Is it normal to get chest pain when drinking alcohol?

Question

When I drink alcohol, I do not start to feel nausea. Instead I I start to get chest pain. After even one drink, my chest will start to feel really tight. It feels like someone is squeezing my chest so hard that it hurts a little to breathe. I dont drink very often (only about once every 3-4 months) and I usually drink the fruity/girly drinks like a sex on the beach or a singapore sling. Sometimes I can get two drinks in but sometimes I cant even finish one without feeling pain. If I stop drinking, the pain will go away in about 30-45 mins. Is this normal? Is it something I should be worried about?

Oh and there is nothing wrong with my heart, I had an EKG for an unrelated problem and it said I had nothing abnormal in my heart.

Answer 1

I'm going to guess this is heartburn. I get bad heartburn sometimes. Alcohol can definitely aggrivate it. Especially if I've had soda and/or coffee on the same day, or if I didn't eat much that day.

Maybe you could try switching drinks and see if that helps? Like switch to beer instead of the sugary alcoholic drinks.

Answer 2

Chest Pain After Drinking

Answer 3

It's not heartburn or heart palpitations. I have acid reflex and I have had palpitations in the past, it's neither. The chest from the sternum to the collar bone to the ribs under the arms all severely hurt. I get it the worse when I drink hard liqueur, but I have had it in the middle of my work day as well when I was just sitting there doing nothing. My fear is that it is some sort of cancer and I guess I am here with the hope that I can find an alternative answer for this pain that I have been getting more and more regularly over the past few weeks.

Answer 4

I would have to go with some type of allergy. Just now, I also had this chest pain when I had this wine I got from a supermarket, the name is Verti, a sparkling malt beverage with 5% alcohol.

The chest pain is followed by a weakness in the shoulders, and it feels like some sort of muscle fatigue, and sometimes, palpitations. I don't experience this when I have beer, or mixed drinks or cocktails, even with higher alcohol content. I have read that, wine has a lot of histamine and sulphites that could trigger these reactions.

Answer 5

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RE:
Is it normal to get chest pain when drinking alcohol?
When I drink alcohol, I do not start to feel nausea. Instead I I start to get chest pain. After even one drink, my chest will start to feel really tight. It feels like someone is squeezing my chest so hard that it hurts a little to breathe. I dont drink very often (only about once every 3-4 months)...

Answer 6

Define normal..
I'm not too sure if this helps, but I'm gonna advise you to go with the allergy. I have history of heart disease in my family.
Have a healthy lifestyle, I workout regularly and weekly do some intense group sports like football for 2 hours or more if possible. Although whenever I drink (and I'm a whiskey on the rocks kinda person). The minute I touch a glass of vodka, be it with cranberry Juice, coke, Orange juice.. Anything.. within 20-30 minutes I start getting a tighness in my chest, and within the hour I tell people I'm having a mild heart attack and sit down with some water for about an hour before I can get back to my whiskey..
So this episode takes about 2 hours out of my evening. Now, when I hear there's only vodka I'm just not drinking. I have no problem with wines beer or any brown spirits for that matter eg:- Tequila.
Just lay off the one that makes you feel that way.
and ofcourse check with your doctor.
Hope this helps

Answer 7

I get the same exact reaction when I drink hard liquor or mixed drinks. I'm fine with beer and wine. I am a nurse and I can tell you it is NOT heartburn (which I also have.) This truly feels like a heart attack. I think it is an allergy. I thought it might be a preservative in the mixers used for some drinks, but I had a homemade punch the other day with just fruit juices, pop and vodka. within 10 minutes I was having chest pain. It has to be an allergy to the hard liquors.

Answer 8

I've had alcohol induced variant angina for 3 years now, sounds like you may have it too. There is very little information about it. My doctor stated calcium blockers might help but my blood pressure is normally very low so she wouldn't prescribe them & stated to "just not drink alcohol". My symptoms arise after 2 alcoholic beverages (or just one glass of red wine) I feel like I am having a heart attack, I feel like someone is trying to crush my chest, I can't breathe, I get very hot and usually I am freezing ALL the time. The chest pain comes & goes for about an hour & then I get sick the rest of the night.

Answer 9

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Hi Rachel, You may be getting acid indigestion from the acidity of the drinks. I don't drink much alcohol, but I do drink fruit juices, which, depending on what the juice is, gives me raging acid indigestion which feels like a heart attack! If you have had a recent ekg, I tend to think it's not the alcohol, but the fruit juice which is causing the pains. Cranberry juice is the worst, and sometimes orange juice/lime juice is bad too. I mention this as the drinks you mention have fruit juices in them.

Answer 10

I get it too whenever I drink ANY alcohol. It feels like there is a vise around my heart. It only takes one drink of anything. And, otherwise, I'm fine. I do not have GERD. I had surgery for that twenty years ago and it cured it at that time. So I just don't drink! It hurts too much.