Heart Pounding After Eating?

[birdie22]

Anyone get a feeling like their heart is pounding hard after eating a meal? This seems to be happening to me more frequently and it almost always occurs after lunch while at work. I have a bad habit of eating at my desk. My meals are not large and vary (sometimes a sandwich on gluten-free bread, or soup, or nut thins and hummus, cheese and nut thin and fruit, or sometimes just leftovers from dinner). My heart rate may increase a bit (resting is usually in the 70s and when it's beating hard it goes to high 80's or low 90s). I mentioned it to my PCP and she asked that I keep track and notice if tight waist band, large meal, or changing positions (like standing) make a difference. I'm guessing it is a result of my body working hard to digest my lunch as it always happens about 30-60min after eating and lasts 30-60min. I find it odd though that this doesn't happen with breakfast or dinner.

Anyone have similar experience? If so, did you find a cause and/or solution?

[bisja]

Hi I am not sure what causes this but I do have that same thing happening. It does not happen everytime but I have thought maybe there is another food item maybe I am sensitive to but honestly it makes no sense to me, as I am very careful with what I eat and eat very simple. I wish I knew what causes this too.

[burdee]

Anyone get a feeling like their heart is pounding hard after eating a meal? This seems to be happening to me more frequently and it almost always occurs after lunch while at work. I have a bad habit of eating at my desk. My meals are not large and vary (sometimes a sandwich on gluten-free bread, or soup, or nut thins and hummus, cheese and nut thin and fruit, or sometimes just leftovers from dinner). My heart rate may increase a bit (resting is usually in the 70s and when it's beating hard it goes to high 80's or low 90s). I mentioned it to my PCP and she asked that I keep track and notice if tight waist band, large meal, or changing positions (like standing) make a difference. I'm guessing it is a result of my body working hard to digest my lunch as it always happens about 30-60min after eating and lasts 30-60min. I find it odd though that this doesn't happen with breakfast or dinner.

Anyone have similar experience? If so, did you find a cause and/or solution?

Do you drink coffee or caffeinated tea or cola with your meal? Have you had your thyroid hormones tested lately? (Rapid heartbeat can be a sign of hyperthyroidism.) Do you suspect any other food allergies? (I react to cane sugar with rapid heartbeat.) Are you taking any OTC or Rx'd drugs which might speed up your heart?(If you take those in the morning, you may not get a reaction till lunchtime, but that reaction can diminish later in the day.)

[birdie22]

Do you drink coffee or caffeinated tea or cola with your meal? Have you had your thyroid hormones tested lately? (Rapid heartbeat can be a sign of hyperthyroidism.) Do you suspect any other food allergies? (I react to cane sugar with rapid heartbeat.) Are you taking any OTC or Rx'd drugs which might speed up your heart?(If you take those in the morning, you may not get a reaction till lunchtime, but that reaction can diminish later in the day.)

No caffeinated beverages at lunch. I have 1/2 c of coffee at breakfast and don't get the sensation then. Had my thyroid tested 2x's (full panel including antibodies) and all was normal. No rx drugs, just magnesium, D3, and B12 in the a.m. every day but that is daily w/out fail and yet the heart pounding is not an every day thing.

Food allergies/intolerances could be. I haven't ever had any allergy testing done other than wheat IgE which was neg. I have been keeping a food/symptom log and nothing jumps out at me but I haven't been so detailed as to list out ingredients.

[Cam226]

I have had heart pounding after eating for years. For me it seems to be correlated to size of meals, and was made worse by alcohol or caffeine. The problem became progressively worse, and then a few months ago I began having other cardio symptoms, including worsening hypertension, tachycardia and bradycardia. So finally I was able to get a referral to a cardiologist. The good news is that I was prescribed a low dose of Atenelol(which is a beta blocker) and this almost completely resolved my heart pounding. I still get minor heart pounding if I overdo it on meal size or sweets. But the Atenelol gave me huge relief within a few hours, and seems to work even better after taking it for a month. I was also a little low on potassium so I was also prescribed a potassium supplement. I was told that getting my potassium blood level normalized might also help with the heart pounding. It is hard to tell whether the Potassium supplement has helped with the pounding because the Atenelol was already doing its job when I started the potassium. It has been like pulling teeth to get any diagnostic information from cardiology, but if I can ever get them to tell me anything, I will let you know. I have been told that heart pounding can have many causes, so what is working for me might not work for you. Atenelol is available in generic and costs me under $10/month even without insurance.

Anyone get a feeling like their heart is pounding hard after eating a meal? This seems to be happening to me more frequently and it almost always occurs after lunch while at work. I have a bad habit of eating at my desk. My meals are not large and vary (sometimes a sandwich on gluten-free bread, or soup, or nut thins and hummus, cheese and nut thin and fruit, or sometimes just leftovers from dinner). My heart rate may increase a bit (resting is usually in the 70s and when it's beating hard it goes to high 80's or low 90s). I mentioned it to my PCP and she asked that I keep track and notice if tight waist band, large meal, or changing positions (like standing) make a difference. I'm guessing it is a result of my body working hard to digest my lunch as it always happens about 30-60min after eating and lasts 30-60min. I find it odd though that this doesn't happen with breakfast or dinner.

Anyone have similar experience? If so, did you find a cause and/or solution?

[AVR1962]

Any of the heart pounding accompanied by the feeling of becoming sweating, feeling you could pass out and nausious? Could be your blood sugar. Eating creates a rise and fall in blood sugar that can go a little too high and then crash to a little too low. This is what was happening to me. When my glucose would fall my heart would pound, I would become sweaty, feel sick to my stomach, vision would blur. A grain-free, sugar-free diet resolved it.

[mushroom]

It could be caused by many things. Could be a struggle to digest something in particular - you could try taking a digestive enzyme at lunctime. Could be a particular food (or food group) which you do not tolerate well. Think nightshades, legumes, etc., so the food may not always be the same but the family may be. Could be something as simple as not chewing your food properly -- unconscious eating which makes your heart work harder. Could be just positional, that you need to get up and walk around a bit rather than having the food just sit there. Experiment and see what happens.