Bradycardia- Recorded During Mayo Visit

[Lemons2lemonade]

To all of you out there with bradycardia, I had it during all of my mayo testing and plan on talking to Dr. Goodman about it on Monday. Luckily, I was quite orthostatic and tachycardic the first day I went and saw him where he did orthostatic vitals in the exam room. And of course no tachycardia during my autonomic testing, just bradycardia, even on standing. So, at least it is on the record now with one of the top autonomic doctors in the country. I'm sure a lot of pots people get tachy on these tests, but rarely do they see a potsie get bradycardic, which I have read that many of us on here are going through. I kinda wish I was having more tachy, but the Brady is just as bad and makes me super tired, maybe we can get some answers for this bradycardia business. My holter monitor was also put on that night. If my hr was 54 standing, I don't even want to know how low it got while I slept.

[corina]

i'm glad they caught it lemons! i have brady very often too mostly during the late afternoon and evenings/nights. can't wait to hear what explanation they will give. thanks so much for sharing all your info and good luck on all your testing!

take care,

corina

[E246]

Great - it's a relief when you are symptomatic at an appointment. Really interested to know what they say.

I can't take BB's as my hr is often in 50's and can drop lower. Recently it has gone slow and then seemd to stop for a few seconds and i go very light headed before a sudden fast rate. I would be really reassured if anyone expereinced anything similar. Never seem to catch it on a tape.

[Lemons2lemonade]

I should also mention thst this was.going on during the extensive testing, I.e. sweat test, breathing test, ttt

[julieph85]

Emma, what you described is called a PVC or a PAC, the fast rate after is called Heart rate turbulence. It is an autonomic response to the pause. I also feel faint when I get them. In almost all cases they are benign, so try not to worry.

[E246]

Thanks Julie, that's really reassuring. They don't make me panic but they make me feel ill.

Lemons - how high does your hr go? Maybe as it starts so low it won't go that high.

[comfortzone]

Curious if you are medication-free -- or if you had instructions to 'take' or 'not take' any of them prior to the beginning of the tests? Thanks!

[jangle]

Lemons was your bradycardia during the time you were standing?

[Lemons2lemonade]

Emma, I wish. I had palpitations last night, going to guess around 130 and 160-180 happens from time to time. Usually during my worst pots attacks. There is no method to it and periods of low hr seem to have little to do with how high it gets. I think it is just another presentation of how messed up my ans is. The low hrs feel just as terrible as the high hrs, only unlike the high hrs, you can't fight going to sleep. It just feels like there's nothing in you. No energy, no strength, nothing. Jangle it popped up 75 right after I stood and quickly meanderded back down to the low 50's. And was hanging in the low 50s for the rest of the time. My heart was also doing its favorite thing to do during bradycardia, which I call the accordian. Goes up to 60 falls down to 50 every 15 seconds or so- up, down, up, down.

[Lemons2lemonade]

The good news is that I did get some high hrs on the holter that evening, 140 laying down.

[corina]

lemons, i have the falling heartrates as well, they fall and come back up again, fall and come back up again. my cardio explained that when the hr falls that is because there isn't enough blood to pump and by dropping the rate the heart is protecting itself. i wonder how mayo explains this!

[potsgirl]

Lemons,

When I wore my holter monitor I had readings in the 30s and 40s and was in congestive heart failure. I could hardly walk 1/2 a block, and was exhausted all of the time. My doctor talked to me about a pacemaker, which I had put in not long after my diagnosis of bradycardia. It has really helped in keeping my heart rate at 60 and above, and relieved some of the fatigue.

[CharmedLinz]

This is good to hear about the recorded BRADY.

My Local Cardiologist has always said I couldn't have actual POTS because my HR is not always high.

Watkins in Alabama took one look at my month long halter readings this past November as said......POTS, I don't care what your Doctor believes....this isn't normal.

I did a month long halter monitor in September-October 2010, my local Cardiologist just said it was all normal.

Before going to Alabama this past November I picked up everything from my local doc to take to Watkins as I knew he would want it.

So I had this little paragraph that said my halter monitor was normal with heart rate from 41 to 135. That's NOT normal......so used my contact to get the actual recordings from the company that records the device.

Got all 30 days worth of EKG outputs and took to Alabama. They recorded Brady at 41, Tachy at 135 and every where in between and several arythmias. Now I never did anything really during this month, no BB's and the most exercise was a slow stroll. I couldn't record during my worst times which is during and after showering.

Alabama said the bad arrythmias weren't significant, just part of the MVP or little glitches. But the HR's of 41 to 135....NOT NORMAL

The highest my HR has ever gone at home that I've recorded was 167. I'm sure it's been higher, but I didn't have my checker with me on a walk or in the shower.

Stress test at the docs I've gone up in the 190's.

The lowest HR I've recorded at home was 37. My Internist actually recorded a 32 when they had me lay down during an appt I went to, after having a bad episode where I had a temp of 92.3 degrees and a fever of 99.8 later the same day.

So good to know that the BRADY stuff is being looked at too and not just dismissed.

[louloutinks]

Hi all

Sorry to hijack this thread but last night I thought I'd take my BP whilst standing for a while - normally I just take it after I stand up and then a couple of mins later My heart rate usually just gets faster and faster, but last night I took it every minute.

Laying was 106/73 hr 79

stand 100/79 hr 104

1 min 98/77 hr 106

2 min 95/84 hr 108

3 min 67/59 hr 87 - but at this point I had to lay down or I'd fall down!

Laying 104/72 hr 64

My BP slowly drops as above but usually as I said, my heart rate just gets faster and faster and always has a huge intitial raise as soon as I stand - whereas last night it was slowing down after a small rise with the BP dropping.

Does this mean I am improving?!

[StephL]

The main issue with my pulse is bradycardia. Its made me wonder if I don't have pots but some other form of dysautonomia.

My pulse stays in the 40s to 50s, at most, when resting and it will jump up to the 140s upon standing or after getting out of the tub but usually it stays low. Dr. Randy said that I was having a parasympathetic response when I was in office but that is the normal for me.

Before I knew what was going on with me, my mom accidentally stumbled across the fact that my pulse was that low. When I went to the cardiologist he didn't listen to any of my symptoms and treated me like I was overly concerned. He told me that its normal for athletes to have pulses so low. The problem is that I had a pulse in 70s until all this started and up until a few months ago I was 50 pounds overweight and I'm still 20 pounds too heavy. Naturally all the tests came back normal other than my bradycardia.

I told my family doctor after that, that I didn't think I was dying or anything but that it was another clue because it didn't start until all my other problems did.