Caffeine and chest pain: Is there a link?

You don't need to worry if you enjoy your Americano or hot chocolate and are a coffee fan, if you regularly consume coffee or caffeine in safe amounts.

However, if you are consistently consuming large amounts of mocha or cappuccino and exceed 500 mg of caffeine per day, it may accelerate your heartbeat or induce chest trouble. For most others, however, this may not necessarily be the case.

---

Caffeine and chest pain: Is it real?

Caffeine and chest pain: Excessive caffeine can cause chest pain and heart attacks (Image by Giulia Bertelli/Unsplash)

Having excessive brew can increase your blood pressure and heart rate, other than the increased secretion of stomach acid. Thirty minutes after drinking a cuppa, blood pressure (BP) starts to rise, which may be a cause of concern, as high BP can not only damage your arteries but also reduce blood flow and oxygen supply to the heart. This can lead to a cardiac attack or cause chest pain.

If you’re a caffeine addict, you will develop a tolerance for it and not have any caffeine-induced side effects. However, if you’re new to drinking coffee, you can suffer from heartburn, palpitations, nausea, and cough.

---

Chest pain after drinking coffee can be due to other reasons

Caffeine and chest pain: Excess of caffeine can make your heart beat faster and you can have irregular rhythms (Image by Ali Hajiluyi/Unsplash)

GERD or Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease

Drinking coffee can relax the lower esophageal sphincter, which then allows acid from the stomach to flow back into the esophagus. This causes heartburn and angina or pain in the chest.

---

Changes in heart rhythm

Excessive cocoa can affect the heart rhythm, mostly in new drinkers who may be turning into coffee addicts. This can lead to palpitations, a skipped beat in the chest, or just chest pain.

---

How much is too much?

Caffeine and chest pain: How much is too much? (Image by Mike Kenneally/Unsplash)

If you’re healthy and drink coffee daily, you can consume 4-5 cups of it (a total of 400-450mg of caffeine max).

However, it will depend on person to person and on their individual tolerance levels. When you drink this beverage, always pay attention to your body and see how it is responding.

---

Other side effects

Other than caffeine and chest pain, it can also cause insomnia (Image by Megan te Boekhorst/Unsplash)

Other than chest pain, which may or may not be because of caffeine, there are other side effects too, with the most common one being insomnia or not getting sleep at night because of excessive caffeine intake.

One can also get nervous, have a fluctuating heart rate, get irritated, or have frequent urination after drinking a lot of coffee at once. In case you suffer from anxiety or are prone to it, it is better to avoid caffeinated beverages. People with glaucoma or heart disease and pregnant or breastfeeding women should avoid drinking coffee completely.

---

If you suffer from chest pain after drinking coffee, stop immediately as you can be caffeine sensitive. However this pain can be an underlying symptom of some other disease, so go to a medical health care professional and talk about it, to avoid a heart attack or heart failure in the future.