Low resting heart rate - should I be worried?

[NevtheRev]

I’m now 59 and 4 years ago I had a heart attack and was rushed to hospital to have two stents inserted, and up to last October kept reasonably OK.

However, following back problems I had three seizures, the last one affecting my breathing and my wife having to carry out CPR.

I saw the Neurologist in January and put on medication which has reduced the number of seizures but not stopped them altogether. I was also supposed to be having further tests inc. MRI but that has all now stopped.

I have noticed from my smart watch, that when I have episodes, my average heart rate drops to low 50’s with the lowest reading of 41bpm.

Should I be worried? Has anyone else experienced anything like this? Really worried now especially with Covid19 problems, and classed as an essential worker.

Thank you

[NevtheRev]

Unfortunately we cannot get to see surgery during normal times so now hopeless as all we can do is send a message through the ‘askmyGP’ on line service. I did send the information through to the surgery and they said they would pass it on to the neurologist but they really needed the MRI test done (which was supposed to have happened on 1st March but then had to be postponed (1st Corona virus in Wales was at the hospital) to 31st, and this week had a phone call to say that it was postponed again and probably for several months now.

[Hidden]

Don’t know if relevant, but what I’d be tempted to do -

- keep a health diary, what you feel & do each day. If you have a seizure, add more detail- what you were doing before, what you’d eaten/drunk etc. If there’s a pattern, it may help with your diagnosis, but also with you reducing the instances & thus also low heart rate episodes. My risks are different, but may still be useful to consider things like caffeine, alcohol, sugar/chocolate, exertion and/or lethargy, stress, emotional upset, bowels, etc.

- I use Apple Watch, for rough heart rate. But is it worth calibrating with a chest-strap monitor or several manual pulse counts (long duration eg 1min) in case it’s a bit off?

- if your watch can record an ECG, might it be useful to record your heart during / after a seizure? Sorry if I’m being naive and the seizure makes that inappropriate , but it’s data your medics would only see by pure chance otherwise, or if you’re referred to cardiology later.

- don’t worry too much, but do get it checked out when you can. Docs told my mum that an UNEXPLAINED pulse REGULARLY below 45-50 wasn’t great but it depended on other factors. They can do things if they think it’s a problem long-term, but it may be your body’s appropriate response to seizure, horrid tho that must be.

Best of luck.

[Kristin1812 Heart Star]

Our GP certainly doesn’t want visits, but is calling us back the same day.

I have had great phone advice on heart med changes and wound care. My husband is now puzzling over how to get an essential blood test without actually going in!

Some wag said, just send his arm!

[Alison_L]

Hi Nev. I'm 58 and had my HA two years ago - now have 1 stent, 1 balloon, and 1 ICD. Initially my heart failure nurse increased my cocktail of drugs so that my heart rate was trying to drop below 40 at night - at this point, the pacemaker bit of the ICD kicked in, so it didn't actually go below 40. (Actually, before my first pacing check, I think they'd forgotten to set the lower limit, so my HR was regularly going down to 30s and even 29 occasionally according to my Polar watch, which is fairly accurate.)

I've recently changed my beta-blocker to a different type (for unrelated reasons), and my HR now rarely goes below 45, but 45-50 is average. I look at it as saving the battery in my ICD!