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Rapid heartrate/high blood pressure after eating
For the past several years I have noticed that after eating food (which ranges from just a cup of milk to a full meal) that my heart rate and blood pressure increases significantly about 30 minutes after eating, and it lasts for about one and 1/2 hours to two hours. This occurs about 50% of the time after eating. My heart rate goes from ~75 bpm up to 140 bmp (max todate), and the blood pressure goes from 130/80 up to 180/102 (max to date). Note: I am borderline hypertensive and take 20mg of lisinopril a day. I have attempted to determine if there is a particular type of food, or food additive that might trigger the symptoms, and have noticed the symptoms always occur when I eat peanut butter or the snack crackers that are sold in vending machines, and will occassionally happen when I eat homemade macroni and cheese. Other that these foods, I can find no relationships. I can have a cup of milk one morning and get the symptoms, then have a cup the next day from the same gallon and have no symptoms. I have had several tests in the hospital - stress test, sonogram of the heart, gastronomic tests - with no results. Of course the tests were not conducted just after eating, so I was not exhibiting the symptoms. Do you have any thoughts on what might be causing this?
Story of my life budget guy ! Exact same thing here ! Bloke 1981 described it nicely it's reassuring. How come the last comment is from 2008 it's 2017 now.
1 Comments
Oh i see recent posts are at the bottom of the page. NM
Blood pressure spikes occur due to the cortisol released to control the immune response to the bacteria that ferment the contents of the meal and enter your body through the intestinal epithelial junction gaps. Reducing carb loading is suggested (Especially high GI carbs) as well as simultaneous consumption of antibacterial foods. Some of those foods are as follows:
fruit skins(Like that of berries, grapes, apples,pears,etc.), omega 3 fatty acids, flaxseeds, flax oil, fish oil, fish skin, garlic, turmeric, coconut oil, cocoa, coffee, lemons, limes, grapefruits, pineapple, vinegar, red wine (Probably due to the essence of red grape skins), hops, that one bitter chinese herb, egg whites, penicullum mold variants (Such as penicillium roqueforti commonly found in blue cheese).
Others with unknown or weaker antibacterial properties (Bacteriostatic).
Nuts, cinnamon, salt, grass fed fermented cow products(substantially higher omega 3 fat content) [cheese, sour cream, butter].
fruit skins(Like that of berries, grapes, apples,pears,etc.), omega 3 fatty acids, flaxseeds, flax oil, fish oil, fish skin, garlic, turmeric, coconut oil, cocoa, coffee, lemons, limes, grapefruits, pineapple, vinegar, red wine (Probably due to the essence of red grape skins), hops, that one bitter chinese herb, egg whites, penicullum mold variants (Such as penicillium roqueforti commonly found in blue cheese).
Others with unknown or weaker antibacterial properties (Bacteriostatic).
Nuts, cinnamon, salt, grass fed fermented cow products(substantially higher omega 3 fat content) [cheese, sour cream, butter].
3 Comments
I would also cut out the wheat. Will explain if you desire.
OMG you just described my diet right there I eat those foods almost everyday as they are supposed to be healthy superfoods.
I guess even good things have limits ! At some point i was thinking that i was eating "too healthy" but didn't understand the process behind it. Maybe that's why i get tachies regularly and high BP after meals.
I guess even good things have limits ! At some point i was thinking that i was eating "too healthy" but didn't understand the process behind it. Maybe that's why i get tachies regularly and high BP after meals.
GlikeGiraffe--I believe she meant DO eat those foods ("simultaneous consumption of antibacterial foods") I had to read the post twice to make sure I understood.
This seems to have worked for me.
I dramatically reduced the amount of saturated fat I eat and I try to keep saturated fat extremely low at dinner. The reason I tried this was because I learned I likely had a problem digesting and metabolizing saturated fat. Plus I was eating a high fat diet to lose weight. The result was massive inflammation.
I was having spikes from normal levels to 220/120 with hr >120 almost every evening. The very day I changed my diet to more vegetables and less saturated fats, the spikes stopped.
After a week, I started having spikes again, but only to 160/100 and they lasted only about an hour. This happened for 3 days and then I started having what I call micro spikes. HR would jump to 100, diastolic would go up about 10 points, but systolic barely moved. These micro spikes only lasted maybe 15 minutes from low to high and back down again.
For the last 2 days, no spikes that I noticed.
I did find a study (which I can't find again) that said in some people, the spike was caused by eating a meal high in glucose and/or fat. The solution was to avoid them or to take vitamins C and E with the meal. Unfortunately, I didn't write down the amount.
What I try to do is eat only vegetables for dinner and especially those high in C and E. Some people (me) shouldn't take vitamin E supplements, so it's better to get it from food.
In 3 weeks, I have also reduced each of the bp meds I take by half and over the last few days, bp never went over 122/81.
I also am taking several supplements and fasting a couple of days a week, but I think the 2/3 reduction in saturated fat was the key.
I dramatically reduced the amount of saturated fat I eat and I try to keep saturated fat extremely low at dinner. The reason I tried this was because I learned I likely had a problem digesting and metabolizing saturated fat. Plus I was eating a high fat diet to lose weight. The result was massive inflammation.
I was having spikes from normal levels to 220/120 with hr >120 almost every evening. The very day I changed my diet to more vegetables and less saturated fats, the spikes stopped.
After a week, I started having spikes again, but only to 160/100 and they lasted only about an hour. This happened for 3 days and then I started having what I call micro spikes. HR would jump to 100, diastolic would go up about 10 points, but systolic barely moved. These micro spikes only lasted maybe 15 minutes from low to high and back down again.
For the last 2 days, no spikes that I noticed.
I did find a study (which I can't find again) that said in some people, the spike was caused by eating a meal high in glucose and/or fat. The solution was to avoid them or to take vitamins C and E with the meal. Unfortunately, I didn't write down the amount.
What I try to do is eat only vegetables for dinner and especially those high in C and E. Some people (me) shouldn't take vitamin E supplements, so it's better to get it from food.
In 3 weeks, I have also reduced each of the bp meds I take by half and over the last few days, bp never went over 122/81.
I also am taking several supplements and fasting a couple of days a week, but I think the 2/3 reduction in saturated fat was the key.
2 Comments
I have almost the same symptoms,
After eating any meal specially dinner, Wethersfield it's a heavy meal or even cheaper or tuna, my BP gets to 145/100 and my HR is 105.
This lasts for 1.5 to 3 hours, and I start to feel better when the burping starts, that's when things start to get normal.
I went to several doctors but I got no solution.
One of them told me that I had the helicobacter pylori, I got cured of it but it was not the reason after all.
After eating any meal specially dinner, Wethersfield it's a heavy meal or even cheaper or tuna, my BP gets to 145/100 and my HR is 105.
This lasts for 1.5 to 3 hours, and I start to feel better when the burping starts, that's when things start to get normal.
I went to several doctors but I got no solution.
One of them told me that I had the helicobacter pylori, I got cured of it but it was not the reason after all.
Correction of typos.
Wether*
Heavy
Chease
Wether*
Heavy
Chease
I spent 3+ hours in ER last night. BP was about 120/75 and I ate 6 oz of oysters, a packaged diet dinner, and a diet drink. It was all I ate that day and I ate about 3 pm. By 4 pm, BP was 220/120 with heart rate at 120.
ER filled me full of meds and BP finally came down under 150/100 after about 3 hours. I am already on meds, so these were in addition to what I normally take.
This is the hypothesis I'm working on. I will go over it with my doc next week.
My 23andme genetics test indicates I likely have a problem producing enough digestive enzymes for digesting fat plus I have trouble metabolizing saturated fat. That means fat isn't broken down enough to be processed by the liver and gets dumped into the blood stream along with bad bacteria, toxins, etc.
So my body goes to war against all this junk in my blood stream. Has anyone else noticed that heartburn, burping, and gas accompanies the high BP and heart rate?
Now my body is undergoing oxidative stress and blood pressure starts going up. At the same time, histamines are being created to fight what it sees as allergens. I think this is why a food that normally doesn't cause a problem, suddenly does. The histamine level in blood is already high, then you eat a food that is high in histamine, and bam - you have what appears to be an allergic reaction.
I have eaten shrimp for years and had 1 severe reaction to it a few years ago. Same thing with Cod.
I'm throwing this out hoping that someone with some medical or strong science background might comment. My 1st thought was taking digestive enzymes and Betaine HCL to break down food would help, but so far it doesn't appear to.
Now I'm leaning toward this being a gut problem - what is often referred to as leaky gut. I would be curious to know how many others have heartburn, gas, burping, etc that starts about the same time as the spike in blood pressure.
I asked the ER doctor to run a histamine blood test so high histamine could be ruled in or out as possible cause - and he refused! The only time to run this test is when you think histamine is high. Otherwise, you just get a normal reading.
ER filled me full of meds and BP finally came down under 150/100 after about 3 hours. I am already on meds, so these were in addition to what I normally take.
This is the hypothesis I'm working on. I will go over it with my doc next week.
My 23andme genetics test indicates I likely have a problem producing enough digestive enzymes for digesting fat plus I have trouble metabolizing saturated fat. That means fat isn't broken down enough to be processed by the liver and gets dumped into the blood stream along with bad bacteria, toxins, etc.
So my body goes to war against all this junk in my blood stream. Has anyone else noticed that heartburn, burping, and gas accompanies the high BP and heart rate?
Now my body is undergoing oxidative stress and blood pressure starts going up. At the same time, histamines are being created to fight what it sees as allergens. I think this is why a food that normally doesn't cause a problem, suddenly does. The histamine level in blood is already high, then you eat a food that is high in histamine, and bam - you have what appears to be an allergic reaction.
I have eaten shrimp for years and had 1 severe reaction to it a few years ago. Same thing with Cod.
I'm throwing this out hoping that someone with some medical or strong science background might comment. My 1st thought was taking digestive enzymes and Betaine HCL to break down food would help, but so far it doesn't appear to.
Now I'm leaning toward this being a gut problem - what is often referred to as leaky gut. I would be curious to know how many others have heartburn, gas, burping, etc that starts about the same time as the spike in blood pressure.
I asked the ER doctor to run a histamine blood test so high histamine could be ruled in or out as possible cause - and he refused! The only time to run this test is when you think histamine is high. Otherwise, you just get a normal reading.
I have the same symptoms and after carefully watching the diet, i can tell it happens mostly because of the carbs/sugars.
I'm no doctor, but i understand physiology and biochemistry well enough to assume it makes perfect sense.
Adding glucose (carbs) to the cells promotes glycolysis, which in turn produces H2O as a byproduct, meaning more water in the blood (less dense blood) and therefore a higher BP. (Hydrodynamics 101).
Sodas also contain A LOT of sodium... Which make the body retain liquid, same effect as before...
If we are already borderline hypertensive, our bodies will likely react in the wrong way to excess liquid. From this point there are 5 paths:
1) diuretics (water out)
2) A/B/C channel blockers (less cardiac usage)
3) loose weight (decrease hydrodynamic load)
4) low carb/low sodium diet (regulate H2O)
5) Nitroglycerine/NoX (loosen arteries a bit)
(An alternate for number 5 is masticating and swallowing a raw garlic, as allicin produces nitric oxide as a metabolite, which relaxes the arteries and drops 5% to 10% BP for an hour or so).
Consult the first 2 with an MD before using..
We still have no clue why the renin/angiotensin system fails or why arteries become rigid over time... The day we figure this out, we will have cured hypertension. :(
I'm no doctor, but i understand physiology and biochemistry well enough to assume it makes perfect sense.
Adding glucose (carbs) to the cells promotes glycolysis, which in turn produces H2O as a byproduct, meaning more water in the blood (less dense blood) and therefore a higher BP. (Hydrodynamics 101).
Sodas also contain A LOT of sodium... Which make the body retain liquid, same effect as before...
If we are already borderline hypertensive, our bodies will likely react in the wrong way to excess liquid. From this point there are 5 paths:
1) diuretics (water out)
2) A/B/C channel blockers (less cardiac usage)
3) loose weight (decrease hydrodynamic load)
4) low carb/low sodium diet (regulate H2O)
5) Nitroglycerine/NoX (loosen arteries a bit)
(An alternate for number 5 is masticating and swallowing a raw garlic, as allicin produces nitric oxide as a metabolite, which relaxes the arteries and drops 5% to 10% BP for an hour or so).
Consult the first 2 with an MD before using..
We still have no clue why the renin/angiotensin system fails or why arteries become rigid over time... The day we figure this out, we will have cured hypertension. :(
I am pleased to check all of your answers and opinions on the HR issue, I also have the same issue of HR, when I eat meals my HR rises, although I did not check it thoroughly through a machine but I can feel it beating inside my chest which normally I do not feel before meals, and I can also feel it in my throat area which is a little frightening because I feel I am gonna have a heart attack or something!!
It started 5 years ago, I had my normal dinner and took a cup of black tea with milk as I normally used to do, but that night after an hour I felt a sudden increase in my HR and it did increase with time and reached to a limit that I thought it is the time when people have heart attacks, I was about 22 at that time, it was not just increase in HR but also cold sweats, and shaking in my hands and feet and I thought that my hand and legs were about to freeze or breathless or sleepy, this effect lasted for about 3 hours and I thought I was about to die, that morning I went to doctor and he said it is not that much to be worried about and told me that I was still young to have a heart disease or something, and he took it lightly, but the following days my stomach was in bad order and it lasted about 3 months, not the HR but the stomach condition.
One thing I was sure that my HR was directly related to the stomach condition and yes it is because my HR is constant and normal but sometimes and yes sometimes after having meals I feel my heart beat rapid, and even I can hear it outside my chest and also in my neck region.
After so much research on the web I concluded that eating certain foods may increase HR which includes coffee, rice, salty or spicy foods, soda, energy drinks etc. and people this is absolutely right because after reading this I just monitored my food intake and yes whenever I ate spicy foods, rice, energy drinks and soda, it increased my HR.
Through my experience I assume that:
1- Do not eat heavy meals on an empty stomach.
2- Do not drink after having meals especially soda or even water.
3- Always drink water before eating and only a half glass.
4- Do not eat spicy, salty or sugary food all at once.
5- Do not eat a combination of rice + soda.
6- Do not use energy drinks or even soda on empty stomach.
7- Even if you are starving to death, do not eat with your stomach full but a little, you can eat after a short break of 30 minutes or an hour if you are still feeling hunger.
8- Ad I am a Muslim so I will suggest you all to follow a famous saying of our Prophet MOHAMMAD S.A.W, which is:
"Do divide your stomach into three parts, 1st for food, 2nd for water and 3rd for water" which means that do not eat much when your stomach does not find any space for digestion but eat less as much as you can.
9- Always drink water even when you feel hungry, yes it is not a typing mistake when you feel hungry and you drink water will somehow cover your stomach's space and will decrease your hunger and your food intake.
Why I suggested all these things to follow related to stomach but not to heart directly? Because our digestion has a high impact on our HR, when we eat heavy meals or energetic meals, the stomach has to do hard work, not only the stomach but the whole body and since HEART is the main organ of pumping blood and supply then certainly it has to pay the price, i.e. to supply as much blood as it can, so what will happen? It will beat as fast as it can to supply more and more blood, which will increase HR and BP.
CONCLUSION!! When something like this occurs, do not get panic because panicking increases HR even more and the effect seems as a heart attack which is not even close to it. Consider this as a normal activity of the body which happens to some people who are normal including me and most importantly eat less as much as you can, drink water and avoid salty, spicy food and especially soda and energy drinks.
Be happy guys, enjoy every second of your life, do not waste it worrying about issues which are not worth to be worried about... :) hope it helps!!
It started 5 years ago, I had my normal dinner and took a cup of black tea with milk as I normally used to do, but that night after an hour I felt a sudden increase in my HR and it did increase with time and reached to a limit that I thought it is the time when people have heart attacks, I was about 22 at that time, it was not just increase in HR but also cold sweats, and shaking in my hands and feet and I thought that my hand and legs were about to freeze or breathless or sleepy, this effect lasted for about 3 hours and I thought I was about to die, that morning I went to doctor and he said it is not that much to be worried about and told me that I was still young to have a heart disease or something, and he took it lightly, but the following days my stomach was in bad order and it lasted about 3 months, not the HR but the stomach condition.
One thing I was sure that my HR was directly related to the stomach condition and yes it is because my HR is constant and normal but sometimes and yes sometimes after having meals I feel my heart beat rapid, and even I can hear it outside my chest and also in my neck region.
After so much research on the web I concluded that eating certain foods may increase HR which includes coffee, rice, salty or spicy foods, soda, energy drinks etc. and people this is absolutely right because after reading this I just monitored my food intake and yes whenever I ate spicy foods, rice, energy drinks and soda, it increased my HR.
Through my experience I assume that:
1- Do not eat heavy meals on an empty stomach.
2- Do not drink after having meals especially soda or even water.
3- Always drink water before eating and only a half glass.
4- Do not eat spicy, salty or sugary food all at once.
5- Do not eat a combination of rice + soda.
6- Do not use energy drinks or even soda on empty stomach.
7- Even if you are starving to death, do not eat with your stomach full but a little, you can eat after a short break of 30 minutes or an hour if you are still feeling hunger.
8- Ad I am a Muslim so I will suggest you all to follow a famous saying of our Prophet MOHAMMAD S.A.W, which is:
"Do divide your stomach into three parts, 1st for food, 2nd for water and 3rd for water" which means that do not eat much when your stomach does not find any space for digestion but eat less as much as you can.
9- Always drink water even when you feel hungry, yes it is not a typing mistake when you feel hungry and you drink water will somehow cover your stomach's space and will decrease your hunger and your food intake.
Why I suggested all these things to follow related to stomach but not to heart directly? Because our digestion has a high impact on our HR, when we eat heavy meals or energetic meals, the stomach has to do hard work, not only the stomach but the whole body and since HEART is the main organ of pumping blood and supply then certainly it has to pay the price, i.e. to supply as much blood as it can, so what will happen? It will beat as fast as it can to supply more and more blood, which will increase HR and BP.
CONCLUSION!! When something like this occurs, do not get panic because panicking increases HR even more and the effect seems as a heart attack which is not even close to it. Consider this as a normal activity of the body which happens to some people who are normal including me and most importantly eat less as much as you can, drink water and avoid salty, spicy food and especially soda and energy drinks.
Be happy guys, enjoy every second of your life, do not waste it worrying about issues which are not worth to be worried about... :) hope it helps!!
2 Comments
a little correction here, "Do divide your stomach into 3 parts, 1st for food, 2nd for water and 3rd for air"
One thing to add, do check your sleeping routine, if it is disturbed then you will have this impact as doubled, so try to sleep at least 7 hours
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