Tachycardia and alcohol
Tachycardia is a so-called presentation symptom of the alcohol disease, which means that a newly occurring tachycardia can be a sign of excessive alcohol consumption for the physician, if other factors indicate an alcohol problem. However, tachycardia can also occur when alcohol consumption is increased only once. Alcohol blocks the formation of new sugar molecules in the liver and thus leads to hypoglycaemia, especially in diabetics.
However, hypoglycaemia due to excessive alcohol consumption is also possible in non-diabetics. The problem is that drunk or intoxicated persons recognize the warning signs of imminent hypoglycaemia less well than when they are fasting. Hypoglycaemia can cause a reaction of the body that is known as sympathicotonic in the technical jargon, which is noticeable among other things through increased sweating, restlessness, trembling and palpitations.
Tachycardia after the meal
Tachycardia after a meal, i.e. a heart rate of more than 100 beats per minute, can indicate increased metabolic activity with simultaneous reduced function of certain organs or disease-related changes in organs. But the composition of the food also plays an important role. The blood flow in the digestive tract is increased after the intake of food.
Normally, this additional physical strain on the cardiovascular system is only slightly perceptible to the organism concerned. In the case of existing diseases of the heart or vessels, such as coronary heart disease, the increased blood flow in the gastrointestinal tract can cause a significantly increased heart activity. This manifests itself in a high heart rate.
Foods high in fat or sugar, as well as caffeine and alcoholic beverages, can also trigger a racing heart. The dumping syndrome occurs particularly after gastrointestinal surgery, such as stomach reduction or tumor removal. It is usually a matter of reduced passage time in the stomach in the event of disturbed function of certain nerve tracts.
The food pulp in the stomach is usually not only passed on to the small intestine depending on the filling status, but is also closely related to the cardiovascular system. If the stomach now empties its contents independently of the normal rhythm, this can lead to cardiac arrhythmia, such as tachycardia. An incipient type II diabetes mellitus can cause a massive drop in blood sugar levels, leading to an increase in blood pressure with simultaneous tachycardia. There are also other, rarer endocrinological causes, such as an insulin-producing tumor, which can be responsible for the palpitations after eating. The following topics may also be of interest to you:
- Tachycardia after the meal
- Heart stumbling after the meal
