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Alcohol heart palpitations

E

Espiritus

Bluelighter
Joined
Jan 6, 2016
Messages
67
Not sure where to post this, but about 2 months ago I woke up with a fast heartbeat in the middle of the night after a night of drinking. Been socially drinking for years with no issues until now. Now almost every time I have a few drinks, I'm waking up at night with a fast heart beat, which is very uncomfortable. Now I'm expecting to have this problem so even when I have one or two drinks, I get anxious and of course my heart races even while awake. I can't tell if alcohol is actually messing with my heart or if it was just that one time and now because I'm anxious, I'm having palpitations every time I drink. I had an ECG done and it's normal, but apparently it's not the most revealing heart test unless someone has a very obvious heart problem. Also I smoke weed occasionally and until recently, had no issues. But the last 2 times I smoked, my heart went really fast and made me super anxious. I had to breathe and distract myself to calm down. I haven't smoked since because I don't want that happening again. My heart seems to be acting up? However, with psychedelics and Molly, no problems at all. Heart beats faster than usual yet no anxiety.
 
It sounds like you are getting anxiety from alcohol. This is actually pretty common. At least you got checked out by a medical professional. Have you told them how this happens when you drink? What did they say?
 
Common wisdom says alcohol is a depressant but that's not entirely true. While blood alcohol is rising, alcohol acts as a stimulant. Think loud raucous conversation and laughter at parties where people are drinking. And that's one of the ways in which it messes with your sleep. The fast heart rate is a result of alcohol continuing to act as a stimulant diminishing your quality of sleep. It doesn't' start to act as a depressant until BAC starts to fall.
 
You may or may not be anxious, but alcohol often causes palpitations - this is a pretty common symptom among a lot of people, myself included. And since you're finding weed doing something similar as well now, it's possible your heart is becoming more sensitive in general, an unfortunate but also pretty common outcome for some.
 
Drinking too much alcohol is bad for the heart. Limit yourself to 2 or 3 ounces of whiskey (or equivalent in your preferred drink) per day.
 
As with most internet diagnostics this is speculation but have you had any issues with sleep apnea? When you wake up with the tachycardia do you seem out of breath?
 
Sounds like you are suffering from dehydration. Take b vitamins, and drink a lot of water/gatorate. Get your electrolytes in. Potassium, magnesium, calcium. Eat whole foods.
 
Hydration is essential when consuming alcohol. When I use alcohol, I limit myself to about 3 ounces of whiskey and I always follow it up with three eight ounce glasses of water. This prevents me from ever getting hungover. When I see some people getting hammered and then going to bed without drinking any water it makes me cringe. That causes such bad hangovers, you wake up with that splitting headache that's so bad you don't even want to get up to get a glass of water. Take care of yourselves, people.
 
Thanks for all your replies! The doctor didn't say anything about the alcohol causing palpitations actually. He was just like "oh that's interesting that it started doing that just recently." I think I'm quite dehydrated in fact when I drink. I'm also getting older too so wouldn't be surprised if my body started reacting to things in general. No, when I wake up I'm not out of breath, just heart beating noticeably hard and fast :(
 
Its quite common for alcohol yo cause palpitations. You can try some magnesium, water, whatever but more than likely you'll have to cut back, just deal with the racing heart, or staty taking a beta blocker.
 
Sounds like dehydration and low blood sugar. Get your electrolytes in and some carbs. Maybe take 5mg valium and some ibuprofen. Less is more. Take care.
 
Yeah, I'm going to drastically reduce my social drinking. It's just not worth it anymore.
 
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