Fast heart beat after eating

Hi All, I seem to always have this problem lately.  Everytime after I eat,  my heart will start beating fast and hard. It's very uncomfortable.  I always have to sit down and relax for a while till it goes back to normal. I had all testing done on heart, even a cath. My tests were normal, but I have 3 50% blockages in my arteries which they don't do anything about unless it goes higher.  I was told that alot of the blood goes to digest the food and that makes your heart work harder.  My question is , how common is this.  I don't hear this from people around me after eating.  I'm starting to avoid going out to eat, because when I'm done I just want to go home and relax. This really worries me. I'm at the point where I dred eating because I don't want to deal with this feeling anymore.  Anyone else with this problem.  Thank you in advance

Eating will have effects on the vagus nerve, which can increase the heart rate, so I don't think this is entirely uncommon altogether, but with coronary artery disease you need to be vigilant anyway. Do you notice it gets worse when you eat really fast, or eat too much? Maybe try eating very slowly and see what kind of effect that has...did your physician have any words of advice?

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Please always remember to consult your medical professional regarding your medical questions; this forum is intended to provide patient-to-patient support. Although some of us have healthcare backgrounds, we cannot diagnose or treat patients on the board.

What is the vagus nerve, and where is it located. I always have this when I eat to much. When I started menopause 2 years ago, I put on weight.  The weight seemed to go right to my upper stomach.  Which I heard is commom for weight gain after menopause. But what I mean by to much is just a normal meal. The same amount I would normally eat at meal times. I have never been a big eater. But now thats to much food for me at one sitting. I don't have this feeling if I eat small amounts thru the day. My doctor said my heart was working harder to digest the food. When I go out to eat with friends they don't feel this.  But when I tell them I can't eat to much because my heart beats fast, they look at me like I have two heads.

It's really very complicated and I wouldn't feel comfortable going into depth about neuroscience on this board - but basically eating can set off a number of reactions in the body and the interaction of all the nerves is like an intricate dance and sometimes arrhythmias can develop if there's an excess or depletion of certain chemicals (made by your body). It sounds like you need good follow-up by a cardiologist due to the blockages in your arteries, and if eating smaller/more frequent meals seems to relieve the symptoms somewhat, definitely hop aboard that train! Have you talked to your cardiologist about this symptom?

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Co-moderator - IBS Forum

Please always remember to consult your medical professional regarding your medical questions; this forum is intended to provide patient-to-patient support. Although some of us have healthcare backgrounds, we cannot diagnose or treat patients on the board.

Yes, I have talked to my doctor about it.But he just tells me my heart is working harder to digest the food. He doesen't even seem concerned about it. It's not even a year since all my tests and the cath was done. I also get the pvc's, Just another thing added to the menopause list. Or is this from menopause? I just don't know anymore. How does one not worry when different things start changing in the body. Thank you for your replies

Summer, was it last year you were diagnosed with PVC's?  Did your doctor not explain what these are to you?  Premature Ventricular Contraction is an early beat within the ventrical the bottom chamber of your heart that can feel as if your heart has skipped a beat.  For some people these are often and strong and others they are not so noticable.  However, make no mistake these are arrhythmias (abnormal heartrhythm).  To my knowledge there isnt much that can be done for PVC's.  But do note these are not brought on by menopause or because of it.

Here is a link from the AMA on arrhythmias you might find useful...

http://americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=10845

 

 

 

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Elisha
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Moderator: Heart & Cardiovascular Disease
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im having the same problem. when i eat to much my heart dosent be fast but i can feel it beating harder and somtimes i get a headache. i also have a hard time sleeping because my breathing feels abnormal this all started 2 or 3 weeks ago and i dont know whats wrong i have an appiontment coming up

I am a 35 year old male with this same problem. I have dealt with this for several years. It has always bothered me but I have learned to except it. I also experience an uncomfortable feeling in my left shoulder sometimes as well. I find that mine is mainly when I over eat. I was diagnosed with high BP at a young age as well however my BP stays under control with meds. I have had a heart cath done two different times once when I was first diagnosed with high BP because I was so young the second time was about 7 years ago both times my cath came back good. I will say that it still bothers me because heart disease runs in my family, my father had heart disease from an early age in life he was 46 when he first had open heart surgery he recently passed away at the age of 65 but he battled congestive heart failure for almost twenty years along with diabetes. It's scary when you think you could very well be looking at facing the same problems your father faced and watched him struggle to live for nearly twenty years.

I get rapid heart beat after eating, but not every meal.  I have certain foods and drinks that I do not tolerate - intolerances, not allergies.  These foods trigger the esophagus, stomach and sometimes the colon to spasm.  I can get cardiovascular spasms too - one caused a small heart attack a few years ago.  That was when I worked with an allergist to come up with a list of my food triggers.

Another trigger is that having to have a bowel movement or especially having one, causes a sudden and severe drop in blood pressure. It's actually the 2nd leading cause of a sudden severe drop in blood pressure. The body can then overcompensate for the lower blood pressure by producing excessive amounts of adrenaline to make the heart beat faster, so that your blood pressure will go back up to normal. The body will often overcompensate though. This is a very common thing, just worse in some than others. But with the other things you mentioned, I'd keep seeing a doctor.

I have this problem as well. I can also get other symptoms like headache, nervousness, confusion, sweaty hands, nausea, and throwing up. Some of my causes were severe sensitivities to sulfa drugs, something in breakfast sausage, maybe wheat products sometimes, cabbage and other veggies, and it was always worst after breakfast.

I ended up in the ER many times and thought I was going to die. They couldn't figure out what was wrong though. I used to end up dangerously dehydrated after throwing up so much, and having severe phosphorus defeiciencies. And the feeling in my heart was NOT comfortable!

Hi HealthyCarc - welcome to the forum.
My tachycardia, accompanied by some of the symptoms you report, was often after breakfast, especially after eating sausage, but also with maple syrup, jams and jellies, cereals with dried fruit in them.
My problem is the sulfite in these foods. I have also had bouts caused by colon problems - especially after an abscess developed on my appendix. (more info on my post above)
Keeping a good food journal helped me identify my food triggers. Some meds and vitamins, notably biotin, trigger it also.
A lot of people can get triggered by sulfa drugs. I seem to tolerate these though. It's a matter of if the sulfite group gets broken off the molecule by your body and also your degree of sensitivity.
My blood pressure can go up or down when I get an attack, usually up for a while.
I've had problems, been in ER with tach I couldn't get stopped, found low in potassium. Needed IV 2 days.

I have a lot of the things that are mentioned here but not all the time. I usually have low blood pressure and exertion makes me sometimes feel dizzy, like I'm going to faint. I have GI inflammation that comes and goes and reliably seems to appear in the fall; I've had to take time off in the winter over a couple of years because of the pain and fatigue.

It seems to be related to my hormones (I'm 45) and trying to find a definitive answer has been extremely frustrating. I would like to be able to understand what is going in my body and learn how to take care of it so I can avoid these disconcerting episodes.

I didn't eat regularly yesterday and had an episode of tachycardia after eating and heading to bed. As long as I know it's not going to kill me I'm happy :) But some answers would be so helpful in allying my fears. I'd love to have more energy too!

Thanks for that - it actually makes some sense. I will ask my doctor about it next time I see him.

Acid reflux can set off PVCs and SVT. It does in my. I have to eat small meals, eat slowly, and not eat for 3 hours before bedtime. Plus I take medicine for acid reflux.

CPA-Kim,

A number of us who get tachycardia after eating have found that we have specific food triggers. We have sensitivity to certain foods, but don't have a problem caused by just eating.

If you think that may be your problem, try keeping a good food journal - date, time, everything you eat or drink, medicines, and your reactions. I usually get reactions within a half an hour, but have had them as late as 8 hours to some medicines.

My reaction usually starts with a little gastric reflux or feeling of a bubble in my stomach. Then I have a sudden onset of tachycardia. This usually stops quickly, but sometimes has gone on for 6 - 8 hours. I've even needed chemical cardioversion for a really bad, long episode.

My cardiologist has me take Inderal when a reaction comes on, which usually takes care of things in a few minutes. I also know to do "Valsalva Maneuvers" or holding breath and bearing down hard. For a really bad episode I'm supposed to chew up an aspirin also.

Since all the major organs, heart, stomach, esophagus and intestines are connected by the vagus nerve, it's easy to see how a problem with one could affect another. I've had intestinal abscesses trigger tachycardia too. Look up "Linked Angina" or "Cardioesophageal Reflex." There is lots of research on this subject.

Hi, I seem to be going through the same things listed here. I'm 30 years in pretty good health. I wake up at night and I feel like my heart is gonna beat out of my chest. It's very scary, I went to the E.R. one night and they did an EKG and everything checked out fine. Did a follow up with my doc and he said everything was fine so guess I just have to deal. I ingested a very popular energy drink one evening and that seemed to trigger something as I never had the problem before then. That also happened to be the same night I went to the E.R. Maybe just a coincidence, I really don't know.

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