“Not all chest pain is a heart attack or a sign of heart attack. Usually chest pain, if you use your finger and point at your chest, that’s not a heart attack. Usually chest pain — called a visceral pain — is a diffused pain, it’s internal. You feel an uncomfortable sensation, and something which you have never experienced. Or, if you’re known to have heart disease, something which is gradually worsening, despite taking medication under the tongue called nitroglycerin. But usually chest pain related to heart attack has other symptoms – difficulty breathing, profuse sweating without any physical activity, and then nausea and vomiting. And usually the symptoms progressively get worse. Initially, it could be waxing and waning. But it gets progressively worse and needs medical attention. The biggest problem is people recognize this as heartburn and tend to ignore it. If you’re concerned about a heart attack or severe symptoms, call 911, go to the nearest emergency room. That will be the biggest help to doctors and to patients and the families to make sure you get promp,t efficient care to save lives.”
Ramesh Gowda, MD, is a board-certified cardiologist at Mount Sinai Doctors, seeing patients in Brooklyn Heights. Trained inKarnataka, India and New York City, he is certified by the American Board of Vascular Medicine and a member of the American College of Cardiology American College of Chest Physicians, the Society for Vascular Medicine, and the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions. He was awarded his medical degree from Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute and completed two residencies in Internal Medicine at Long Island College Hospital and SUNY Stony Brook School of Medicine and his fellowship in Interventional Cardiology at Beth Israel Medical Center. In 2001, Dr. Gowda received the American Medical Association’s Physician Recognition Award and, in 2003, he received Long Island College Hospital’s Research Excellence Award and was nominated for the American Biographical Institute, Inc.’s American Medal of Honor.
Mount Sinai Doctors, 300 Cadman Plaza West, is a two-floor multispecialty practice with a walk-in urgent care center and more than 35 specialties, including Adolescent Medicine, Allergy, Cardiology, Dermatology, Diabetes Education, Endocrinology, Gastroenterology, General Surgery, Infectious Disease, Maternal & Fetal Medicine, Nephrology, OBGYN, Ophthalmology, Optometry & Optical Shop, Orthopedics, Pediatrics, Pulmonology, Radiology, Rheumatology, Travel Medicine, Urology, and Vascular Surgery. The practice is located at 300 Cadman Plaza West, on the 17th and 18th floors, in Brooklyn Heights. You can make appointments online at http://www.mountsinai.org/bh or via ZocDoc.