Low heart rate good or not?

[jarno1973]

Like most people I had a high heart rate after surgery. After my second surgery initially it seemed like my rest heart rate had remained normal and was quickly in the 60's. After a few weeks however that suddenly changed and my heart rate was a lot higher. This was reason for worries and it took quite a while before my resting rate became lower than 70. All the time i have been waiting for my heart rate to get lower and back to pre-surgery levels. Since a week or so my resting heart rate has fairly suddenly dropped quite a bit and I am not sure if I should be happy with it. Normally low heart rate is associated with being in good condition and often sportsmen have low heart rates. I have been exercising frequently for the last months. Most weeks I try to run 3 times a week. I run 4 km and am trying to improve my time while keeping my heart rate under control (as suggested by the doctor). Impatient as I am I have also been pushing the heart rate a little bit in order to improve my time. I figured; a few months have again passed and I should be able to get the heart rate up a bit more.

As said; my resting heart rate is quite low now but I am not sure if should be happy or worried about it. It made a drop quite suddenly and now is in the 50's almost all the time. Lowest I have seen it was 50 when I was lying very quietly on bed. When I walk or do something it goes up but whenever I sit down again it seems to come back to the low rate very quickly. I know there are lots of people with a heart rate in the 50's but I don't think mine was ever this low before surgery (I just looked at my medical examinations from when my heart was still ok and the rate during blood pressure testing in the hospital has been between 59 and 68). Besides this the drop comes after I upped my exercise a bit and pushed the maximum heart rate during my runs to around 150-155 average and had peaks of up to 170 bpm.

I am a week away from my 6 monthly check up where an echo and X-ray will be made. I haven't been feeling too great the last weeks and am now worried that my heart rate is getting too low and wonder if I have been pushing too hard with exercising.

Part of the worries come from being nervous about my check-up as the last time around this was the point where I found out I had to have my second OHS. I am scared to have to undergo the echo and hear the technician saying things again like "hmm ..that is not good/normal". Every single echo I had so far in my life has been bad news.

Well, back to the topic...What do you think about my heart rate??

Regards,

Jarno

 

[Bina]

I would be calling the cardio on Monday. Best wishes.

 

[Eva]

Sorry that I have no advice to share, as I never experienced an *occasional* lower resting heart rate than 68!

Keep us posted.

 

[2003miata]

My heart rate is consistently in the low 50s at rest since my AVR last November. Prior to surgery, it was about the same. The low heart rate has not been an issue either at rest or during exercise. My understanding is that as long as you do not have problems with lightheadedness or loss of consciousness, it's okay.

 

[neil]

if your worried ring your cardio, cant see a problem but none of us on here are docters,hope your echo goes ok,

 

[TheGymGuy]

My heart-rate was in the mid-high 50s pre surgery. Now-a-days it gets as low as 60 when I am super calm and motionless and relaxing. I cannot wait to get back to mid-50s. I suppose more cardio could help, but I am too lazy.

 

[RunMartin]

Are you on Beta Blockers? 50 does not seem too low. I am worried my heart rate is too low!!!! I woke up this morning and checked it -it was 36 (it is normally in the 40's). I wish it would be a little higher as I feel very uncomfortable with it being so low. I went to my local doctors last week about something else and the HR was also measured at 42. She just said it was because am very fit (probably fit relative to the patients she normally sees). I am on a small dosage of Bisoprolol which should not have such a big effect. One thing I have noticed is that if I go for a run it takes a long time for it to get back to 40's - it seems to hold around 60 for an hour or two.

 

[jarno1973]

I was at 48 bpm this morning and decided to go to the cardio. I got a full check with Chest Xray, ECG and EKG. There was nothing to worry about said the Cardio but there were still some remarks about gradient on the ECG which I am not sure of what they mean. I will discuss this with my surgeon next week.

The cardio said not to be worried about the heart rate numbers. He said 40 bpm is considered very low...but only need to really worry when it gets around 30 bpm. He thought that my increased excercising was probably the reason for the drop. So maybe it is actually good news to be at this resting heart rate but as far as I am concerned it does not need drop more when I continue to excercise more and more.

@runmartin. Why do you need the Bisoprolol when ur heart rate is already so low? Is it for high blood pressure? I also notice that after a workout it takes a long time to get back to the low resting rate. The 48 bpm that I measured was at complete rest, after sleeping and I am not sure if that is a reliable value to work with. I guess the same counts for your 36 bpm but I understand your worries.

Hope your heart rate comes back up a bit. Please let us know what happens.

Regards,

Jarno

 

[Mike1952]

As a longtime runner, my resting heart rate was always in the low fifties. Nurses taking my pulse would sometimes ask if I was a runner. My cardiologist had no problem with the pulse being that low. Right now, I am a week post-op with a new aortic valve. I am anemic and and my pulse gets high when I do anything physical. I'm thinking this is to be expected for a few months as I try to recover. I hope so!