Science- After her pregnancy Jessica Cohn thought she was experiencing severe acid reflux.
- But she was having a heart attack, and had to go to the hospital in an ambulance.
In July 2021, Jessica Cohn had horrible acid reflux — or so she thought.
Cohn, now 37, said she was caring for her two young kids and working as a pediatrician when she started experiencing an occasional pain that radiated from her chest up to her throat, usually at night. With a six-month-old and a three-year old at home, she told Insider it was easy to chalk her symptoms up to stress.
"I assumed that I didn't feel well because life was crazy, and I wasn't sleeping very much," she said. "I just thought I was having terrible reflux because I was exhausted and not eating properly."
Acid reflux can cause a burning pain in the chest and throat when the entryway to the esophagus opens at the wrong time, allowing a backwash of stomach acid into the esophagus, according to Mayo Clinic. Certain foods — like alcohol, coffee, and anything fatty or fried — can trigger reflux, and it's also more common during pregnancy.
But Cohn later found out that what she was actually experiencing was a heart attack.
Her chest pain got so bad that she had to call an ambulance
Amid the post-baby busyness, Cohn said she was popping antacids left and right for the pain in her chest, which came and went for more than a week.
One day at work, the heartburn started up again. That day, the pain eventually grew so intense that she became pale and sweaty, and she instructed her coworker to call an ambulance.
Heartburn can be a symptom of heart attack, especially in women. But Cohn said she didn't consider that she might be having a heart attack until much later on, after she made it to the hospital.
"It was not even on my radar, because it's just so rare in my age group," she said. "I've never had a history of any heart problems."
Doctors initially didn't take her symptoms seriously
At the hospital, Cohn said she had to wait 90 minutes to get a full exam to assess whether she was having a heart attack. She said her EKG showed some slight abnormalities in heart function, but she was still left waiting."In reviewing my chart afterwards, I saw that it was written that I was anxious, but I was not anxious, I was just in a lot of pain," she said. "My husband came and he was sort of my advocate for how much pain I was in. But it certainly took some time for my symptoms to be taken seriously."
Finally, doctors tested Cohn's for troponin, a type of protein that shows up in the blood when the heart has been damaged. She said she was "absolutely shocked" when the test came back positive.
Cohn said she tried to stand up at first, but then her crushing chest pain came back worse than ever. A second EKG revealed that her coronary artery was completely blocked, which meant doctors had to act fast to save her heart tissue from permanent damage.
Doctors placed a stent to keep her artery open and restore blood flow to the heart. However, Cohn said she was left with significant scarring on her heart muscle, which may affect its function.
She's had to step back from work since her heart attack
Cohn was diagnosed with two blood vessel disorders: a vasospasm, which is the sudden narrowing of an artery, and microvascular disease, which affects the small blood vessels of the heart.
"I really have had to adjust my life because I still get significant chest pain, fatigue, and all the things that come along with cardiac disease," she said.
Cohn said she took 14 months of medical leave and ended up finding a new job that let her work at a slower pace. With two young kids at home, she said she's working on listening to her body.
"Taking a moment to be aware of your own health, even when you're taking care of everyone else, is something I learned."