af

my father after by-pass had af so cordaron 200 mg was given with lacitrom cardivas and cardace now suddenly his heart rate went down to 20 beats . now they say his potessium is high to 7.5  now kidny tests are ok..   evs  done is ok.  so what caused his heart rate to go down so low he had been feeling weak from last 20 days pls help.

[cindy707]

I think you may be mistaken...you may want to look into this further...a heart beating at 20 beats per minute could not sustain life....if that were the case he would not be speaking, walking, or even functional in life......i would check into it further.  If a heart rate were that low the blood and oxygen could not feed any of the organs in the body in a sufficient manner and no doubt he would be unconscious and on life support.....it is possible for it to be 20 however he would be in a hospital setting or no doubt be on his way to a hospital if it were to occur and the docs would employ life saving techniques...i would check into it further...

[Jerry_NJ]

Lets suppose the HR was not measured accurate and it was in fact 30+, even then the patient would likely be very dizzy and unable to function.  

Is one of the drugs being taken a beta blocker?  I don't recognize all the brand named drugs.  Beta blockers have as one of their normal affects a lowering of the HR.  Some patients have a HR that is too low and thus can not take beta blockers... as far as I understand it.

Check it out with the doctor(s), please.