Introduction
Tachycardia after meals often occurs in connection with various clinical pictures, such as in the early phase of diabetes mellitus type II, or as a result of a Billroth II operation, and is often perceived as very unpleasant by those affected. Tachycardia exists from a heartbeat of over 100 per minute. Tachycardia can occur at varying intervals after meals and can be accompanied by various other symptoms.
Symptoms
A typical symptom of tachycardia after a meal, regardless of the cause, is an increase in the pulse rate to over 100 beats per minute, either immediately or with a certain time interval after eating. Tachycardia can be accompanied by heavy sweating, a drop in blood pressure and in rare cases by shock. Nausea, digestive problems, physical weakness or general nervousness may also occur after eating, depending on the cause of the palpitations. The tachycardia can be reduced by specific therapeutic measures or in some cases by spontaneous regression.
Causes of tachycardia
There are numerous causes that can be considered for tachycardia after eating. On the one hand there are the so-called dumping syndromes, which are further subdivided into early and late dumping. The dumping syndromes usually occur as a result of an operation on the stomach.
One example is the Billroth II operation, in which part of the stomach is removed due to an ulcer or tumor and the small intestine is connected to the remaining stump of the stomach. In addition, an operation to reduce the size of the stomach, for example in cases of severe obesity, or a so-called vagotomy, in which parasympathetic nerve fibers in the stomach are severed to reduce the production of gastric acid, can lead to a dumping syndrome with palpitations after eating: Since other clinical pictures are also responsible for the excessive release of insulin, this also causes tachycardia after eating. One of the triggers, for example, is the temporarily increased insulin secretion in the early phase of type II diabetes.
The symptoms also occur when the islet cells of the pancreas become enlarged or when an insulin-producing tumor develops. Hyperthyroidism can also trigger tachycardia. In this case, however, the symptoms of increased metabolic activity are not necessarily linked to food intake, but may be present independently of it.
Roemheld syndrome can also be named as a cause of tachycardia after eating. This syndrome describes an increased accumulation of gas in the gastrointestinal tract, which is caused by certain foods or, for example, food intake in large quantities and exerts pressure on the diaphragm and at the same time on the heart. This pressure causes pain and can sometimes be responsible for palpitations.
- Early dumping: The reason is the reduced passage time of food through the stomach and the resulting premature arrival of the food pulp in the small intestine. The food thus suddenly reaches the small intestine and, in the case of early dumping, ensures that its high osmotic concentration quickly attracts a lot of water into the intestinal lumen. Up to a fifth of the blood plasma volume can thus enter the intestine.
The result is a racing heart immediately after eating.
- Late dumping: Late dumping is the consequence of the shortened passage time of food through the stomach and the sudden arrival in the small intestine, namely that suddenly enormous quantities of carbohydrates are absorbed and lead to an excessive release of insulin, which in turn lowers the blood sugar level and even causes hypoglycemia. As a counter-regulation to hypoglycemia, the body releases various hormones, including adrenaline, which is responsible for the increase in heart rate. Late dumping usually occurs two to three hours after food intake.
Psychological causes of cardiac arrhythmias after meals are usually psychosomatic clinical pictures.
For example, tachycardia can be an expression of a somatoform disorder. The patient has an inner-psychic conflict with eating, which is expressed in this way. Furthermore, a psychosomatic illness would also be conceivable, in which the patient develops her own theory of illness, which links eating to the cardiac arrhythmia that occurs.Furthermore, an anxiety disorder could develop from this, which is characterized by an anxious expectation, in the sense of a “self-fulfilling prophecy” the affected person is then afraid that eating could again cause rhythm disturbances and increases in such a way into his anxiety that the fear leads to an increased heartbeat or even a racing heart.
Cardiac arrhythmia that is explicitly attributable to fatty food is virtually unknown among experts. On the other hand, carbohydrate-containing food – especially in people who have undergone stomach surgery – can lead to the withdrawal of large quantities of fluid from the blood into the intestines. The body may react to this with tachycardia or cardiac arrhythmia.
However, this condition is not yet known for fatty foods. Caffeinated food components such as coffee or tea are also among the causes of tachycardia after eating. You can find detailed information on this topic at Heart palpitations after a meal