Chocolate induced tachycardia

Went a little crazy on some high quality chocolate ice-cream this afternoon and felt so bad I thought I might be in AFIB. Checked a few times and kept running 105-115. Gave in and took some Diltiazem. Still in the 90s but lesson learned.

It might have been the cold. I don't know if there would be sufficient caffeine in the quantity one typically consumes for that to have been the trigger.

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gloaming
It might have been the cold. I don't know if there would be sufficient caffeine in the quantity one typically consumes for that to have been the trigger.

In this meta analysis of caffeine and afib, there were only two studies that had statistical significance (meaning the confidence interval did not include 1). One had a higher odds ratio of afib and one lower. Graph: [oup.silverchair-cdn.com]

I don't buy the chocolate or caffeine connection. I think it's pure myth.

I agree, although there is always contending evidence when one looks. What I have found stands with what George and Carey posit, and have read with my own eyes research saying caffeine improves the efficiency of the heart. As further evidence, I offer that I was cautioned to abstain from all sources of caffeine, including 'decaf' coffees and tees, a day prior to both of my MIBI tests. This was ostensibly to ensure a veridical assessment of my heart's function and condition.

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Carey
I don't buy the chocolate or caffeine connection. I think it's pure myth.

Obviously I am an isolated case —6 months after my first ablation I decided to taste chocolate—something I was craving since 2004. I ate one bite of a gluten free chocolate chip cookie and ruined my ablation.

I still miss it. I used to walk through Starbucks to get to my pharmacy just to sniff the smell of a cup of hot chocolate.

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susan.d
Obviously I am an isolated case —6 months after my first ablation I decided to taste chocolate—something I was craving since 2004. I ate one bite of a gluten free chocolate chip cookie and ruined my ablation.

There are a number of chemicals in chocolate. In my case, both theobromine and caffeine inhibit sleep for me (no afib connection) and I must eat it by 10 AM to avoid this when I go bed.

I recall from long ago here, some who swore that coffee was an issue with afib later found out that organic coffee was OK and not a trigger. Hence it may have been other chemicals in the non-organic coffee (I don't drink coffee).

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susan.d
I ate one bite of a gluten free chocolate chip cookie and ruined my ablation.

It's not possible to ruin an ablation by eating something. Anything.

Sometimes when people eat something really cold, like a big glob of ice cream, it can trigger whats called Vagally induced AFIB. When something cold slides down the back of the throat it effects the nerves nearby.

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Carey

I ate one bite of a gluten free chocolate chip cookie and ruined my ablation.

It's not possible to ruin an ablation by eating something. Anything.

That’s no what N’s NP told me . She said I have the genetic disposition to ruin my nsr/get new areas from simply something I ate…she was mentioning my second ablation after 4 months in nsr after the ablation I mistakenly ate a can of anchovies (high sodium) instead of a can of sardines. She told me she could had eaten cans without issue because she didn’t have my genetic disposition.

I speculate she meant I got new pathways outside my monkey cage he created. But if I didn’t eat the salty anchovies or the chocolate, I wouldn’t had ruin my nsr track record after those two ablations…and who knows where my path might had lead.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/01/2023 11:13PM by susan.d.

Okay, whatever, but you eating something has zero effect on your ablation.

Yep, zero effect on my monkey caged confined ablation. I ate separately two foods that triggered new pathways outside the areas ablated that ruined my nsr after two separate ablations.

So food triggers matters to some people.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/02/2023 05:39PM by susan.d.

I sympathize. Ate some dark chocolate a few weeks back and it put me into aflutter. Don't think it's the caffeine however, because coffee has never been a trigger.

Jim

The chocolate ice cream is full of carbohydrates and maybe some chemical additives. I'm tempted to believe they are worse food than good chocolate (the kind we eat here in Belgium).

At least in the US, if you stick to the ultra-premium brands what you'll get is nothing but cream, eggs, salt, sugar, and high quality chocolate. No additives. The stuff my wife buys uses Belgian dark chocolate.

I have been drinking 1 to 2 cups of caffinated coffee in the morning, one Mountain Dew in the evening and 2 or 3 Dove dark chocolates after dinner every day for 50 years with no relationship to afib.

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Ken
I have been drinking 1 to 2 cups of caffinated coffee in the morning, one Mountain Dew in the evening and 2 or 3 Dove dark chocolates after dinner every day for 50 years with no relationship to afib.

I’m sure it didn’t help, and perhaps escalated to you needing two ablations.

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susan.d
I’m sure it didn’t help, and perhaps escalated to you needing two ablations.

What makes you so sure it didn't help? There is no evidence that caffeine causes or promotes afib. In fact, quite the contrary....

https://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/atrial-fibrillation/coffee-atrial-fibrillation-link

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There are no proven guidelines of the safest amount of caffeine for people with AFib. But according to a review of research on the topic published by the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, regularly having up to 300 milligrams of caffeine a day should be safe and may even protect against heart arrhythmias.

Studies have found that regular caffeine intake isn’t associated with AFib. One study examined healthy women’s intake of caffeine from coffee, tea, soda, and chocolate. Caffeine wasn’t associated with an increased risk of AFib. The study reported that small to moderate amounts of caffeine could even be helpful.

Other research has shown AFib risk could go down as caffeine consumption goes up. One study found that the risk of AFib decreased with every 300 milligrams of caffeine, or about three cups of coffee, people got per day.

Who knows? Maybe the 13 years I went afib free after my first ablation was because I was drinking caffeine and eating dark chocolate. 13 years without afib is longer than almost everybody else that has had an ablation.

I went into flutter shortly after eating some dark chocolate. Probably should not have eaten the whole package

Jim

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Ken
in the evening and 2 or 3 Dove dark chocolates after dinner every day for 50 years with no relationship to afib.

Chocolates affects people in different ways. I for example get an all day headache after eating after dinner chocolate.
I can't say it triggered my afib events, it could have but since I no longer eat chocolate I will never know.

I have worse problems right now but the only time I went out of NSR and had to get shocked was after drinking caffeinated coffee. Tea or decaf coffee for me ever since. Getting shocked sucks.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/04/2023 08:45PM by KingFizzy.

Just had some chocolate brownie and it gave me palpitations. Same thing happened last weekend.

I’ve always had some stomach issues associated with elevated heart rate. Like most of you I associated coffee and chocolate as triggers so much that it actually provoked pacs every single time I had either few pieces of chocolate or few ounces of coffee. I had h pylori for a couple years which resulted in gerd and I decided to clean my diet up and switch to keto and then full carnivore, which made both coffee and chocolate not an issue any longer. I usually have 200-300 mg of coffee daily during work week and on some cheat weekends I indulge with no sugar lilys 75% dark chocolate with no issues whatsoever. So before you give up either check to see if you have h pylori or other food insensitivities, something like 40% of the world is infected with h pylori. I realized 3 years ago that for me it was the dairy, sugar, and gluten that were triggering my ectopics and elevated heart rate. I haven’t posted here for awhile and I’m one of those that felt every single premature beat whether pac or pvc, but for the past 3 years it’s been totally fixed.

I’ve tried all kinds of supplements and some do work and some don’t or stop all together, but nothing worked like getting rid of sugar and carbs, it’s as if I was reborn and given a new heart, not suggesting anyone does what I did. But I was certain I wouldn’t do an ablation no matter the success rate. In case you wondered my diet consists of salmon, red meat, liver, oysters, eggs and aged cheese, all which are nutrient dense and can never be substituted with any supplement. My cholesterol is lower than it ever was, blood sugar in 60s and blood pressure 100/60. The term bioavailability really hit home once I understood that most vegetables can’t be absorbed and are void of nutrients. Sugars and carbs are also essentially making you depleted of everything and messing up your thyroid as they rob your body of iodine and selenium.

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johnnyS
I realized 3 years ago that for me it was the dairy, sugar, and gluten that were triggering my ectopics and elevated heart rate. I haven’t posted here for awhile and I’m one of those that felt every single premature beat whether pac or pvc, but for the past 3 years it’s been totally fixed.

Once I understood that most vegetables can’t be absorbed and are void of nutrients. Sugars and carbs are also essentially making you depleted of everything and messing up your thyroid as they rob your body of iodine and selenium.

Bravo!!! Agree 100% - my guru is Dr. Chaffee but I also add salmon and skip jack tuna.

::"
Once I understood that most vegetables can’t be absorbed and are void of nutrients"""


That is one of the weirdest statements I have seen. I wonder if Vegitarians have stomach issues, I have a large garden and have eaten lots of veggies all my life and I never have stomach problems, never. I have thyroid and AF problems which I believe to be from my DNA, my mother had AF and my father had thyroid problems.

What’s wrong with salmon? Tuna I agree but salmon??

Susan he says he eats Salmon not tuna.

Ohh. Thanks

Years ago I was a vegetarian only and loved mostly grilled vegetables like eggplant and peppers but could never get satiated and over time felt awful, so after a year I did a whole panel of labs and discovered I was B12, iron, zinc, Vitamin D deficient, and for whatever reason had sky high cholesterol when I eat no meat at all. Keep in mind non of those deficiencies can be addressed with eating more greens.

I am not preaching to avoid greens by any means, go crazy but don't expect them to make you healthy as you're getting older, unless you're supplementing like 50 pills a day which by the way isn't FDA approved for potency or purity so you'll never know what you're getting and how much of it unless you do periodic blood labs.

Im 43 and I feel like 15 again with no supplements. I don't need studies or date to prove any of it, but if you're curious try and compare something like chicken or calf liver vs any of your green favorite vegetables and you'll see how low they score compared to liver which I eat twice a week.

I believe the best diet is the Mediterranean diet, Meat, fish and veggies, fruit, beans. My B12 has always been a little on the high side. I couldn't eat liver, yuck. Whatever works for you that is fine, but I eat all kinds of veggies along with my protein.

In my opinion anyone that says "yuck" to liver is probably got too much of a sugar/carb problem, but hey I'm glad you enjoy them, stay healthy.