Bradycardia & Fibromyalgia

  I'm a 47 yr old female with a very stubborn case of fibromyalgia, which has chronic fatigue as one of its symptoms.  Six months ago I had surgery for GERD--a nissen fundoplication. I'm now having esophageal spasms as a result of surgery.  Dr. put me on Cardezem for 1 week, then tested my blood pressure and said my heart rate was only 42. I had felt dizzy and weak and awful that entire week.  Now I'm seeing another specialist for the esoph. spasms and he noted in my records that during my surgery my heart rate was also 42.  Everyone who has ever taken my pulse has always said what a nice slow heart rate I have and assumes I'm some kind of athelete. Nothing could be further from the truth!  Is this an underlying thing that is being overlooked?  (I had a heart murmur as a child and I now have palpitations quite a bit). I've had Holter monitors and thallium stress tests and am told that things are essentially normal. I'm on all kinds of medication for fibromyalgia--could my fatigue be due to a slow heart rate instead?  Thanks, Jan B

[CCF Cardio MD - MTR]

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Dear Jan, thank you for your question.  Your fatigue could be due to a chronically slow heart rate, which the cardizem may have exacerbated, but I suspect there are multifactorial causes.  Since you had normal Holter Monitor and thallium stress test, you probably have a normal heart with just a tendency to have a slow heart rate.  Thus, you should avoid medications that slow down the heart rate.  In the future, always mention your slow heart rate to any physician who will prescribe a new medication for you to avoid this problem.  Good luck!
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