Heart Rate in the 30s § 40s

[carboy]

I had my first consultation with a cardiologist in early May. My regular doctor referred me after I registered a heart rate of 39 during an annual physical in April. The previous 2 years I was at 46. Before the consult I wore a Holter monitor for 24 hrs, which showed my rate dipping to 30 twice while sleeping.

I'm 5' 9", 165 lbs and exercise regularly (2 miles 4-5 times a week, golf). I have no symptons-dizzy, fainting, chest pains. As a result, the cardiologist said I don't need a pacemaker for now, but stated I will sometime in the future.

I guess my concern is, the doctor didn't really give me an indication as to what was causing my bradycardia-whether it was simply a result of my active lifestyle or if there could be underlying problems. I assumed it was just my regimen. My cholesterol was high-69 HDL, 169 LDL, 261 total, but that didn’t seem to be a concern, although my regular doctor has me trying to lower it by changing diet. The rest of the blood test levels were normal.

Since the physical I've been checking my pulse each morning and I'm always around 39-43. How does this compare with other patients’ pre-pacemaker readings? What about my two overnight 30 readings?

[Cleveland Clinic]

carboy,

thanks for the post.

If you have sinus bradycardia and are able to increase your heart rate with exercise there is no current reason to put in a pacemaker.

Some people develop chronotropic incompetance as they age, where the heart rate doesn't increase as it should. If that were the case a pacemaker would increase the heart rate as the body demands a higher heart rate.

your lower heart rate may be a component of good conditioning.

good luck

[Clenn Camp]

My heartrate gradually decreased over a period of time.  I was falling asleep while sitting at traffic lights waiting for them to change and other drivers would blow their car horns at me to go and I had not realized I had fallen asleep.  As long as I was active I didn't feel sleepy or anything.
One morning I had to push myself to get going.  While sitting at my desk at work I counted my pulse rate and it was 32.
I went to the Cardiologist and wore a Holter Monitor and it showed my heartrate while sleeping to be 27.  Cardiologist told me I needed a pacemaker and if I chose not to get one I would likely fall asleep sometime and never wake up again.  Needless to say, I opted for the pacemaker and have had one ever since.

Glenn

[jan]

My 23 yr old nephew recently went to the ER, because he felt "wierd" and his chest didn't feel right.  He was found to be in brady.  They admitted him and did all the routine tests and found nothing wrong with him, but the cont. brady.  He was in 30's, also.  My nephew doesn't exercise and he is overwt (but working on that and doing a good job from what I hear).

The cardio told him that was just "his" norm.  Do you think that sounds right, esp. seeing he was symptomatic?

[hbp702]

HR in the 30's and no exercise. That sounds extremely abnormal to me. Get another opinion, and FAST.

If he is dieting to lose weight, he might be restricting calories dangerously low, causing the bradycardia. This happens to anorexics. And one can be anorexic while still fat or normal weight. (like if someone obese stops eating completely for example).

Also overweight + bradycardia often means hypothyroidism. Is he depressed, alaways tired, always cold, has dry skin, etc?

In any event, HR in the 30's could be EXTREMELY DANGEROUS.

Heck, I'm concerned that I myself often drop to 45 bpm, and I DO exercise. I'm not Olympic level, far from that in fact.

I was 46 bpm this morning. Felt fine, well I did until I saw the number. :)

[nikkidahler1]

A related discussion, low heart rate (in the 40's) was started.