Alcohol and heart palpitations

So, this thing started happening to me this summer... basically, whenever I head out over the weekend and have a few drinks—maybe one, two, or even more than that—I’ll wake up the next morning feeling like my heart is absolutely sprinting through my chest, just pounding like crazy, and sometimes I actually struggle to catch my breath.
Since I already deal with low blood pressure, I was thinking maybe the alcohol is just dilating my vessels even further and bottoming me out even more 😢
To try and fix it, I’ve been trying stuff like dunking my hands in ice water, or just lying down and propping my legs up or whatever...
And usually, that seems to take the edge off..
But honestly, nothing worked better than when I went for a swim in the ocean or took a freezing cold shower.

I’m sitting here wondering if I should actually go see a doctor about this, or if I just need to swear off alcohol entirely and never touch it again or what? 🤷

It was especially brutal when the heat waves were hitting hard..

I can't tell if this is just some weird normal thing or if it's actually something I should be worried about... I really don't want my heart to just give out on me.

I’ve noticed that whenever I have a drink, after a little while my face starts flushing red,😕 almost like my nose gets slightly congested and my heart begins to race just a bit faster than usual.🤷

And it isn't even about being drunk or having had much to begin with. For instance, just yesterday I had two shots of tequila and experienced the exact same thing.🤷

It wasn't ever like this before—I suppose it's just one of those things that happens as you get older.🤣

restlesscobra9 might be looking at an allergic reaction to alcohol. Redness and shortness of breath are the usual red flags for allergies. Then there’s the heart palpitations 🤷
If it's the booze, just quit. I used to get these sharp pains around my eye, so I cut it out. Now the pain is gone, I don't drink, and life is better.

Morgan Bishop4 said:So, this thing started happening to me this summer... basically, whenever I head out over the weekend and have a few drinks—maybe one, two, or even more than that—I’ll wake up the next morning feeling like my heart is absolutely sprinting through my chest, just pounding like crazy, and sometimes I actually struggle to catch my breath.
Since I already deal with low blood pressure, I was thinking maybe the alcohol is just dilating my vessels even further and bottoming me out even more 😢
To try and fix it, I’ve been trying stuff like dunking my hands in ice water, or just lying down and propping my legs up or whatever...
And usually, that seems to take the edge off..
But honestly, nothing worked better than when I went for a swim in the ocean or took a freezing cold shower.

I’m sitting here wondering if I should actually go see a doctor about this, or if I just need to swear off alcohol entirely and never touch it again or what? 🤷

It was especially brutal when the heat waves were hitting hard..

I can't tell if this is just some weird normal thing or if it's actually something I should be worried about... I really don't want my heart to just give out on me.

I also have low blood pressure, and what you're saying doesn't quite track... normally, when your blood pressure is low, your vessels aren't dilated; they're actually constricted, which makes it harder for oxygen to reach certain organs and leaves you feeling exhausted. That's just how low blood pressure works. As for the alcohol, I've never experienced that, even though I fall into the heavy category of low-pressure sufferers. I guess a little red wine actually helps perk me up, which isn't a bad thing for my BP.

Patrick King7 said:restlesscobra9 might be looking at an allergic reaction to alcohol. Redness and shortness of breath are the usual red flags for allergies. Then there’s the heart palpitations 🤷
If it's the booze, just quit. I used to get these sharp pains around my eye, so I cut it out. Now the pain is gone, I don't drink, and life is better.

I have a feeling that's what it is too, though I never realized an allergy could just suddenly show up out of nowhere like that.🙂

I used to be able to drink like a fish!🤣

😢

Henry Fisher74 said:I also have low blood pressure, and what you're saying doesn't quite track... normally, when your blood pressure is low, your vessels aren't dilated; they're actually constricted, which makes it harder for oxygen to reach certain organs and leaves you feeling exhausted. That's just how low blood pressure works. As for the alcohol, I've never experienced that, even though I fall into the heavy category of low-pressure sufferers. I guess a little red wine actually helps perk me up, which isn't a bad thing for my BP.

So, I’m sitting here wondering how on earth you can deal with feeling all constricted and tight when your blood pressure is actually bottoming out... like, how does that even work? It feels totally backwards, right? One minute you're feeling lightheaded because your numbers are too low, and the next everything just feels squeezed shut... it doesn't make any sense at all...
And people actually believe that drinking straight 100% alcohol just opens up your blood vessels like some kind of miracle cure... honestly, the science is definitely not on your side there...

I mean, isn't it pretty obvious that if you've got high blood pressure, your arteries are basically constricted... which just naturally spikes the pressure because there’s way less room for the blood to actually flow through...

So, when you’re running low on pressure, there’s just too much slack in the system, right? It doesn't exactly deliver that full-body pump we're all looking for, so everything kind of feels... underwhelming, I guess...

Morgan Bishop4 said:So, I’m sitting here wondering how on earth you can deal with feeling all constricted and tight when your blood pressure is actually bottoming out... like, how does that even work? It feels totally backwards, right? One minute you're feeling lightheaded because your numbers are too low, and the next everything just feels squeezed shut... it doesn't make any sense at all...
And people actually believe that drinking straight 100% alcohol just opens up your blood vessels like some kind of miracle cure... honestly, the science is definitely not on your side there...

I mean, isn't it pretty obvious that if you've got high blood pressure, your arteries are basically constricted... which just naturally spikes the pressure because there’s way less room for the blood to actually flow through...

So, when you’re running low on pressure, there’s just too much slack in the system, right? It doesn't exactly deliver that full-body pump we're all looking for, so everything kind of feels... underwhelming, I guess...

Yeah, I'm kind of leaning toward that theory too.🤷

Defining hypotension is one thing, but deciding whether or not you actually need to treat it is just as controversial. The big question is: how should we approach treating people who live with chronically low blood pressure while trying to manage clinical symptoms and that whole mess of psychosomatic stress—you know, that mental or physical tension that just won't quit? It's funny because if you look at standard American medical literature, they don't even recognize it as a formal disorder; you'll barely find it mentioned in most textbooks. On the flip side, German medical circles refer to it as constitutional hypotension and suggest managing it by ramping up physical activity, increasing salt intake, or even prescribing vasoconstrictors (basically drugs that tighten the blood vessels). In more severe cases, they might go as far as using sympathomimetics, which are drugs designed to stimulate a specific part of the autonomic nervous system.

So, basically, the solution for low blood pressure is just squeezing the vessels shut.

In other words, if you constrict the vessels, the pressure goes up.😛

Alright, let's get into it... whether it's hot, wide, or whatever else you want to call it.

But what I'm actually wondering is, is this even normal, or should I be heading to a doctor or something?

Last year, back in the spring, my eyes would swell up after I had a drink—I mean, my eyelids would puff out like literal donuts!
This year, that hasn't happened, but instead, I've got this whole thing going on with my heart racing...

The weird part is, when I was sipping on whiskey or bourbon, I felt totally fine 😁 but then some liqueur or beer hits me and suddenly everything goes haywire... so, what gives? 🤷

I dealt with tachycardia last year—my doctor claimed it was just because I downed a couple of sips of an energy drink a few hours after my coffee. Anyway, the day after a kinesiology session, my heart started racing like crazy, and I actually blacked out for a second in the cafeteria. I spent the afternoon at Mayo Clinic, where they clocked me at over 200 BPM. I ended up running all sorts of tests and wearing a Holter monitor just to figure out it was actually a thyroid issue. It doesn't cost you anything to just go see a doctor and get some tests done.

restlesscobra9 said:I have a feeling that's what it is too, though I never realized an allergy could just suddenly show up out of nowhere like that.🙂

I used to be able to drink like a fish!🤣

😢

Sure, you still can. Just stick to water and chocolate milk. 😁