Over the past week I've developed something new; my heart rate goes up while I'm eating. It's not every meal, and there doesn't seem to be a pattern based on what I'm eating. It's not painful, but it's disconcerting. It feels like a panic attack without the panic (I'm not sure how else to describe it). My hearts pounds for 10 - 15 minutes then slowly goes back to normal. Sometimes I feel slightly anxious because I don't know why it's doing that & I start to worry about it.

I don't want to go running to my Dr. every time I have some small symptom, but I wondered if any of the vets have experienced this?

Have you taken your pulse and seen the increase, or does it feel like it is increasing? The reason I ask is, I have felt like mine was racing before to find it at a completely normal number. If you do know the numbers, what is your baseline? and how high does it get?

A spike in blood pressure could actually be a spike in the insulin response that is triggered by certain foods or just by eating

This might suggest some kind of pancreatic system issue. Notice I use the words could and might because it is just a suggestion to talk to your doctor about. I read about this correlation between blood pressure and insulin levels a little while back.

Double post. Delete.

Over the past week I've developed something new; my heart rate goes up while I'm eating. It's not every meal' date=' and there doesn't seem to be a pattern based on what I'm eating. It's not painful, but it's disconcerting. It feels like a panic attack without the panic (I'm not sure how else to describe it). My hearts pounds for 10 - 15 minutes then slowly goes back to normal. Sometimes I feel slightly anxious because I don't know why it's doing that & I start to worry about it.

I don't want to go running to my Dr. every time I have some small symptom, but I wondered if any of the vets have experienced this?[/quote']

I felt that at first if I happened to eat a food that contained hidden sugars in it - you may be consuming sugars when you don't realize it.

... could be a slight allergy to something... I get the same thing at times... I do have atrial fibrillation... but I don't think this is related... I get it when I make home made pudding.... milk, chocolate, corn starch, add ons.... when I keep it simple, and eat a smaller portion that seems to help. These ingredients alone do not seem to trigger the event....

....Some people experience palpitations after eating heavy meals that are rich in carbohydrates, sugar, or fat. Sometimes, eating foods with high levels of monosodium glutamate (MSG), nitrates, or sodium can bring them on.

If you have heart palpitations after eating certain foods, the problem could be food sensitivity. Keeping a food diary can help you identify which foods to avoid......

http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/guide/what-causes-heart-palpitations

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

Macy6 - I haven't actually taken my pulse, it just feels like it's racing; I ordered a heart monitor for when I work out (just coincidentally) so I'm going to use it to see if my heart rate is actually elevated when I feel this way, or if it just feels like it is.

Fiddle & FeedYourEye - good point about the insulin & food sensitivities. I do log all my food into MFP, but there doesn't seem to be a pattern to what I eat when this happens. I don't eat anything with MSG or nitrates that I'm aware of, and I've cut excess sodium out of my diet. Given what a salt freak I was pre-surgery, I don't think the sodium that's already in my food would trigger this response.

I'm thinking BethinPA and Fiddle may be right - I think it may be an insulin spike that's sugar related. I'm going to add these episodes to the notes in MFP so I can correlate what I'm eating to when it happens. Hopefully that will pinpoint the culprit.

Thanks all!

My experience is that i will feel like my heart is racing, but it isn't. This isn't triggered by eating, but have had it happen other times.

Check it first - and then maybe do see a doctor if it really is elevated.

Maybe see a doc if it is not. I just started taking an herbal to reduce the adrenal/stress response.

I have experienced this a few times after my meals. I never got it checked out, but did notice a pattern: it usually happened when I had gone a little too long without eating, and then ate a little faster or more than I should have.

I didn't overeat, per se, because my meal would have been pre-packed, but perhaps if I had eaten slower or been more aware of my meal, I would have stopped before the vagal responses kicked in. Eating fast or taking bigger bites tends to kick my vagal responses into overdrive, regardless of the quantity.

In each case, I had been studying and noticed during a break that I had missed my scheduled meal time. I ate while watching a TV show or movie on my laptop (being hungry and not focusing on the bite size/timings is a bad combination), and finished the lunch I had measured out earlier that morning. I didn't time the meal, but I bet it was shorter than 20 minutes.

While I haven't heard about the insulin surge causing an increased BP, it definitely sounds plausible. The vagal response can do the same. So, I chalked it up to that, and gave myself a slap on the hand for being negligent. Try to time your meals or be aware of the bites, and see if maybe there is a pattern?

If I eat too much or too fast this happens to me. At the beginning it happened if I ate too much sugar or fat.

Puja & Sarsar - thanks for the replies. I'm a pretty slow eater (was slow pre-op, am even slower now) so I don't think it's the speed. I'm only 14 weeks post-op, so my restriction is still pretty tight. If I eat too fast I get the foamies, so I'm pretty careful.

Cowgirl Jane - could be stress too, hadn't thought about that. I have to admit, I do have a lot of anxiety tied to food! It's my comfort and my bane. Could be anxiety causing the feeling.

My heart rate monitor should be here this week, so I'll know soon! Haven't had anymore episodes since posting, but I've also been pretty careful with my diet - low sugar/low carb, and eating carbs in combo with protein when i can.