New To This, Difficult Digestive/heart Rate Issues, Please Read :)

[Ulyssesm90]

Hello all!

I'll be brief: I have the characteristic dramatic rise in heart rate when standing that characterizes POTS (my record is 80 supine, going up to 130 when standing, immediately). Since drastically increasing my water intake I have resolved many of my symptoms, especially my near faints (so frightening!). However, one remains that is a huge burden for me. When eating a meal, especially in the evening for whatever reason, my heart rate will shoot up again, within minutes of finishing the meal, and I'll get *extremely* bloated. At first this was only happening with really sugary things, and it would be accompanied by shakiness and restlessness. My doctor mentioned postprandial hypoglycemia, but said it wasn't likely because I'm not lean and I'm not female. Anyway, figured it couldn't hurt to cut out all those refined carbs anyway, so I did. The shakiness and anxiety and tremulousness have mostly resolved (yay!) but still even on what I'd consider a smaller meal I get the bloating and the racing heart (fyi, I've had much of the typical doctor stuff done already like extensive blood work, cardiac tests, just to be safe). These episodes are extremely debilitating for me, leaving me exhausted and feeling ill, and they last for 4-5 hours, give or take. Hydration doesn't help, the only thing that helps is not eating, which is obviously no solution, so I'm going to try and be really vigilant about eating many super small meals throughout the day, but to be honest my lunches and dinners aren't exactly lavish...I'm a college student haha so I make do. They are small meals is my point, so we'll see if even smaller helps at all, but I have my doubts. Does anyone understand this? What has helped you? This is taking over my life...I'm only 23 and I've got so much to do and I can't eat a **** plate of broccoli without feeling like I've run a marathon gahhh!!!!

[BeforeTheMorning]

Hi,

I hear you, a lot of the time I eat ridiculously tiny meals, otherwise I will feel absolutely awful afterwards. I'm really sorry I don't know anything that helps apart from avoiding carbs and eating tiny amounts at a time. I often snack on nuts and fruit throughout the day because my meals have to be so small. Hope you can figure something out to help you soon.

[westernmass]

Have you seen a GI? I don't have the dramatic postprandial rise in HR, but severe bloating after eating could be caused by SIBO, an overgrowth of bacteria in the small intestine...which can also be caused by gastroparesis, which to some extent (mild-severe) it seems that many of us with autonomic disfunction have. It also could be something totally different! So if you haven't checked in with a GI yet, I would definitely recommend it. Otherwise I've found sticking to several small meals a day to be helpful...can't say anything for ur HR jumping up though. Good luck!

[AllAboutPeace]

Welcome to the forum!

I have had the same symptoms you are describing, so I also have to watch the carbs and eat smaller meals? Have you considered postprandial pooling (more blood going to your abdomen to help with digestion)? Since you get the symptoms regardless of what you eat, it may be something to look into. Sometimes an increase in heart rate can be a compensatory mechanism to get blood back to where we need it most (brain, heart).

Some of us find abdominal binders to be really helpful for postprandial symptoms. They just fit snuggly around your abdomen under your clothes.

[davecom]

I have the same patterns at you w/ POTS. Have you formally been diagnosed with an autonomic disorder/POTS? My suggestion to you would be to look into w/ an autonomic doctor in your area - and also to get a glucose tolerance test from your primary. Good luck wishing you the best - definitely hard to deal w/ that w/ college.

Hello all!

I'll be brief: I have the characteristic dramatic rise in heart rate when standing that characterizes POTS (my record is 80 supine, going up to 130 when standing, immediately). Since drastically increasing my water intake I have resolved many of my symptoms, especially my near faints (so frightening!). However, one remains that is a huge burden for me. When eating a meal, especially in the evening for whatever reason, my heart rate will shoot up again, within minutes of finishing the meal, and I'll get *extremely* bloated. At first this was only happening with really sugary things, and it would be accompanied by shakiness and restlessness. My doctor mentioned postprandial hypoglycemia, but said it wasn't likely because I'm not lean and I'm not female. Anyway, figured it couldn't hurt to cut out all those refined carbs anyway, so I did. The shakiness and anxiety and tremulousness have mostly resolved (yay!) but still even on what I'd consider a smaller meal I get the bloating and the racing heart (fyi, I've had much of the typical doctor stuff done already like extensive blood work, cardiac tests, just to be safe). These episodes are extremely debilitating for me, leaving me exhausted and feeling ill, and they last for 4-5 hours, give or take. Hydration doesn't help, the only thing that helps is not eating, which is obviously no solution, so I'm going to try and be really vigilant about eating many super small meals throughout the day, but to be honest my lunches and dinners aren't exactly lavish...I'm a college student haha so I make do. They are small meals is my point, so we'll see if even smaller helps at all, but I have my doubts. Does anyone understand this? What has helped you? This is taking over my life...I'm only 23 and I've got so much to do and I can't eat a **** plate of broccoli without feeling like I've run a marathon gahhh!!!!

[Dustbunni]

Something else to consider is a food intolerance. I have a gluten intolerance/Celiacs (depending on which of my doctors you ask, some insist on a biopsy for official confirmation instead of just blood tests). When I eat anything with gluten I get almost immediate and severe abdominal bloating, tachycardia and arrhythmias, a distinct headache, and constipation. It took quite a while for us to figure this out as I had no idea gluten was in practically everything even remotely processed (though this is improving in recent years). Also, once I've been glutened, it takes about a week before my symptoms fully subside. We discovered it almost by accident when my family and I tried an elimination diet. I truly didn't even suspect an intolerance other than possibly to dairy. Within a week I knew something was up as the improvement in those symptoms was amazing. One piece of whole grain toast later and we knew and later confirmed it with an antibody test.

It couldn't hurt to try an elimination diet where you eliminate all of the most common culprits like dairy, gluten, corn, nightshades, etc. Then you add each type back into your diet one at a time, giving it a week before you add the next type back to see how your body reacts. A simple but possibly informative test.

...Hehe, as I wrote this I thought about all the self-tests and treatments I've tried over the years. I really, really need to make myself a guinea pig costume for next Halloween.