Heart Palpitations after eating
#179412 - 05/16/05 03:25 PM
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WillT
Reged: 05/16/05
Posts: 1
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I'm new to the board and have been diagnosed with IBS by two doctors, after undergoing a series of tests (colonoscopy, gastroscopy, Upper GI, Ultra sound, CAT scan, stool tests, etc etc.) All tests showed no symptoms, according to doctors. They diagnosed me with IBS. I've noticed, however, that after eating I experience heart palpitations and stomach discomfort in my middle to upper abdomen area. It seems as though my body is reacting to the food being put in it. Anyone else experience heart palpitations after eating? Just curious - thanks, Will
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Are you sure they are palpitations? You should have your doctor refer you to a cardiologist, who can have you do a 24-hour Holter monitor. You wear it at home and it records your heart patterns for the whole day. It can be very useful, especially if your cardiac symptoms come & go.
Good luck to you!
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Knowledge is power.
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Or, if they come and go in even longer time periods (ie. a few very bad times, but only once or twice a month), and they think it might be a serious condition, they can implant a heart monitor in your chest.
I did that, and I've been quite pleased with it. Mine is a Reveal (nice name, huh?) by Medtronic. An easy surgery, and now I don't worry so much. The recorder constantly records heart patterns, but only "saves" if you tell it to do so (aka, when you feel the symptoms). Then the doc can look at what you experience, and then say if it is cardio-related, or not.
Hopefully it won't come to that, as hopefully they are not heart related, but just some other kind of abdominal flutter sensation. But, just to let you know, if the Holter is inconclusive, there are other options.
Best of luck, and health! 
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~~~Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.~~~
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Yes, I get heart palpitations related to food, too. For me, it's usually after I eat some sugary candy or a piece of caffeinated chocolate. It was happening more frequently for a while, so I went to the doc, but he didn't hear anything and said it's actually pretty common to get them from sugar, caffeine, stress, etc. I'd say just keep an eye on it, and unless it gets too bad you should be fine.
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"Anyone can exercise, but this kind of lethargy takes real discipline." -Garfield
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Wow...I'm interested to hear that. I assumed that I was weird, because heart related anything has not come up here, than I can find.
Here's another question then...
What about having your hear slow down/ or stop entirely? Maybe 30 mins to an hour after eating a full size meal. I can feel mine slow, and if I don't fall asleep, I pass out. One way or another, I'm certainly not very productive. A deep sleep or faint--the kind where even when you come to, you can hear people, but you can't move to respond. Like everything is "thick" and "heavy" for a while after too.
Has anyone else experienced this?
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~~~Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.~~~
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Could you (unknowingly) be injesting m.s.g.? As Kree mentioned certain foods cause an excitory response, i.e. caffeine, sugar, chocolate, sodium, additives/preservatives.
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I am wondering if this could have been allergies?? I read that if you eat a certain food and your heart beats faster than normal (is this a palpatation or is that something else??) that it could be you are allertgic to the food. Any thoughts anyone? 
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Formerly known as Ruchie
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I don't get them after eating, but I wake up during the night with them.
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I had them for a while, when I was really unstable, & didin't know how bad my IBS could get. I'd get them almost everyday. They freaked me out.I guess they just went away on they're own, haven't had them in quite a while, thank God.
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Kiwi
IBS-C
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i was wondering if i could ask you something on a personal note aside from IBS. what do you experience w/GAD and OCD? ive always thought i had one or the other but didnt want to go to a doctor/shrink anymore. sometimes i wonder if maybe i still have habbits of them that somehow play a role in my IBS-C. i hope youre able to reply back! its really good seeing your messages and i hope it was alright to talk about this. hope to read from you soon
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VEGAN ASHLEY~IBS/C
www.myspace.com/dutchflowers
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I'm am thrilled you are asking me! People on the boards helped me get diagnosed...and I'm thankful to them and happy to help in any way I can *big hugs*
I'm not sure where to begin answering your question! Can you perhaps ask me things more specifically? If it's too personal...e-mail me! Ruchily@yahoo.com
In general...I obsess about things...everything from "did I say the right thing" to "obsessing about food" and lots of stuff in between! (I'm only giving general stuff here...not comfortable being too specific on the boards but would be ok to be more descriptive in e-mail.)
GAD. Oh my! I can be agoraphic and WANT to go out but CAN'T..
I get anxious that I'll be on the toilet for hours (I'm IBS A...mostly C and as a child I woulod be at a restaurant for HOURS in agony on the toilet...I don't get scared of this much anymore but when I'm unstable it can come back.) I get anxious that I'm not good enough or perfect enough.
I hope this helps? LOL See...I'm anxious I'm not being helpful enough!
Meds are helping me catch myself when I'm anxious...and so is therapy..I have a super therapist. I'm learning a lot. I'm finding things to do to calm myself and learning how to relax and choose healthy choices.
Really though AShley...let me know if I can tell you more privately...I'd be more than happy to, ok *hugs* Good for you for asking questions and learning and being open...you rock!!! 
Sendiong you lots of love,
Ruch
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Formerly known as Ruchie
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Quote:
Wow...I'm interested to hear that. I assumed that I was weird, because heart related anything has not come up here, than I can find.
Here's another question then...
What about having your hear slow down/ or stop entirely? Maybe 30 mins to an hour after eating a full size meal. I can feel mine slow, and if I don't fall asleep, I pass out. One way or another, I'm certainly not very productive. A deep sleep or faint--the kind where even when you come to, you can hear people, but you can't move to respond. Like everything is "thick" and "heavy" for a while after too.
Has anyone else experienced this?
Wow, I'm glad Ruchie brought this post back up, because I missed this! I've certainly never passed out after a meal. That sounds scary. But over the past 8 months or so I've found that after a meal I do feel extremely sluggish... thick and heavy would be great words for the way I feel. I had wondered what caused that. It's weird, I can be sitting in the teacher's room chatting away as I eat, but about 15-20 minutes after that I suddenly find myself becoming very spacey and lack energy. I wonder if that could be my heart, too. I haven't been getting the palpitations I mentioned earlier in this post anymore, but this still happens. Weird stuff. Are you still having problems with passing out?
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"Anyone can exercise, but this kind of lethargy takes real discipline." -Garfield
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Hi Kree, Your problem sounds more like hypoglycemia. Also,
often people mistake high frequency stomach spasms for heart
palpitations because the frequency is about the same as a
rapidly beating heart, and it's the area of the stomach right
around the esophageal sphincter which close to the heart. If you've heard the terminology butterflys in the stomach,
that's what these are often called because they have a high
frequency like that of a butterfly flapping it's wings.
-Bob
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<img src="http://www.math.mtu.edu/~rwkolkka/BritPicA.jpg">
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You always want to have anything to do with the heart checked out for sure.
However, the autonomic nervous system controls digestion and is connected to other functions such has the heart.
"Personal Reporter: Answers About Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Our experienced medical journalist Jennifer Warner took your questions about IBS to specialists. Here's what she found out. WebMD Personal Reporter
Symptoms
Question:
I have suffered with IBS for 24 years. My question is what causes the following symptoms: Out of nowhere I start feeling very nauseated, then I start to sweat, feel faint, have heart palpitations, and have terrible stomach pains. Usually a bowel movement or just passing gas helps. Does the bowel pain bring this on? I've heard of many people that have the same symptoms.
Answer:
If a bowel movement relieves the discomfort, it is consistent with IBS. The likelihood is that at her age it would be IBS.
However, if this is an acute, or short-lived, intense type of pain, it might also be an intestinal infection. If it's been going on for several weeks or months, then it's likely IBS or another type of intestinal disease, such as Crohn's disease, or if there is blood in the stool it could be ulcerative colitis. But in young people those disorders have perhaps one-hundredth to one-thousandth the frequency of IBS.
The key element is that if it has been going on for a while without blood in stool or weight loss and you experience relief after passing gas or a bowel movement, it's most likely IBS.
Symptoms, such as pain, sweating, heart palpitations, and feeling faint are related to the exaggerated nervous system response to eating that occurs in people with IBS. --
Douglas Drossman, professor of medicine and psychiatry at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and co-director of the UNC Center for Functional GI and Utility Disorders. "
http://www.webmd.com/content/article/65/79521.htm
This is why you can get heart palpitations after eating.
again always have a problem with the heart checked out for sure.
Other people with IBS and dyspepsia or dyspepsia may get chest pains from esphogus. Called non cardiac chect pains.
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My website on IBS is www.ibshealth.com
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Stomach spasms, huh?? I've certainly never heard of that being mistaken for palpitations, but it makes sense. I'm fairly certain mine is my heart, though... palpitations run on both sides of my family.
As for my after-lunch problem, hypoglycemia would make sense. I've always had trouble feeling light headed early in the mornings, etc., and figured that was why... but my doctor was never worried enough to do anything about it.
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"Anyone can exercise, but this kind of lethargy takes real discipline." -Garfield
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Formerly known as Ruchie
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