Bradycardia...

[erikainorlando]

So this morning at 5:00 am I woke up pain in my back (like in the back of my heart)..felt so shaky and ill...

I was going to take my toprol early but when I took my hr it was likke 60. All day it has remained between 55 and 65.....standing it is still pretty low..like 80 - 85. But I feel awful. I feel like when my hr is very high...short of breath and very unwell.

Does anyone here experience this ever? I have a very high heart rate almost every day for the last 1 1/2 years..but today this..and I feel more beat up then usual..any ideas?

Thanks you all...

Erika

[flop]

As this is a new symptom I suggest that you should report it to your doctor, best to get these things checked out.

Flop

[kali]

I've been going through something like this, as well. And yes, it is incredibly uncomfortable, especially when your body has "adjusted" to a consistently high heart rate. Or at least it is for me. In my case, the lower heart rate coincided with a reaction to a medicine; however, my system isn't clear of the medicine, so I've not yet determined if it was really the medicine or just another weird autonomic thing.

I would definitely echo flop's advice. The only difficult thing about bringing it to the attention of a dr., and something that I've struggled with as well, is that your lower heart rate is considered a fairly normal range (aside from the jumps on standing, that is). On the other hand, your dr. might consider it a medication issue. Are you still experiencing this today?

[potsgirl]

Hi Erika,

I just wrote about this on another recent post, because I suffered from bradycardia until they put my pacermaker in a couple of years ago. The normal range for a HR is between 60-100 beats per minute (BPM). I know it feels very odd and unusual for you because it's such a change to what you're used to, and you should definitely contact your cardio to ask him about it. A low heart rate is not considered dangerous until it's in the 30s to 40s, and you're symptomatic. That's a key - you are usually also symptomatic; short of breath, extremely fatigued, headache, etc.

A good plan would be to ask your cardio to set you up with a Holter Monitor to see what your heart rate is doing over a 24-hour or longer period. Hope this helps. Please PM me if you need more info.

Cheers,

Jana

[erikainorlando]

Thanks guys...

I am back to the normal 130+ standing 70 - sitting today....altho I still feel horrible..but perhaps my standard horrible or maybe a little worse. but I was so short of breath with the lower heart rate.. I will keep an eye on it. We did a 48 hour holter a couple of months ago and saw a litttle barycardia (nothing major) but mostly the tachycardia...along with PVC's and atrial tachycardia...my heart reads a mess all in all...but nothing fixable unfortunately.

Thanks all...Erika

[Guest tearose]

erikainorlando,

I too have the issue with my runs of both high and lows.

It is not unusual when I have had a full day of activity, in the evening to go into alarm as low as 37 on my monitor. I usually feel really tired, have my feet up and feel like I am falling asleep and I will be awoken from my heartrate monitor beeping. I will carefully get up, take my compression off and then drink something like emergen c or water...within miniutes I will be in a better range.

Before returning to Mayo Clinic where they worked out a manageable treatment plan, one unenlightened local doctor suggested I consider getting a pacemaker so then I could take BB"s !!! Mayo said it would have been the wrong move and I would then have needed a defibrillator!

Please consider the short duration of your bradycardia and see if perhaps there was a cause you can avoid. Also know that things like fighting a cold or changes in air temperature will also mess with your heartrate.

I'm hoping you can learn from this run of lows how to manage, but if you are unsure or feel in danger, you know you must see the doctor.

best regards,

tearose