Should I look deeper?

I "flunked" the tilt table test and have a usual blood pressure (standing) of 82/52 with a heart rate of 50.
I have difficulty sleeping, wake gasping for breath, even though I am taking tenormin for my PVC's and fluttering feelings in my chest.  I just found out that my C5.C6,C7 are in bad shape and I need surgery to correct pressure on the spinal column.  Do you think there is a chance these two problems are connected? Do you think I need to go back to the electrophysiologist to find out if my heart rate is going lower at night causing sleeping and breathng problems, especially before neck surgery?

thanks


This discussion is related to Should I be worried about heart rate/blood pressure?.

[rilesnic]

You should get cardiac clearance from your EP or cardio before any surgery. My cardio told me that after I had my gallbladder removed without consulting him first. We think surgeons would tell us those things, but they don't always do that. Wishing you a successful surgery and that you're feeling better soon.

[antiphonal]

thanks.  I thought I should go ahead and have a work up done, but the ortho make it sound like he wanted to schedule neck surgery right away.  I remember that I had a knee replacement 9 years ago in another state, but that doc MADE me have a complete cardio clearance before he would touch me.  Maybe another opinion is necessary.

[DeltaDawn23]

When you said you awoke gasping for breath, it made me wonder about sleep apnea.  That is one of the symptoms.  It may be worth checking out.  They do a sleep study to determine this.  It is very detrimental to your heart health if you have it -- it needs to be treated.  Another thought, any surgeon who wants you to do something right away, like this ortho, and it is not an emergency, makes me wonder.  I think a 2nd opinion is definitely in order.  I read a quote once that said, "Unless you're on the floor of the emergency room, you have time for another opinion." Good luck in resolving this.

[Mom2four85]

what did they do a TTT for? you should have a sleep study done before you go into surgery; if not they may give you something that puts you too far into sleep and you have an episode and something terrible happen; mention to your dr about this.

I had a sleep study done a few weeks before an ablation back in 2009 and was shocked that I had moderate OSA almost to the severe stage - I never snored and didn't wake up gasping but have always had bothered sleep; waking up so much during the night I was fatigued during the day.  

I'm wondering what part the CNS and ANS plays in sleep apnea and those patients of us with spinal and autonomic problems.  I too always had a low bp resting was 90/60 and would drop to nothing in a blink causing me to faint.

No matter what the dr says always get cardiac clearance for everything...but if it were me I'd do that sleep study first =)