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Can Slowing Heart Rate Help Breathlessness?
I am a 74-yo obese woman. I have been taking 50mg atenolol for rapid heart rate. It dropped from 105-110 to about 85. For the last year I have become increasingly breathless after walking about a block. A short rest and I'm able to continue. The distance, however, shortens. My bp us usually 105-110/70.
The doctor has doubled my atenolol to 100mg a day to LOWER my heart rate. He says I don't have congestive heart failure, but the walls of my heart are slightly thickened making it harder to fill. Slowing my heart rate because I'm breathless seems counterintuitive to me. How does this work?
The doctor has doubled my atenolol to 100mg a day to LOWER my heart rate. He says I don't have congestive heart failure, but the walls of my heart are slightly thickened making it harder to fill. Slowing my heart rate because I'm breathless seems counterintuitive to me. How does this work?
Well, the heart needs a certain amount of time to fill with blood.
If your heart beats faster then the time it needs to fill it pumps less efficiently.
When the heart pumps less efficiently, less blood and hence oxygen makes its way to tissues. The body picks up on this and compensates by causing you to breathe more, giving you a feeling of breathlessness.
This can be made worse if you have thick walls, thick walls can mean a smaller chamber inside the heart, which further reduces the amount of blood pumped.
However a rate of 110 isn't usually enough to accomplish this. Its at much higher heart rates that real loss in your hearts efficiency starts to be seen.
If your heart beats faster then the time it needs to fill it pumps less efficiently.
When the heart pumps less efficiently, less blood and hence oxygen makes its way to tissues. The body picks up on this and compensates by causing you to breathe more, giving you a feeling of breathlessness.
This can be made worse if you have thick walls, thick walls can mean a smaller chamber inside the heart, which further reduces the amount of blood pumped.
However a rate of 110 isn't usually enough to accomplish this. Its at much higher heart rates that real loss in your hearts efficiency starts to be seen.
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