27 year old with bradycardia (36 bpm)

[Bwood82]

I'm a 27 year old male in good shape and I recently became dizzy and could barely see while at work. My boss drove me to the ER and everything was fine except my heart rate was resting in the upper 30s.  I have yearly physicals and my rate is usually in the upper 40s. My most recent physical was in February.  I run 15 miles a week and also weight train 3-4 times a week.  I saw a cardiologist and my EKG and stress test were normal. I am not on any meds and I don't do drugs.  My doctor gave me a recording device to use if I feel any discomfort.  I have been lightheaded the past 3 nights and have made recordings. My vision has been normal since the blurry spell that landed me in the ER initially.  My mom has a pacemaker and I've heard such things are genetic. My doctor is aware of all of this of course.  I am supposed to see him in 3 weeks.  Does anybody have any advice for me? I have confidence in my doctor but it worries to see peoples' reactions when I tell them my heart rate. Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.

[lizzy100]

your heart rate is low, but if your a fit healthy person and ur rate is normally in the 40's, then maybe thats just normal for you. normally low blood pressure makes you feel dizzy but you say this is ok. if your ECG and other tests were normal then thats positive. im sure theyl get to the bottom of it.

[stutterheart]

the heart rate doesn't worry me. I'm a 29 yo ex athlete and have high 30's too. The light headedness could be from something totally different like blood sugar which i'm guessing they checked for.
No ideas. But definitely push your doc to look for zebras.

[Bwood82]

Thanks for the feedback.  My blood sugar was normal when they checked it at the emergency room, and my BP was normal (125/70).  Should I have my thyroid checked out? The cardiologist asked me if I had any trouble with it in the past and I said no so he moved on to another question. How do they check for a problem with the thyroid?

[MindPieces]

They can check your thyroid with a simple blood test, which is pretty handy.

I'm in a similar situation. 30 year old male, went to the doctor this morning because I was feeling lightheaded, and discovered that my resting heart rate often dips below 45 bpm. I've had every blood test known to man recently (including thyroid), and everything has come back normal. I also had an echocardiogram and holter monitor recently, but am waiting for the results. If they show anything weird I'll be sure to check back in.

[Bwood82]

Hey sorry I know it's been a while but just wanted to update...doctor decided to put in a Medtronic pacemaker 3 weeks ago after several more episodes and another trip to the ER. Things are getting back to normal now. We've had to tweak the settings a couple of times...at first they had it set too high and it was keeping me up at night and it was all I could think about. Now it is set to not go under 50 bpm and today they turned off the rate drop feature and so far so good. In my opinion it is kind of a **** shoot as far as the settings go for a young person with a "good motor" but a "bad spark plug". Thanks for your comments and help, I'll check back in soon.