5 ms·

Ask HN: Coffee drinkers, did you have any heart problem associated to coffee?

In the last 4 years, I have had at least five times a problem where my heart had an irregular beat followed by a drop in blood pressure (not sure if because of a panic attack or a real heart problem). I decided to look for a cardiologist, who asked me for several tests (doppler echocardiogram, electrocardiogram, exercise stress test, blood tests, holter test, etc.). I'm still waiting for the holter test result, but all the others are within the normal range. Looking at what might have caused this, one thing I remember that happened in common in all these episodes was, perhaps, I took too much coffee (6+ cups). I read that some people are more sensitive to coffee than others, so my question is: Does that make any sense? Has anyone else here had a similar experience?

PaulHoule 4y ago
My cardiologist told me to quit and I did after more than a few months. Note that caffeine is an inhibitor of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adenosine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adenosine which has a powerful effect on the heart and you'd think caffeine would have stronger effects on the heart than it does. (That is, it kinda surprises me it is safe to drink at all... There is very little pharmacology of Adenosine other than caffeine, maybe like the way that cannabinoids that aren't structurally related to THC, CBD, etc. all seem to be pretty dangerous.)
LinuxBender 4y ago
Anecdotally when I had chronic low inter-cellular potassium not detectable by a blood lab test my heart rate was high which caused hypertension and excessive caffeine would worsen the effect. Now I can chug coffee or sugar-free monsters with no heart related issues.
RadixDLT 4y ago
coffee raises cholesterol levels https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31348763 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31348763
- metadat 4y ago
  Is it the "good" HCL cholesterol or the "bad" kind?
- Someone1234 4y ago
  In the study they mostly measured total cholesterol (S-TC), but reference other studies that suggest it may raise LDL ("bad cholesterol"). The level of increase they found was, at most, 0.48 mmol/L, which is around a 5% increase (convert from mmol/L to mg/dL, then based on a 200 mg/dL ideal). So my TL;DR: Even assuming all the S-TC increase was actually LDL (unlikely), you're a woman, and use the unhealthiest brewing method (what the study was about), it still isn't a health problem by itself. Now can you consider coffee unhealthy? Perhaps, but I feel like that was the case without this info.
Someone1234 4y ago
I feel like you're asking for medical advice. But, no, I haven't personally experienced irregular heart-beat followed by low blood pressure, but I also don't regularly monitor those metrics beyond my smartwatch. Consuming too much caffeine, for me, just results in the regularly reported side effects. I do choose not to drink too much after 3 PM due to the long (5 hr) half-life/improved sleep quality.
- boredemployee 4y ago
  Well, since its HN and we have lots of devs here - which are well known to drink lots of coffee - maybe someone had similar experiences, that's why I'm asking :)
helph67 4y ago
Some years ago I would suffer extremely bad dizzy spells periodically. A tip from a doctor was `may be due to caffeine', so I switched to decaf and removed other sources from my diet (cola, chocolate). The dizzy spells became progressively weaker and now do not occur!
bjourne 4y ago
Coffee certainly can increase anxiety and thus trigger panic attacks.
_xerces_ 4y ago
I had an issue that never occurred when wearing a monitor, even the week-long stick-on monitor. Eventually purchased a Kardia monitoring device and used it when I next had symptoms. It caught what was going on and I was able to get a diagnosis. https://www.amazon.com/KardiaMobile-Personal-Device-Heart-Monitor/dp/B07RQW6SD5/ https://www.amazon.com/KardiaMobile-Personal-Device-Heart-Mo...
- boredemployee 4y ago
  thats a nice tip! thx!
AznHisoka 4y ago
Coffee can exacerbate anxiety attacks for me, and make my asthma worse. Everyone is different though so even if most ppl experience no effects, that doesn’t mean the same applies to you. My suggestion is to just keep a journal, cut it out and see if it improves. If it does, then it likely has to do with the coffee.
ThrowITout4321 4y ago
Caffeine can affect your heart. Some people are more sensitive to it than others. My suggestion is to slowly stop drinking anything with caffeine. A friend of mine had heart problems but would not stop drinking drinks with caffeine and ended up dead due to an erratic heart rhythm. He would drink a pot of coffee in the morning and a six pack of coke in the afternoon. He would call his six pack a way to come down from the morning's coffee. Was it the caffeine? We will never know but I'm sure it did not help? https://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/news/20211115/coffee-can-affect-your-hearts-rhythms https://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/news/20211115/coffee-can... Lastly, ALWAYS consult your doctor before you change anything. They understand your situation and will be able to give you the best advice vs random people on the internet (me included).
- anm89 4y ago
  Honestly the six pack of coke seems way more problematic to me than the coffee although a pot seems very excessive. But I'm not sure this a very scathing indictment of coffee given the other habits
c_o_n_v_e_x 4y ago
After too many coffees (more than 2), I’ll get anxiety. Diet sodas are another vice of mine. I had to quit Diet Coke as I started getting heart palpitations.
- boredemployee 4y ago
  do you take brewed coffee?
  - c_o_n_v_e_x 4y ago
    I predominately drink espresso style coffee but as an Americano or a long black. I also drink a lot of southeast Asian hawker stall style “sock” coffee (kopi o kosong).
    - boredemployee 4y ago
      yep sock coffee might be a problem as well.
      - c_o_n_v_e_x 4y ago
        I didn't realize that brewed coffee has such a higher caffein content!
JacobAldridge 4y ago
I don't doubt that coffee and caffeine can exacerbate some things. For me though, no (or at least, not yet). And I'm a fairly heavy coffee drinker (maybe not by HN standards?) - especially since adding fatherhood to the mix, I'm generally 2-6 espresso shots of coffee a day, and some work binges much more. Having said all of that, a focus for me at present is reducing my coffee intake. I'd like to get back to having a few coffee-free days each week, because it currently takes me 2 coffees to get back to 'normal' each morning and that can't be healthy now or for the long term.
- cutthegrass2 4y ago
  I'm in a very similar position (2 kids under 2) and i've been over-consuming coffee just to feel functional on a daily basis. In order to cut down a bit, i've been mixing decaf with caff when making Cafetiere coffee and it's helping me ween off it a bit.
- boredemployee 4y ago
  in my self-experiments, brewed coffee was the trouble maker. when i take only espresso (1 or 2 a day) I stay fine
patrickz 4y ago
I did have the same problem when I was having 5+ pots (250ml / pot) of coffee everyday. Then I reduce my intake to 1 cup, and I only drink before noon, then everything became fine.
adamhp 4y ago
It may even be good for your heart, according to American College of Cardiology: https://www.acc.org/About-ACC/Press-Releases/2022/03/23/17/55/Good-News-for-Coffee-Lovers-Daily-Coffee-May-Benefit-the-Heart https://www.acc.org/About-ACC/Press-Releases/2022/03/23/17/5...
foobarbaz33 4y ago
> my heart had an irregular beat followed by a drop in blood pressure Yes I had that happen EXACTLY. After a coffee a few years back. First I felt a little weird beat in my heart, like it skipped a beat. That sort of scared me which probably made it worse, then blood pressure dropped a ton. Almost like i might pass out. Lost fine control of my fingers as they cramped up into an eagle's claw position. Then all was well after a few minutes of controlled breathing. I strongly suspect caffeine played a role. But I only had my "normal" morning coffee, an XL cup from a gas station. Was nothing unusual for me. It's hard/impossible to confirm what my problem was. Regardless I drink decaff now and get the same enjoyment from it.
FrenchDevRemote 4y ago
Yeah it happens with large amounts, I used to take lots of caffeine pills and it could sometimes happen more than once a day.. Now I don't take more than 1 cup on average, and not more than 2 cups on bad days.
muldoc 4y ago
Are you drinking at least a liter of mineral water a day? I had an issue with irregular beats that went away when I started drinking that amount. I also ate some eggs and am taking calcium/kalium/magnesium pills. I'm vegetarian though, and not 100% sure, but think the mineral water makes the difference.

PaulHoule 4y ago

My cardiologist told me to quit and I did after more than a few months. Note that caffeine is an inhibitor of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adenosine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adenosine which has a powerful effect on the heart and you'd think caffeine would have stronger effects on the heart than it does. (That is, it kinda surprises me it is safe to drink at all... There is very little pharmacology of Adenosine other than caffeine, maybe like the way that cannabinoids that aren't structurally related to THC, CBD, etc. all seem to be pretty dangerous.)

LinuxBender 4y ago

Anecdotally when I had chronic low inter-cellular potassium not detectable by a blood lab test my heart rate was high which caused hypertension and excessive caffeine would worsen the effect. Now I can chug coffee or sugar-free monsters with no heart related issues.

RadixDLT 4y ago

coffee raises cholesterol levels https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31348763 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31348763

metadat 4y ago
Is it the "good" HCL cholesterol or the "bad" kind?
Someone1234 4y ago
In the study they mostly measured total cholesterol (S-TC), but reference other studies that suggest it may raise LDL ("bad cholesterol"). The level of increase they found was, at most, 0.48 mmol/L, which is around a 5% increase (convert from mmol/L to mg/dL, then based on a 200 mg/dL ideal). So my TL;DR: Even assuming all the S-TC increase was actually LDL (unlikely), you're a woman, and use the unhealthiest brewing method (what the study was about), it still isn't a health problem by itself. Now can you consider coffee unhealthy? Perhaps, but I feel like that was the case without this info.

Someone1234 4y ago

I feel like you're asking for medical advice. But, no, I haven't personally experienced irregular heart-beat followed by low blood pressure, but I also don't regularly monitor those metrics beyond my smartwatch. Consuming too much caffeine, for me, just results in the regularly reported side effects. I do choose not to drink too much after 3 PM due to the long (5 hr) half-life/improved sleep quality.

boredemployee 4y ago
Well, since its HN and we have lots of devs here - which are well known to drink lots of coffee - maybe someone had similar experiences, that's why I'm asking :)

helph67 4y ago

Some years ago I would suffer extremely bad dizzy spells periodically. A tip from a doctor was `may be due to caffeine', so I switched to decaf and removed other sources from my diet (cola, chocolate). The dizzy spells became progressively weaker and now do not occur!

bjourne 4y ago

Coffee certainly can increase anxiety and thus trigger panic attacks.

_xerces_ 4y ago

I had an issue that never occurred when wearing a monitor, even the week-long stick-on monitor. Eventually purchased a Kardia monitoring device and used it when I next had symptoms. It caught what was going on and I was able to get a diagnosis. https://www.amazon.com/KardiaMobile-Personal-Device-Heart-Monitor/dp/B07RQW6SD5/ https://www.amazon.com/KardiaMobile-Personal-Device-Heart-Mo...

boredemployee 4y ago
thats a nice tip! thx!

AznHisoka 4y ago

Coffee can exacerbate anxiety attacks for me, and make my asthma worse. Everyone is different though so even if most ppl experience no effects, that doesn’t mean the same applies to you. My suggestion is to just keep a journal, cut it out and see if it improves. If it does, then it likely has to do with the coffee.

ThrowITout4321 4y ago

Caffeine can affect your heart. Some people are more sensitive to it than others. My suggestion is to slowly stop drinking anything with caffeine. A friend of mine had heart problems but would not stop drinking drinks with caffeine and ended up dead due to an erratic heart rhythm. He would drink a pot of coffee in the morning and a six pack of coke in the afternoon. He would call his six pack a way to come down from the morning's coffee. Was it the caffeine? We will never know but I'm sure it did not help? https://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/news/20211115/coffee-can-affect-your-hearts-rhythms https://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/news/20211115/coffee-can... Lastly, ALWAYS consult your doctor before you change anything. They understand your situation and will be able to give you the best advice vs random people on the internet (me included).

anm89 4y ago
Honestly the six pack of coke seems way more problematic to me than the coffee although a pot seems very excessive. But I'm not sure this a very scathing indictment of coffee given the other habits

c_o_n_v_e_x 4y ago

After too many coffees (more than 2), I’ll get anxiety. Diet sodas are another vice of mine. I had to quit Diet Coke as I started getting heart palpitations.

boredemployee 4y ago
do you take brewed coffee?
- c_o_n_v_e_x 4y ago
  I predominately drink espresso style coffee but as an Americano or a long black. I also drink a lot of southeast Asian hawker stall style “sock” coffee (kopi o kosong).
  - boredemployee 4y ago
    yep sock coffee might be a problem as well.
    - c_o_n_v_e_x 4y ago
      I didn't realize that brewed coffee has such a higher caffein content!

JacobAldridge 4y ago

I don't doubt that coffee and caffeine can exacerbate some things. For me though, no (or at least, not yet). And I'm a fairly heavy coffee drinker (maybe not by HN standards?) - especially since adding fatherhood to the mix, I'm generally 2-6 espresso shots of coffee a day, and some work binges much more. Having said all of that, a focus for me at present is reducing my coffee intake. I'd like to get back to having a few coffee-free days each week, because it currently takes me 2 coffees to get back to 'normal' each morning and that can't be healthy now or for the long term.

cutthegrass2 4y ago
I'm in a very similar position (2 kids under 2) and i've been over-consuming coffee just to feel functional on a daily basis. In order to cut down a bit, i've been mixing decaf with caff when making Cafetiere coffee and it's helping me ween off it a bit.
boredemployee 4y ago
in my self-experiments, brewed coffee was the trouble maker. when i take only espresso (1 or 2 a day) I stay fine

patrickz 4y ago

I did have the same problem when I was having 5+ pots (250ml / pot) of coffee everyday. Then I reduce my intake to 1 cup, and I only drink before noon, then everything became fine.

adamhp 4y ago

It may even be good for your heart, according to American College of Cardiology: https://www.acc.org/About-ACC/Press-Releases/2022/03/23/17/55/Good-News-for-Coffee-Lovers-Daily-Coffee-May-Benefit-the-Heart https://www.acc.org/About-ACC/Press-Releases/2022/03/23/17/5...

foobarbaz33 4y ago

> my heart had an irregular beat followed by a drop in blood pressure Yes I had that happen EXACTLY. After a coffee a few years back. First I felt a little weird beat in my heart, like it skipped a beat. That sort of scared me which probably made it worse, then blood pressure dropped a ton. Almost like i might pass out. Lost fine control of my fingers as they cramped up into an eagle's claw position. Then all was well after a few minutes of controlled breathing. I strongly suspect caffeine played a role. But I only had my "normal" morning coffee, an XL cup from a gas station. Was nothing unusual for me. It's hard/impossible to confirm what my problem was. Regardless I drink decaff now and get the same enjoyment from it.

FrenchDevRemote 4y ago

Yeah it happens with large amounts, I used to take lots of caffeine pills and it could sometimes happen more than once a day.. Now I don't take more than 1 cup on average, and not more than 2 cups on bad days.

muldoc 4y ago

Are you drinking at least a liter of mineral water a day? I had an issue with irregular beats that went away when I started drinking that amount. I also ate some eggs and am taking calcium/kalium/magnesium pills. I'm vegetarian though, and not 100% sure, but think the mineral water makes the difference.