Heart Rate / BP

[bear165]

I am 48 years of age, in 2009 I was diagnosed with Bradycardia, in 2012 I was hospitalized for 16 days with a heart rate of under 50. I am not an athlete and the doctor said that only athletes or very active people have resting hearts rates that low. Well, I don't even have to be resting and mine drops.

At times my heart rate has dropped to 33-35, I have been through tests such as the tilt test, echo, and treadmill. I just recently also had a heart cath. The doctor said that all the tests came back without no significant change. I do have a leaky valve that is mild.

I have noticed that when my Blood Pressure is elevated my heart rate drops and when my BP is low, my heart rate is up. When my heart rate goes above 65, I feel like my heart is racing and I get real light headed and dizzy. Does anyone have any idea what could be causing all this, it has been going on for too long and I need it to stop...

[bear165]

It has been mentioned but they feel that it is not necessary right now. I don't like what this makes me feel and since I have had the heart cath my heart has raced up 124. I don't know if maybe there is a medication that can control my heart rate versus a pacemaker? Do you know of anything? When I was hospitalized and they could not get the heart rate up they put me on Theopholyn, caugh medicine and what ever they could find to get my heart rate up. My heart races on me just walking up a flight of stairs or taking the garbage to the curb. I do not want to have a heart attack, and my doctor will not listen to me about how I feel.
He said that the tests came back OK. are there any other tests should that be tried. There is definitely a problem and they need to find out what it is.

[Artaud]

The blood pressure high with a dropping heart rate, and vice versa, sounds like a baroreflex, it's the body's way of trying to maintain a constant blood pressure. See this link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baroreflex

The low heart rate could be due to Vagus Nerve influences, since the Vagus Nerve represents the Parasympathetic Nervous System, which is designed to slow your heart rate.

Or it could be related to the SA node in the heart, which is the heart's natural pacemaker. The SA node discharges, the atrium contracts, the signal goes to the AV node, causing it to discharge, which causes the ventricles to contract. If the SA node doesn't discharge when it's supposed to, the AV node will eventually discharge on its own, but the rate will be much lower. This would be easy to see on an EKG, so that's likely the cause.

Has anyone suggested a Demand Pacemaker to kerp the heart rate above a certain point?