Post COVID recovery from heart failure, suffering with very low heart rate and very concerned and worried what’s happening to me.

[Liam-James]

Good morning everyone I’m looking for some advice, I’m sure people may have seen my posts the past few months, from being told I had heart failure back In January after an echo, then starting on medications to then having a cardiac stress MRI in May I’ve recovered from what looks like heart failure caused by COVID, I’m now 9-10 weeks off the medications I was taking advised by my cardiologist to stop taking them as I didn’t need them and now they will be completely out of my system.

I’ve noticed my heart rate seems very low, at rest it’s usually around 60bpm in the day but drops into the 50’s at times around 55-60, but my worry is when I wake up first thing in a morning I notice my heart rate feels very very slow and I just get this weird uneasy feeling in my chest I don’t know if the more I think about it I’m making it worse because of anxiety building up from overthinking it but it seems to take me ages to get going and want to move out of bed it’s as though I feel like a zombie, even though I’m half asleep in bed I’ll feel my pulse on my wrist and can tell it’s really slow and this morning it was around 42 bpm I put on my pulse oximeter and got readings of around 42 going up and back down slightly. It very slowly and steadily creeps up to about 50bpm and then as I sat up in bed relaxing it stayed the same and doesn’t seem to pick up and go much quicker. I’m quite concerned I’ve got an unusually low heart rate. I do have a funny feeling in the centre of my chest at times especially sometimes if I lay down flat or I’m sat back relaxing which I can only describe as a sort of butterfly fluttery tickling feeling in the centre. There’s no pain or discomfort it just feels different and uneasy so I move around or onto my side to try and make it go away or make it less noticeable I’m not sure if this is anything to do with what’s going on with my heart or not but I’d guess it is.

I’m still getting a pounding heart rate at times if I get up and move around to fast or if I go up the stairs or if I’m out exercising and go up hills or go to the gym and lift light weights it happens I don’t get any chest discomfort I don’t get out of breath or dizzy but I will get a thumping in my chest and a forecful strong heartbeat but it doesn’t necessarily speed up too fast but then it calms down and relaxes again. When I spoke to my cardiologist 3 weeks ago he told me my heart is ok and to ignore the physical symptoms I feel like the pounding as the mri showed my heart is functioning normal with no damage or evidence of cardiomyopathy. That’s all well and good but he didn’t discuss anything to do with low heart rates which is becoming my main concern as now the meds are out of my system I’m noticing this slow heart rate more as this is my hearts natural speed now not caused by any meds slowing it down purposely.

I had a NT-pro BNP blood test on Monday which came back as 11.8 ng/l which I’m told is a good sign on the heart function side of things, and I’m just waiting for the report of a private echo I had to come back.

I am worried there’s some sort of problem going on with the electrical side of my heart and that it’s not pumping enough blood fast enough, I keep worrying about my heart just suddenly slowing down to much or just suddenly stopping and having a cardiac arrest, and my concern is if there is something going on am I going to need a pacemaker or icd fitted eventually. I know in my head I feel it’s quite obvious there is something happening, I may have got good news regarding the heart function side of things and there’s no heart failure but maybe there is something going on with the electrical side, I was just looking for some advice and maybe someone who’s had any similar issues with low heart rates and what was done about it and when is it time to be concerned and when is a low heart rate too low bearing in mind I’m on no medications such as beta blockers purposely slowing my heart rate rate down.

Thanks in advance for anyone taking the time to reply and help me.

[Milkfairy Heart Star]

Hello,

I am sorry you are facing this uncertainty about what is causing your symptoms.

Have you had a 24 hour ECG monitoring of your heart to check for heart rhythm problems?

You can also ask for a second opinion. I suggest you ask to be seen by Cardiologists who is an electrophysiologist. They are experts in caring for heart patients with heart rhythm problems.

There are many other members of the forum who live with arrhythmias who I am sure will be along to share their experiences with you too.

The Arrthymia Alliance is has some helpful information on their website.

heartrhythmalliance.org/aa/uk