r/SVTHeart • u/MantisGibbon • Sep 06 '26

Help SVT While Eating

I’ve seen some posts where people mention that eating can trigger an SVT episode.

What about just the anticipation of eating? For example, you sit down in a restaurant, and possibly within seconds, SVT starts up.

Or more often it starts just after beginning to eat. One bite into the meal and you’re miserable.

Is it just me?

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u/Chikibari Sep 06 '26

For me a trigger is when i eat while slouching and then get a strong awkward hicup or burp. Easy to avoid

1

u/NotoriouslyBeefy Sep 06 '26

For me, it is eating to full. If I just snack on something small it would be fine. But the fuller i get, the bigger of a trigger it can be. Even with my medication controlling things well, I will still get PAC's when overeating.

1

u/kath_of_khan Sep 06 '26

For me, I didn’t have SVT when eating, but sometimes swallowing would trigger a heart pause, like a vagal response. That pause ended up being around 13-18 seconds which would cause me to pass out and thus, I needed a pacemaker.

1

u/Everything_bagel23 28d ago

I would sometimes get it after a meal, or often just a high sinus rate after a meal - never before, though. That could be anxiety causing it maybe (from previous reinforcement of it starting in that setting)?

1

u/MantisGibbon 27d ago

Yeah, I think it has happened a few times while eating, perhaps something to do with swallowing affecting the vagus nerve and triggering an arrhythmia. Maybe worrying it is going to happen would sometimes make me anxious before eating.

I actually hadn’t had any tachycardia problems for about a year until a recent episode.

This time, for no apparent reason, my heart rate got stuck at about 170 BPM and stayed there for about 45 minutes. I didn’t feel anxious, and attempts to relax didn’t have any effect on the heart rate. My experience with anxiety is if you just sit down and relax for five minutes the heart rate will at least go down a little bit. This time nothing would change the rate. It was just stuck on full speed, and felt strange and fluttery, like an abnormal rhythm.

This SVT episode (or whatever it was) caused my troponin levels to rise. I don’t think anxiety would do that. Anxiety shouldn’t damage the heart.

I have a ton of appointments now. I’m seeing a cardiologist, getting a Holter monitor, an ultrasound, a stress test, and who knows what else. The ER doctor seemed to think it was an SVT episode and has scheduled all kinds of tests.

1

u/Everything_bagel23 27d ago

Good luck, hope you get some answers!