Pulse rate

[Towerbridge]

Dear Doc,
Please,help me out in order to understand the reason for my pulse rate.  I have high blood pressure and have been using medication for the past three years.  The medications I take are: Amplodipine, lisopril and atenolol 50mg.  Within the last one month,these are my average weekly readings( I take three readings per week on three different days):

129/80 with 52 pulse rate

131/80 with 50 pulse rate

126/76 with 46 pulse rate

135/74 with 57 pulse rate.

Are pulse rates of 52,50,46 and 57 normal?  I am not an athlete.

What may be the reasons for tese fluctuations and what do I need to do?  

What medical term is this called.

Please,help me.

Thank you.

[Towerbridge]

Thank you everybody for all your positive contributions in sharing your individual experiences concerning my question on heart rate.  I have learnt a lot from you and will continue to stay on this forum for further education regarding my health.

Towerbridge

[Mom2four85]

I'll have to do mine for fun! ummmm then again I may scare my dr's lol no way I want them again to think I need to be put on HBP meds to counteract my low bp meds....

Going on the bp/hr of 10/20/10 are yours "normal" for you? 8/17/13  your hr goes up more than it should by 3 pts, but do they fluctuate different days of the week?

I notice mine are a bit higher on Fri-Sun because we have to do errands and shopping etc
and that makes my hr whacky just with the exertion of dressing.

btw, I still question my DX of NCS & OI - because I was fine until given Nitro; if anything it would be POTS since my hr raised 24 pts by the 20 min mark, yet my bp stayed about the same...could be due to DD also?  Just another area to explore for my new doctor and Vanderbilt.

BP 126/79 HR 77  - Start
BP 129/87 HR 101 - 20 min
BP 137/71 HR 109  Nitroglycerin given
By minute #4, the patient had a syncopal event with no palpable pulse
BP 97/48 HR 78 - supine state

I would love to see a study done with different breathing techniques, I know sometimes I do this at the dr just to see if there's any fluctuations.  Deep breathing vs fast rapid breathing...etc

[is_something_wrong]

Hi, I completed that test just for fun this weekend: My results:

Lying down: 104/58 - HR 61
Standing up 1 minute: 104/75 - HR 74
Standing up 3 minutes: 108/72 - HR 72
Standing up 5 minutes: 107/74 - HR 70
Standing up 10 minutes: 112/69 - HR 68

[is_something_wrong]

Everything in the body will vary from moment to moment, and heartbeat to heartbeat. BP, HR, temperature, almost everything, especially what concerns circulation.

Let me just give you an example: I hate to measure my blood pressure. Anyway, I do it occationally, and this is the result from 5 measurings last night, with 1 minute intervals:

131/79
120/70
115/68
111/64
105/61

Before the first one, I thought: I'm sure my BP is at least 150 now, I'm stressed, I ate salty food for dinner. After the first one: Oh well, this wasn't so bad. After second: Nice, it's even lower.. and so on. I'm sure my "real" BP was/is approx. 110/65.

Your HR is slow but that's exactly what beta blockers do. They reduce the heart rate to minimize the work load on the heart. If you don't have symptoms (dizziness, tiredness) it's OK. My dad is on 100 mg metoprolol and his HR is in the 40s at rest. As long as the HR increases with exercise, it's not a problem.

Make sure you have registred an EKG just to see if the conduction system in the heart works as it's supposed to.

[Mom2four85]

opps I hit post too soon; I agree with Cindy - these may be simply due to meds you're on; when I take bb's my bp stay on the very low end of the specter hovering between 70/40 - 90/60

[Mom2four85]

I think it's a 10/20 bp range and a 10 HR;  and may be a bit different for each person; my bp/hr is allowed to be higher and fluctuate more.  

10+ or - top number
20+ or - bottom number
10 +  or - HR

Your fluctuations were 9/6 & 11, but these fluctuations may be due breathing, movement or simple heart beat variations which is all normal.

My bp can go from 145/115 to 90/60 in a blink of an eye or my hr from 60 to 195 with no exertion or provocation; it's just part of my quirky system with autonomic nervous system dysfunction [Dysautonomia].

This is how it's done at my dr's office and how they test for ANS issues.  Here's an example from Vanderbilt:
                                                   Blood Pressure  Heart Rate
1st Measurement                         Date:___________
Lying down                                  ____________  __________
Standing up for one minute            ____________  __________
Standing up for three minutes        ____________  __________
Standing up for five minutes           ____________  __________
Standing up for ten minutes           ____________  __________

2nd Measurement                       Date:___________
Lying down                                 ____________  __________
Standing up for one minute          ____________  __________
Standing up for three minutes      ____________  __________
Standing up for five minutes         ____________  __________
Standing up for ten minutes         ____________  __________

3rd Measurement                        Date:___________
Lying down                                ____________  __________
Standing up for one minute         ____________  __________
Standing up for three minutes     ____________  __________
Standing up for five minutes        ____________  __________
Standing up for ten minutes        ____________  __________

These should be done at the same time each day say morning, noon, night - variations in bp & hr is natural and fluctuates during the day depending on what we're doing, when we ate last and emotions.

If you notice a bigger jump with the Vanderbilt information or are still concerned, then please keep track of this and take it to your doctor for an evaluation.

[RNRita]

I agree with Cindy, but want to add an answer to your question about fluctuations. What I see in your post is hardly considered fluctuating.  You can take your BP 10 times in 20 minutes and they will all be different, for the most part.  True fluctuations are much more apparent.  

[cindy707]

First off you need to know that this is not the doctors forum for Medhelp....they have a speciif forum for that and you can re post this if you like.  The people on this site are community members meaning that the majority of people who post have had some sort of issue in the past or present and have varying occupational backgrounds from non medical to medical so its sort of us all tossing ideas out at you to think about.  My bet on your situation would be the antenolol that you are on. It is a beta blocker and its job is to lower your blood pressure and with that lower your heart rate controlling the rhythm of the heart.  It may just simply be that you need a medication adjustment and the doc can do that right over the phone when you tell them what is going on.  Do not attempt to adjust it yourself or suddenly stop the meds...it can be very very bad for you if you do...the doctor is the navigator with the medications.  The medical term for low pulse rate is bradycardia and high blood pressure is hypertension.  Call the doc.