Ok, the last couple of days I have woke up with incredibly bad heartburn. Yesterday, it was just when I was normally going to get up took a couple Tums and it went away in like 5 minutes. This morning it was 4am and I thought I was going to die I have never had heartburn like that. My whole stomach just hurt, made it almost hard to breathe, and I wanted to throw up just so I could get it out. I took like 5 Tums and it seemed to subside so I laid back down and within like 5 seconds it came back with serious vengeance with the shortness of breath, and the urge to puke. I took some pepto sat in the bathroom just about doubled over for like 30 minutes. Then I got the idea to eat a piece of bread, thinking that maybe it would absorb some of the acid and make my stomach settle. It worked like a charm within the first bite I felt better. I got to go back to bed and sleep for another 3 hours and go on about the rest of my day.

I don't think I ate anything out of the ordinary the last few days no extra grease or oil etc, but I do notice when it gets around TOM the chances of heartburn increases which its now about that time. I am going to ask a good friend of mine who is nurse and see what she thinks. I was seriously wiggin' out because I thought I wasn't going to make it there for a few minutes. I hope it doesn't happen again.

What can I do to help it?

See, I have acid reflux and my hearburn gets really bad at times. My boyfriend makes me drink milk instead of tums. It helps so much better. Because if you really think about it, Tums is just calcium and you can only take so many tums.

Try milk works for me.

Or trying going to the doctor, they could probably prescribe something to help. They used to give me Prevacid because mine was so bad.

Try drinking milk, it helps to relieve heartburn. :-)

Please please please please go to the doctor. Please. Or the hospital or an urgent care clinic. Please.

These are the classic signs of a heart attack. And a huge number of women die every year because they suffer heart attacks and think they're having heartburn. The "heartburn" symptoms are almost universal in women - as opposed to men who get the whole arm numbness thing.

Please go see a doctor. My mother died because she thought she was having heartburn for the better part of a week. She finally went to the doctor on a Friday morning and they said she'd been having heart attacks all week. By Friday afternoon she had died while undergoing a cardiac catheterization because her heart was too damaged.

I'm not trying to scare you but this is one area where I am VERY insistent. Women tend to ignore stuff like this and they shouldn't - especially those of us who are overweight and therefore at much increased risk for heart issues. Please go see a doctor.

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Here is some other information for you:

http://usgovinfo.about.com/cs/health.../womensami.htm
http://womenshealth.about.com/cs/hea...fheartatta.htm
http://www.womentowomen.com/heartdis.../symptoms.aspx

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I agree with PhotoChick- I don't think you should be scared, but this could be something more serious than just heartburn. See a doctor, and good luck!

I thought about making a doctor appointment, because it has gotten more frequent in the last I would say 6-8 months but it doesn't happen all the time. I know your not trying to scare me, thats why I asked for help and I am taking it very seriously because last night scared me pretty bad. Thank you ladies for the help!

Those are the symptoms my mom had for her heart attack Except hers were much more mild than even what you describe. Fortunately I still have her. I get teary just writing that.

From the description of doubling over in pain, it also sounds more like gallbladder than heartburn. But there's no way to tell except with a real evaluation.

Edit: I have an appointment tomorrow at 930am

Good for you, I'll be prayin' for ya! keep us updated!

Yay. I'm glad. Keep us updated and we'll hope that it really is just nothing more than bad heartburn!

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I had the same symptoms you describe, always early in the morning like you. I went to the doctor literally a dozen times, they always said they had to see me when it was happening to tell what was going on, as there were no other signs once the the symptoms were over. Mine wasn't a heart attack, though they did check for that every single time as those are common signs in women. Turned out my gall bladder just wasn't processing the things it was supposed to process the way it shoulde some medication and not have to remove the gall bladder, but it was close. I had serious pain, shortness of breath, I would go from hot flashes and sweating to cold and shivering, dizzy, nauseated. I had to be very careful about what I ate until things got back to normal.

Good luck at your doctor visit.

Edit: I don't know about you, but I lived alone at the time of the worst incidence of symptoms and there was no way i could drive during it. I had a friend who lived near me on tap to take me to the ER when symptoms hit and that is how they finally figured out what was going on. Also, I found that a minute or so in child's pose from yoga helped relieve the pressure enough that I could stand when he got there to pick me up.

i'm having trouble with heart burn too

How'd the appointment go?

Well so long as you get the all-clear from the doc, and it is a gastric thing...

Voodoo gramma' swears by two teaspoons of peppermint essential oil by mouth, then 8 oz's of cold milk before bed for heartburn and acid reflux.