bradycardia and high blood pressure

[Chrickjhs]

My son is 23 years old.  He is an accomplished athlete who played soccer, lacrosse and football at the collegiate level (kicker).  He stopped running the 800 in high school after having a bout of PACs.  His heart occasionally goes out of normal rythym which he assumes are more PACs.  He recently graduated from college and stopped daily training in May.  He is currently working long hours often including weekends.  The last time he was checked by his cardiologist his heartrate ranged from 44 to the mid-50's.  He is scheduled to be seen again next week because of an event that happened two weeks ago.  He "couldn't catch his breath"  after only one flight of stairs.  Later in the evening he felt the same breathlessness just sitting and speaking with friends.  He became sufficiently alarmed that he went to Emergency.  His EKG was pronounced "textbook" and his heart x-ray was satisfactory.  Nevertheless, his resting heart rate was bouncing between 36-39.  This, obviously, was after he was anxious enough to go to Emergency.  He was exhausted and stayed in bed the next day.  He has recently been going in to grocery store to check his blood pressure and pulse.  His blood pressure has been consistently in the 145/80 range with pulse in the 60's.  He takes no medication.  Three weeks after he was born he was in the ICU with bradycardia and taking breaths with as much as 20 seconds between which led to low oxygen counts.  He wore a monitor for the first six months of his life and it alerted when he was ill.  (There wre some false alarms but not all were.)  His stress echocardiograms were normal in high school and at about age 20.  Thoughts?

[Momto3]

I think I'd suggest he make a cardio appointment just to be sure nothing is going on.  When I asked my doctor about low BP, she said it's important to know if I am symptomatic (dizziness, lightheaded, shortness of breath). It is entirely possible that your son is in tip-top shape, but given all of the changes in his life, I think I'd want to double check.

[taratownsend]

Maybe your son is short of breath because of his pulse being so low. I know when i was on beta blockers my pulse was in the 30's and i could barely breath. I know you said he isn't on meds but the low pulse could very well be causing the s.o.b. symptoms. Maybe the Cardio could put him on something to raise his heart rate and see if he breathes better. Has he been checked for asthma? I know alot of athletes have a very low heart rate because there heart is so healthy but if its causing shortness of breath then maybe you should look into it. Or maybe it could be anxiety. Has he ever been DX with anxiety?

Hope he feels better soon!!

Blessings,

Tara :)