were born to heal,

Todd M. Faass?

Health Ecologist

Heartburn and angina are quite different conditions; however they do have a few similarities and differences worth covering.

Heartburn sounds like a just mild case of acid indigestion to most people. Unfortunately, as with any health issue, if left to fester it can lead to many deeper, more underlying health problems.

It?s very unlikely that you would ever intentionally ignore your heart burn, or anything to do with your own well being. However, millions of people are unknowingly victimized by Over-The-Counter (OTC) and prescription gimmicks, which not only may trigger toxic side effects, they also trick people into putting off curing the root cause.

The only thing I can think of that?s worse than ignoring your health issues would be to mistreat a health issue. It?s not uncommon for people to think their heartburn, acid reflux or stomach acid problems as angina attacks or even misdiagnose an angina attack for a heartburn attack.

The reason being is that left unaddressed a chronic heartburn issue will become a more complex health problem. It?s not just that heartburn is out to get you and gets worse on its own, it?s the fact that diet and lifestyle factors are behind the whole problem in the first place . . . whether it?s angina or acid reflux.

Before I cover that, you need to understand clearly what an angina attack actually is.

What is Angina Exactly?

By definition Angina is an intense pain in your chest due to a ?lack of oxygen? rich blood (ischemia) getting to your heart cells. Angina pain is so excruciating that it feels like it would extinguish life itself, if it were to continue.

The pain of an Angina attack is described further as a severe crushing pain coming directly from behind your breastbone leading to a sensation of suffocation and panic. In fact the word ?angina? originates from the Latin word ?angere,? which means ?to choke.?

Curiously, like heartburn an angina attack with often occur after eating. It?s not uncommon for people to have an angina event during a strenuous walk up a staircase, or incline, immediately after a large meal.

There are two main categories is Angina attacks:

1. Angina of effort

2. Variant angina

Angina may feel like a heart attack but it isn?t. If you have Angina of effort, which means the lack of oxygen rich blood is from narrowing arteries (arthrosclerosis). On the other hand a Variant angina attack is more uncommon and happens from a spasm in the coronary muscle.

Other things that can cause the same chest pain as angina and heartburn include stomach ulcers, panic attacks, muscle problems, pneumonia, inflammation and heart attacks.

Heartburn can be caused from eating too much food, from eating the wrong food combination, lying down after eating, a lack of stomach acid or even a hiatal hernia.

Angina can feel like heart burn when the pressure makes it hard to breathe and swallow, especially after eating a large meal, there may be a feeling of regurgitation, similar to acid reflux. But heartburn shouldn?t make you feel nausea, fatigued, sweaty, light headed and weak.

It?s important to learn how to self diagnose . . . your doctor should really be your second opinion. Unfortunately if you don?t seek out the root cause of your angina or heartburn, prescribing drugs or surgery are not going to cure you.

The choice to cover up symptoms instead of eliminating the real cause can make the difference between living a long healthy life and living a miserable one plagued by recurring symptoms and the adverse effects of drug therapies.

Learn more about integrative and Complementary Alternative Medicines (CAM). Whatever you decide to do, keep in mind neither angina nor heartburn are drug deficiencies.

You were born to heal,

Todd M. Faass?

Health Ecologist