Any ideas on how to "kick-start" my heart?

[Abbanabba]

My HR has been sitting on around 50bpm all day (..and spiked all the way to 54bpm after I unloaded the groceries..), so as you can imagine I am feeling really bleargh! My chest feels slightly tight and I'm suffering from lethargy and more than the usual SOB (..gee - no surprises there!..).

I'm not inclined to take anything caffeinated because I'm getting so many irregular beats (100's p/h) that I don't want to risk aggrevating that, but I was wondering if anyone had any other ideas to get my HR back to something a little higher (..it's generally around 60-65bpm..).

On a completely separate note, I've written to my cardio with my concerns about my latest test results - my declining HR included in that list. I'll send it off to her Monday and hopefully she'll have to quantify her apparent disregard for my symptoms. Will let y'all know how that goes.

Cheers
Anna : )

 

[Debbrn]

bradycardia

bradycardia

Dear Anna,

Is there any way that you can go in and see one of your doctors sooner? I do agree that caffeine is not the way to get your heart rate up. Do you have any other symptoms such as any swelling? Do you have any way of checking your blood pressure?

I wish that I could be of some help. I will continue to think of you.

Debbrn

 

[Abbanabba]

Hi Deb, because I'm in a small country town it's pretty difficult to get in to see anyone who might have a clue about this sort of thing. I've been monitoring my BP & HR (..I've got one of those little wrist monitors..) for about 8 months now and my HR has very gradually geen getting lower and lower. It started off averaging around 66bpm and has dropped to an average of 62bpm. I know this doesn't sound like much, but over the amount of time I've been logging it, it takes quite a bit for any sort of drop to show at all.

I've also been getting more readings under 50bpm (Sunday morning was 42bpm, but fortunately by midday it had reached the low 60's again) which I usually only get in my sleep. The fact that I'm now getting these readings while I'm awake and moving around is starting to bother me.

I haven't had any noticible swelling.... although my ankles always look pretty puffy, but I wonder how much of that is genetic My BP has been OK and it has actually gone from an average of 96/62 to 111/67 (I think this is the additional salt I've been including in my diet (at my cardio's recommendation)).

I've written to my cardio and have raised the issue of this seemingly slow, but steady decline of my HR, so I'll see what she has to say for herself.

A : )

 

[Debbrn]

Anna,

I just thought of more questions. Have you been gaining much weight in the past year that you can not attribute to your eating pattern? Is your heart rate regular or irregular? I know that you are having arrythmias so it may be hard to give me that answer that I am looking for. I'm trying to figure out if you are having sinus bradycardia (slow heart rate) or developing heart block. Though, I do not remember having read on the boards about anyone with TOF with heart block. Has anyone done blood work to check your blood count or electrolytes? Are you on any meds that may be causing a problem?

I am not a cardiac health care provider, so I am just stabbing in the dark.

I wish that I could be of more help. I know how frustrated you are.

Debbie

 

[Abbanabba]

Hi again Debbie, I appreciate your concern and it's always great being able to kick around ideas. I've gained some weight in the last couple of years (7kg, or 15.5lb), but I think that has more to do with the fact that I've gone from living a very active and energetic lifestyle, to not being able to walk more than 5 minutes without getting SOB and fatigue. However I do eat less than I used to (I was a constant "grazer"), and although I probably don't eat quite as healthily as I did when I was single, I still eat largely fruit & veg - only with more meat than I used to.

My HR is all over the place so it's really hard to gague how "regular" it is (I literally can't go more than a minute without some sort of irregularity) but on the whole it sits around 60-64bpm - if that's what you're trying to figure out. I've been told my underlying rate is quite slow - which is why they've been reluctant to put me on b-b's for the ectopic beats - but it does seem to be getting slower overall.
I don't take any medications and all the blood-work I've had done has come back OK. My thyroid is low "normal" and I know they wanted to keep an eye on it and I'm due to have that checked again soon. It's something I looked at when I first started getting symptoms because hypothyroidism is something that runs in our family and presents at a fairly young age, but it's never been outside "normal" parameters.

I don't know if the RBBB has any effect on all of this as it's something I've always had ("standard issue" for ToFers right?).

Again, I appreciate your thoughts. Like I wrote to my cardio, aside from my symptoms, my severe PV regurg, incredibly frequent ectopics and cardiomyopathy, I'm a picture of perfect health!!

Cheers
A : )

 

[ladyofthelake]

temporary bardy solutions??

temporary bardy solutions??

Anna,

First I want to say I truely hope and believe this is only happening as a result of a minor issue and not heart block. I also hope the priority will be to notify your cardio about it first chance you get (I am sure you will) but more important I hope the cardio will pay attention to this.

I thought to give you some input because I have lived with a PVC arrhythmia that has had to be controlled with a nasty drug for 15 years (lately my new cardio is helping me to get off the drug and it is going great!) Well I have learned a few things that may gently help get your HR up if you think safe but I am not an expert. Wise of you to not look to a toxin like caffeine to do it. One time I accidentally took a double dose of my anti arrhythmic that is an actual Sodium Channel Blocker! Oh how dumb! When I realized it I called my small town ER and asked to speak to the cardio on duty there for advise. The very intelligent hospital cardio asked me if by chance do I smoke. I said yes and his advise was to chain smoke and drink coffee for awhile! UGH OK well I don't live in a medically educated area either. So that advise was out. I decided to soak in a tub of hot water for awhile to gently raise my HR and it worked. Also, if you eat a meal (I am not saying eat alot to the point of weight gain! lol) but digestion will also raise your HR. I see that you may not want to raise it with exercise because that could lower it from the slow down to resting rate. I don't know how hot the weather is in Australia right now if an out door temp may help as I know that a slight extreme in temperture will get it going too. Maybe if you are having a problem with it you don't want to raise it to extreme like past 90 but a slight effort may help. I hope you will be feeling better and in good heart rhythm soon.

Lisa

 

[Abbanabba]

Hi Lisa, thanks for your very interesting ideas. My cardio will be getting an email from me in the next couple of days. She is aware of my low HR, but doesn't seem overly concerned, however I'll be making her aware of the gradual over-all drop and these other more drastic drops - hopefully that will get her attention.

I'm serioulsy hoping the cardio you saw was only joking when he suggested you chain-smoke and drink coffee for your HR!!! Your suggestions about raising my temperature are interesting, but I tend to suffer very badly from the heat (..this summer has been dreadful because our "new" 1940's house has no insulation!! ..) to the point where it makes me physically ill, so it would be trading one problem for another. Exercise is probably a good option in the short-term, but again, I get so easily fatigued these days that I'm struggling with any exercise and my HR tends to drop right back after a minute or two.

Still, I appreciate your ideas. How are things going for you at the moment? Are your PVC's under control without the same dose of drugs?

A : )

 

[ladyofthelake]

How things are going

How things are going

Anna,

Yes, the high IQ doctor was dead serious, punn intended! lol I am glad I was not having a visit with him. It was just a call to the ER and it was another reinforcement that if ever in dire need in my home town, expect the worse! lol This was the same place I had to make an ER trip to last June as I was unsafely detoxing off the anti-arrhythmic my heart went into runs of PACs. Well they let me wait 4 hours before being seen and with out a heart monitor and my heart eventually returned to a sinus rhythm with arrhythmia on EKG which is a "get out of the ER card" lol. I think the theroy in my home town with medicine is, the body is self healing so if they neglect it long enough it will heal on it's own, if not, well everyone has to go sometime .

I was saying that I too don't think exercise is a good option for you because it could lower your slow down to resting rate. I too get sick in the heat and don't want to see you do that but I was more or less thinking of a gentle approach using a small amount of heat. Also little things like laughter and digestion will temporarily raise it. I was also thinking of a sluggish thyroid being known to create lower heart rates. Anna were you ever tested for thyroid anti bodies. You seem very similar to me with heart electronic issues and I when I pieced it together (without a medical degree) that I am very dysautonomic with my MVP meaning my dyfunctioning autonomic nerves are going to stress my glands including my thyroid I insisted on a thyroid anti body test from my former lowly educated doctors. At the time I was only showing a half a point toward hypo but I knew better. Unfortunately I was late on that subject too and it came back postive for Hashimoto's disease. I have had a little weight gain lately and am planning to make an appt with my new Endo to see if I need T hormone but I am trying to keep the thyroid healthy naturally because T Hormone while it is being adjusted can cause more heart rhythm problems. On top of this I learn that my thyroid had no chance because my former cardio would not discuss the anti arrhythmic with me and would not take me off of it. Alot of anti arrhythmics will cause auto immune thyroid disease if you are on them for some years.

Physically things are going well for me at the moment because I got rid of all bad doctors and did an indepth search until I found a cardiologist I felt had all the qualifications and interests for me. She is great and has helped me alot. My heart has had PVC arrhythmia for 25 years since the discovery of my MVP.(It has not had many bad skippy days lately, only hormonal days) I will probably always have problems with it unless I let a great pioneer EP ablade it to the point of ICD and Pacemaker and maybe even a sinus node blowout! lol So that will never happen and I accept the skips. My issues became dangerous with arrhythmia when I had a high adrenaline producing event that caused me a short VTach episode 15 years ago. Thats when I was put on the Sodium Channel Blocker. It is a drug that should not be used long term ever and especially in my local area with the lack of knowledge here so of course the drug became pro arrhythmic with me in a matter of 4 years of being on it. I have had some (well OK alot of) tramas of trying to get off it in the last 2 years once I learned the truth about it but now with my new cardio that actually cares (like I know that sounds unrealistic but she does and she is very educated about everything lol) It is her desire to strongly encourage me to try another detox with it again because I can not have heart surgery on this med and my heart nerves are addicted to it. She mainly does not want me to have the risks of the pro arrhythmia affect with it. The drug is like dosing the heart with lidocaine daily. It could also be making my myxomatous tissue on my valve worse. I also have found a small list of brilliant doctors in case I need like an EP that is about two hours from me that has written tex books and publications on the newest therapies.All on the list have high success rates and good reputations. I am doing great with the anti arrhythmic detox. I am at the point of half way with my dose where we had to up my beta blocker to compensate but I am fine with much less ectopic beats than I had with my full dose. (unlike last year) The only down side to the progress I have been trying to make with my health is that now I found the Hashimoto's and that my MV regurg. has shown to be progressing with my new discovery that I have had myxomatous with it for a long time but was never told. I am also trying to adjust to the news I will need OHS and that when it is time for OHS with this it looks to my new dotors like it will have to be replacement. I think the main issues to be cautious about for PVC arrthymia esclating in people who are vulnerable is all the suggestions of slight physical stress, I gave you for raising the heart rate, magnified to more severe. Know your natural adrenaline tollerance and triggers for ectopic beats. With an additional note to women with PMS or peri-menopause, Gastro issues and hyper thyroid can also be a kicker. I happen to own my own little in home ecg unit due to the low IQ medical workers here and it has helped me alot. Its hard to get but so worth it for people with arrhythmias. It gives me piece of mind to know my heart is functioning rather well even though it is having 10 PVCs and/or PACs a minute. It also allows me to know if what I am feeling is a PAC or a PVC and I am one that rather know. Best Wishes to you and Blessings,

Lisa