Um… can it?
I’ve noticed lately that when I eat more sugar than I usually do (lots of ice cream, chocolate, etc,) I am often left short of breath - to the point to where I feel as though I’ve just ran around the block a few times. Is this a normal (or even possible for that matter) reaction or is it just psychosomatic?
DC
I’ve run into this too, or something like it.
Thank God. So I’m npt crazy then.
Phew. 
I’m bumping this because I want to know why.
You guys are crazy.
Ice cream and chocolate normally have more fat in them than sugar (ie, plenty of both). Just sayin’.
If you stuff yourself with ice cream and chocolate, you may be so full that your diaphragm may be pushed up into your thorax, decreasing lung volume. If you have a lot of gas or you’re overweight, that could add to the problem.
Sometimes diabetics get short of breath when their bodies try to compensate for anaerobic production of lactic acid.
I’d like to hear what one of the docs has to say on this.
It’s not that I’m eating so much of anything that I’m stuffed. More so that I just eat more of it than my body is used to or that I’m eating sugary stuff alone. For example, last night I sampled two chocolate chip cookies and a piece of solid milk chocolate that I was making for a holiday bake sale after not having eaten anything else for quite a while beforehand. My breathing got so bad about a half hour later that I posted here, hoping for some rationale behind it. Luckily, the problems subsided after 20 minutes or so like they have the few other times this has happened.
Do you usually get your sugar in the form of chocolate? While not much, chocolate DOES have caffiene, and too much caffiene (a stimulant) can make your heart race…
Other sources of caffiene such as soda and tea have been known to make my heart race a little, but not short of breath like this. I seriously felt as though I had just ran around the block.
Just a guess, but high blood sugar levels may exert a modest suppressive effect on adrenaline, which ordinarily exerts a pro-glycemic effect. [i.e. adrenaline increases blood glucose. to provide fuel for the muscles; if you already have enough, or too much, blood glucose, a complex interaction of hormones may reduce the adrenaline levels in some people)
Beta-blockers, which decrease adrenaline’s effect on the major somatic receptors, can cause shortness of breath.
While I haven’t done a literature search, and am only guessing, I’d suggest that those who experience this effect take stock of their health. In some people it may mean nothing, in others, it may be a sign of decreases physiological reserves in cardiovascular or pulmonary function. I wouldn’t get all panicked, but it could be an early warning in some people, and it’s worth considering and looking into.
This isn’t medical advice. Medical advice would kick sand in its face at the beach.
WAG, it could be an allergy to chocolate, as it appears that you have this problem only with chocolate. A doctor can test that.
Hyperglycemia can cause lots of odd symptoms. Coma, anxiety, stupor… and I’ve seen shortness of breath, too. It could be psychosomatic, a mild allergy, acute high blood sugar – couldn’t say.
I get this effect. It’s not so much shortness of breath as it is a feeling that I am suffocating, like I’m breathing just fine but the oxygen isn’t working. When I first had it happen, I thought the room was low on oxygen, but when I went outside it didn’t get any better, in fact walking around made it worse.
I get it from consuming a “large” amount of sugar or alcohol, especially any sweet alcoholic beverages. It might not take all that much, but it’s more than a normal person would consume in one sitting.
I have learned from a documentary that the feeling of suffocation is not caused by a lack of oxygen, but rather by a buildup of carbonic acid in the bloodstream and a resulting decrease in blood pH level. When you hold your breath, you don’t feel the loss of oxygen but instead you feel the buildup of carbon dioxide. Your lungs eliminate carbonic acid by converting it to carbon dioxide, but more carbon dioxide in the air slows the rate at which it is eliminated form your bloodstream.
So my hypothesis is that somehow consuming this sugar or alcohol is causing my blood pH to be reduced a bit. I have no idea how or why it would do that, but apparently this feeling is caused by reduced blood pH. Fortunately, if I am right, it means there is no danger of becoming hypoxic and the feeling should be no more than discomfort. Unfortunately, I cannot find a way to avoid it other than to simply avoid the food habits that lead to it.
I’ve tried in the past to get help from medical experts on this issue, but they can’t seem to understand what I am even describing. I’m going to try again with this new info I’ve got, and see if I can make the docs understand what I am experiencing, so they can hopefully tell me what to do about it.
When I used to “enjoy” smoking marijuana a few years back, certain types of food would make me feel like my heart was racing, going by OP’s handle, maybe this could also be true. I found out it was from eating it too fast and since it happened once, I kept associating it with eating, so it kept happening. Psychosomatic anomaly.
I don’t think that’s from eating too fast. No matter how fast you scarf down food, it shouldn’t make your heart race increase much. But some people experience acute anxiety attacks with marijuana, so it could be related to that.
Same happens to me. For a very long time, it was just a big slug of sugary stuff that would bring it on. In fact, it took me thirty years to figure out what was causing it. Today, it was a big hamburger. Nothing else, just a hamburger. I’m getting worried because it’s happening more often and doesn’t require sugary food.
I wouldn’t worry too much. It’s not harmful, only uncomfortable. Ask your doctor about it if you can, but there’s probably little cause for worry. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to eat less sugar and get more exercise. I don’t know if it’s connected but I did start getting the symptom more often when I stopped walking as much.