Fast heartbeat, especially after a large meal - is this a concern?

[Sparkle1984]

For the last few weeks I've had a rapid heartbeat. For some reason it seems to get worse after eating a large meal. Sometimes after a meal it can be about 120 beats per minute. At other times of the day, it ranges from about 80 to 100 beats per minute. Before this anxiety episode began a few months ago, my usual resting heartrate was about 70 beats per minute, and I never used to notice it speeding up after a meal.

I don't think it's all down to anxiety, as sometimes even when I'm feeling fairly calm and reasonably happy, I often feel my heart racing. For example, Tuesday afternoon when I was sitting on the sofa reading a newspaper, I felt fairly calm and happy as I'd achieved a lot during the day (doing a long walk in the countryside, which was my first proper exercise in several weeks), but I could still feel my heart pounding, probably about 90 to 100 beats a minute.

I'm currently on my 7th week of taking citalopram, so maybe it could be side effects from that. However, I've been on it twice before in the past, and those times the fast heartbeat calmed down after about 2 or 3 weeks. In terms of my overall anxiety, I do feel better than before I restarted the meds, but I still get a lot of intrusive negative thoughts, so I think they haven't kicked in fully yet.

Is this heartrate issue something to be concerned about?

[Frenchy]

Hi Sparkle

I can tell you that an elevated heart rate after a large meal is completely normal. Eating will generally kick your metabolism (including your heart) into a higher gear as your body uses a large amount of energy during the process of digesting foods. All these digestive processes require that organs like your stomach, intestines, liver, kidneys etc get extra bloodflow in order to fuel them whilst they are all working away. And these are some large organs!. Eating a large meal will increase this even further meaning that both your pulse and you BP may go up. Certain foods can make this effect worse too - for example I have come across a lot of people who have this pounding heart effect when they eat a lot of carbs or especially salty foods or foods that are fried/greasy. The added problem with evening meals is that we often eat a large meal just before long periods of relaxation (settling down to watch TV or sitting relaxing on the sofa) which is when you are most likely to become aware of your pulse.

Some people are simply not aware of their heartbeat/rate at all (lucky for them) and don't notice these normal fluctuations - and then some of us are much more aware of our heartbeat and so we can feel these changes a lot more. You're heartrate has almost certainly always done this - however anxiety (even low-level background anxiety that we may not be conciously aware of) just seems to have the general effect of making some people more "tuned in" to being able to feel their heart. And even small amounts of stress or anxiety can increase their heart rate.

You can manage this by ensuring you eat smaller meals - and maybe try to avoid salty/greasy foods - and reduce carbs if you can. I have definately found that this helps me a lot.

Tuesday evening may have been a bit high due to your long walk. Exercise can increase your heart rate and BP for several hours after the event - especially if you haven't exercised in a while. And even if it didn't feel that strenuous.

You're heart rate may go a bit high at times, but we're not talking tachycardia levels here and this all seems explainable and pretty normal to me (factoring in a bit of anxiety). You don't mention any pain or physical discomfort and so I really wouldn't be worried about this, to be honest.

[Willtruman]

I find, especially after a large meal and booze, if I wake up in the middle of the night, and start to roll over, when I do, my heart starts thundering like crazy....fast, very strong beats. It feels like it's going to Lund right out of my chest. This lasts a minute or two....then it's just first for a bit, then it goes back to its normal, which is usually 70-80 bpm.

[Sparkle1984]

Thanks for your replies. Since this anxiety episode began, I'm definitely more aware of fluctuations in my heart rate. It's weird that I don't recall such dramatic changes in my heart rate during my previous anxiety episode 2 years ago, but I guess every episode is different in terms of symptoms. Also, side effects from medication can be different each time.

[Paul84]

My resting heart rate is 60-65ish, Which up until last week I wasn't aware of until out of nowhere, I started worrying about my heart :doh:(I'm 31, relatively healthy, varied diet.).
I began noticing the changes in rythym all of sudden, and it does increase after eating (particularly in the evening)
For example, I had a hefty bit of meat tonight and I noticed a more pronounced rythym.
All is normal Sparkle.

[iwantpeace]

when i sit in my chair i have 80bpm, after eating a meal i go to 100 bpm.
the doctor said its due to digestion and the stomach need more blood to
digest the food. and said that its normal.

once i ate a huge pizza by mislef and my heart rate was 120 for 3 hours while
sitting on the couch and watching a movie.

[Natalie x]

Hi there, I have just posted a similar concern. I noticed all of last week after lunch at work I could feel my heart beating quite loudly and also at a pretty fast rate. I'm not sure if the fast rate is down to worrying since I was more aware of my heart beating if that makes sense? I've also just finished dinner and noticed it's quite fast. Hope you feel better soon x