Tachycardia after drinking?

[grasshoppa23]

Last night I was drinking, I ended up getting quite drunk in fact it's probably the most drunk I've been this year. I vomited before going to sleep. Today I woke up and walked home (still slightly drunk) and when I got home my heart rate seemed to be beating abnormally fast. For the last 7 hours (since I've been awake) it has been at an elevated rate, right now it's at 108BPM and I've been very uncomfortable all day. My normal resting heart rate is between 60-70BPM (I check often because I have anxiety problems as well). I've been trying to sleep, but sometimes my heart is pounding so hard it shakes my arms and my abdomen plus I have an upset stomach. I've vomited several times throughout the day, and the last time was dry heaves, but I eventually got a yellowish liquid out (stomach bile?).

For a basic physical picture, I'm 6'1 usually 175lbs (now I'm down to 170.5). I'm in fairly good shape, 20 years old. I don't drink often, and I don't smoke (although I used to smoke a lot of "alternative" tobacco, but not for the last seven months). I stretch and practice taijiquan/qigong everyday to help anxiety problems (which has done wonders, although I doubt it will ever go away completely).

It seems to be more than a regular hangover, I haven't had any headaches or typical symptoms. Should I go to emerge? Or will this eventually pass? Surprisingly, this hasn't caused me any extreme anxiety which I am grateful for because that would probably bring my heart rate up to 150BPM, although, I have had a little bit, and my heart rate was elevated to 125BPM.

Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!

[Frank123b]

I had this today and have this on and off. My research points to a combo of two or three factors: 1) alcohol sometimes causes sinus tachycardia next day. It just sometimes happens. 2) an upset stomach, especially constipation, probably via vagus nerve, seems to make this worse 3) being physically tired eg from exercise or recent virus, makes this even worse. End result? Sitting around all day watching the HR monitor hovering at 120 when doing nothing.

[BobRBob]

Sure sounds like it except Holiday Heart often includes Afib as well as tachycardia. I recommend backing off the booze or next time you could be introduced to the pleasures of AFib on top of the racing heart. I don't recommend it:) I've completely stopped drinking since the onset of paroxysmal afib a few months ago. Not sure there's even a direct connection in my case as I didn't drink much anyhow but I'm not taking any chances, at least for now.

Good luck1

[grasshoppa23]

I'm doing fine now. My heart rate was down to 80 when I went to sleep, which is reasonable. It's back to my normal beat again. I guess this was holiday heart then?

[debbier]

You could be dehydrated, alchol really dehydrates the body,  if your dehydrated it will make you heart rate increase, add the alchol and vomiting and your body is probably depleted,   I would recommend drinking a bottle of gatorade or lots of water.     My heart races after one drink so I avoid it completely now

If your still not feeling well I would have it checked out.

[stutterheart]

If the rhythm was under 130 or so while you were walking and under 110 or so when you resting and if it was regular, you have nothing to worry about. It's a byproduct of drinking.
I'm 6 years older than you and used to drink a lot. Trust me...it will catch up with you right around the 23-25 year old range and get increasingly more harmful as you get older. Consider moderating. Try drinking a water in between every drink. Even if you have 12, you should be fine the next day. But 18+ drinks with no water like I used to do for weeks on end is not good for your body. If you find that you just can't get drunk enough by drinking a dozen beers with water in between, then you probably have a drinking problem anyway and need to quit.

[grasshoppa23]

Sorry, just trying to give the readers a good picture.

Thanks for the input.

[scr1971]

When alcohol is oxidized by the liver, a by product is produced called acetylaldehyde. This often causes a rapid heartbeat, and sometimes an increase in blood pressure. It is uncomfortable, but will go away as the acetyladehyde is further oxidized to acetic acid. This affect is really not that uncommon, but varies in severity depending on an individuals sensitivity.

[Wisconsin2007]

Uh, a bit too much info on the consistency of your puke.

As for your heart, Google Holiday Heart Syndrome.  While alcohol is a brain depressant, it's a heart stimulant, so problems you might have are going to be exacerbated by boozing it up.