High Heart Rate Immediately After Eating?

[shathaway0811]

Hey y'all,

I'm just trying to establish how typical my symptoms are for POTS/Dysautonomia, and I've noticed several patterns including my heartrate increasing greatly after I eat. I'm just sitting at my desk right now and had a sandwich and some sunchips from subway, and my heartrate is a steady 105 bpm.

This is getting incredibly exhausting... Turning over in bed at night raises my heartrate, sitting still too long tends to make me feel light-headed, but also walking around or bending over/any change of position also makes it worse. I'm so annoyed with this! I'm so exhausted all the time plus I'm not sleeping well because I wake up consistently with tachycardia episodes and it's so frustrating. (I am on propranolol 10mg twice a day, and unfortunately that does not do a whole lot except immediately after I take it.

I really just want to find a physician who can address this in a specific, well-informed way. My PCP is great and knows about POTS but she's not a specialist.

[MomtoGiuliana]

I had and still sometimes have this problem after eating. I think to some extent it is normal for heartrate to increase slightly after eating however not to the extent we experience w POTS. My specialist suggested it happens due to low blood volume and after eating blood pools around the digestive tract further causing more symptoms. I also found that eating high carb foods (high glycemic index foods to be more exact) would make this even worse. So does blood glucose also play a role--I'm sure others here know more or know of other theories. But I did find that small meals higher in protein and fats and lower in sugar (or really no sugar) helped. Also taking plenty of fluid with the meal also helped reduce the high heart rate after eating. Do you find it is worse in the AM and better in the evening? That was my experience. I know it is frustrating.

[MomtoGiuliana]

This list of foods and glycemic index may help (per my comment about what helped me):

http://www.health.harvard.edu/healthy-eating/glycemic_index_and_glycemic_load_for_100_foods

[Katybug]

I have found that if I eat with my feet elevated, I'm ok. But, if I eat sitting properly at a table, I often become tachycardic and presyncopal immediately after the meal. I don't have an issue with what I'm eating...it's the position that gets me.

[stellaluna]

Yes, I feel like I want to/need to lay down if I eat too much/a big meal and a few times I have noticed an increase in bpm--will watch more often. I try to eat smaller meals but sometimes I wait too long and just feel I need to get calories in! I feel much better an hour or so after a big meal and if I am keeping up with my water as others have said.

Your mention of rolling over in bed struck a chord with me. Since i've been wearing a Polar wrist monitor and sometimes look at the data or glance at my watch during insomnia, ----YES my tachycardia kicks in just from rolling over or switching positions in bed.

I started .1 once per day Florinef (fludrocortisone about 8 weeks ago). At first I thought maybe I noticed a big diff. in heart rate. Now ... I'm not sure. There are so many factors in this dysautonomia puzzle. For me, Florinef may be helping with the dizziness and near syncope. Though, my walking-around heart rate still varies between 85-140. Since starting Florinef, the panic of pass -out feeling is near gone and I feel the urgency of needing to sit down less, though I do sit down more often as I assimilate to this "new normal". Since starting Florinef, my resting bpm has gone down. Laying down or sleeping it is between 48 and 95. I still see a huge jump in bpm especially if I am not drinking lots of water and eating salt & get up from sitting and sometimes even seemingly randomly as I try to figure out more triggers.

I tried Propanololol (sp?) (Inderal) many years ago before diagnosis. I know many POTs people find it helpful but when I was on it (for Tacychardia and chest pain poss. related to MVProlapse) I eventually found it made me too tired though as I said this was pre-POTS diagnosis. As many with POTs, I have seen many doctors, PCP and cardiologists before settling with this decent one with POTs knowledge. I go back to him in a few weeks... we'll see.

[Faye]

Large meals, And if not healthy, is a promise of higher HR for me....I started off on 10mg twice a day propanolo, but it didn't really help enough... I told my cardio dr about how just rolling side causes high HR and he said this is normal to occur in POTS ( he said everyone's HR and BP changes for everyone- just we get more pumps)

I switched to metorpolol about 6 weeks ago, and slowing been increasing dose, and so far it has helped with the HR not pounding as high in general, not sure if that is an option for you. Hope your tacky comes down, no fun. I notice at work if put a stool under my desk I stared down on the floor it helps take the edge off High HR.

[yogini]

Eating smaller meals and fewer carbs often help with this. For some reason I can handle a big dinner better than lunch or breakfast. I generally feel better toward the end of the day.