Dizziness and slow heart rate

  I am a 57 year old female with diabetes for 34 years.  In Jan. 98 I had a heart attack with heart damage, triple by-oass surgery.  I had many complications which I have overcome.    I also have CHF diagnosed in Jan also.  When I came home from the hospital I was put on a verity of medications, some of which I have been taken off of  . Here is a list of meds I am on. Nordodyne 100 mg., Demedex 20 mg  2 tabs am, K-dur 19meq, Corderone 200 mg., elavil 10 mg.,Lipitor. Lanoxin 125mg every other day , insulin and vitamins.
  My question is this, is it possible to be on too  much of any of these meds.  My blood pressure was 94/48 yesterday with a 49 pulse.  During this time I was very dizzy.  My heart doctor wants my heart to slow down but I think this is too slow.   I am on a regular excercise program of walking the treadmill for 45 minutes a day.  I am 6' 5" and weigh 137 lbs.
    I might add that I am a Doctors nightmare as far as meds are concerned.  I have a hard time with most meds.  For an example my eyes dialate from Visine.  Most of the meds had to be cut down and I am wondering if that could be my problem.  My PCP doctor is just new to my case since March 98 and does't believe me.  Hope you can shed some light on this   Thank you
  Marlene    

[CCF Cardio MD - MTR]

Dear Marlene, thank you for your question.  You certainly could be having side effects from some of your medications, but it's hard to know which one is involved or which combination of medications may be interacting.  The normodyne, cordarone, and lanoxin can all slow the heart rate, but I can't say which one is the culprit and which medications could be safely discontinued.  However, if you can exercise for 45 minutes per day, your heart rate must at least increase with activity to allow you to tolerate exercise.  I don't know if you are seeing a cardiologist at this point, but that may help since your PCP may not have as much experience with the interactions among the cardiac medications.
I hope this information is useful. Information provided in the heart forum is for general purposes only.  Only your physician can provided specific diagnoses and therapies.  Feel free to write back with further questions. Good luck!
If you would like to make an appointment at the Cleveland Clinic Heart Center, please call 1-800-CCF-CARE or inquire online by using the Heart Center website at www.ccf.org/heartcenter.   The Heart Center website contains a directory of the cardiology staff that can be used to select the physician best suited to address your cardiac problem.