Is the heart rate and the pulse rate the same thing???

[Heyep]

[BobD Volunteer]

Yes. There are no muscles in your arteries so what you feel at your pulse is what your heart is doing.. There can be a situation where atrial flutter occurs when you may feel something odd in your chest yet have a stable pulse. This is because the flutter is in the right atria and the right side pumps blood into and out of your lungs so does no affect the pulse..

Bob

[Hidden]

Just wondered why you were asking. Is it because you've seen a readout and they were different? I was on a big monitor in hospital last year and had a heart rate (at the top of the machine) which constantly went between about 80 and up to 165. It also showed the pulse which was pretty constant at 72. I asked the doctor about the pulse, and she said it was the heart rate averaged over a minute, whereas the heart rate shown on the machine was immediate with no averaging. BUT......I'm fairly certain that my heart rate never fell into the 70's or lower, so what she said didn't make sense. I have assumed that the machine couldn't actually measure my heart rate and/or pulse because it didn't know what was a beat and what wasn't. I'm guessing. My ticker was wobbling at the time with constant ectopics.

Koll

[jeanjeannie50]

I'm not too sure that feeling you pulse via the wrist is the same as what your heart is actually doing. My GP told me that feeling the pulse in your neck gave a truer indication of what your heart is doing. Also Grandma on this forum once told us that the best way to know what beat the heart is doing is via a stethescope. Perhaps if she sees this post she will confirm what I have said.

[Hidden]

An EP told me that stethescope was best so you can hear what it's doing.

[Barb1]

My cardiologist always feels the pulse in my neck

[mumknowsbest Volunteer]

No they are not, but only because sometimes you cannot feel every contraction. If you are on a cardiac monitor and a pulse meter they are not always the same. Everyone has ectopic beats and they are not usually felt at the wrist, or where ever you take your pulse.

Eileen

[SRMGrandma Volunteer]

Yes, your pulse is your heart rate. Sometimes when it is measured in your wrist or your foot and it is a different number (called a pulse deficit) that means something is not functioning properly with your heart. But whether a peripheral pulse in your extremities is weak, or bounding, regular, or irregular the number should match the beat of your heart.