Brachycardia pulse 37

[PositiveThinking68]

Hi all, my husband who is late 60s and vconsidered very fit for his age, saw me taking my look pressure and asked me to take his . The result was 123/70 with pulse 37.

I was scared to see a pulse reading of 37, when a healthy adult shd be 60-100.

I rang our GP who was alarmed, and told us to go straight to A&E, and him not to drive, which we did. He was given two ECGs they cudn’t see any faults, so sent him home, and following day he had a blood test, awaiting results.

Over last few days he has tested regularly, and the pulse reading has gone up and down, average 45-50. He walks for over an hour a day, stretches, sometimes a light jog. He eats sensibly, sometimes not enough, is slender.

Has anyone come across this low pulse reading and what was the outcome? His BP is always low but not alarming low.

Thanks in advance for advice.

Regards,

V.

[Lezzers]

First I would ask are you using a machine/watch to take his HR or are you taking it manually by finger on his wrist? If the readings are from a machine/watch etc have you taken it manually so as to compare?

[popeyeuk in reply to Lezzers]

That's a very good point .. my heart surgeon told me not to rely on my Garmin watch or BP machine for accurate heart rate.. I have a few ectopic beats and it screws with the readings..

[Lezzers in reply to popeyeuk]

Yep, we were relying on the BP machine given to us by my husband's nurse and it always showed a good HR in the 70's. For some reason I decided to do finger on pulse and was stunned to find out that not only was his heart skipping quite a lot of beats but his HR was actually low 50's dipping into the 40's. That's too low for my husband's condition so he had to have an urgent visit to Papworth to get his ICD adjusted to pace him at 50. His nurses and cardiologist have always taken his pulse manually even before his heart started skipping beats. Whilst some watches/machines can be quite accurate to an extent, I always think they should be used a guide really and if the readings are of some concern then do the finger on wrist. Plus I always do the full 60 seconds reading rather than 15x4. His first missed beat happened just as we hit the 15th second, so could easily have been missed!

[MikeyD202]

Hi,

My pulse for as long as I can remember has been around 45 - 55, and I'd led a very active lifestyle, not over weight, never smoked. I'm 42.

Recently I'd not been feeling normal self and along with some other symptoms i have developed some unusual heart rhythms which I'm still trying to get to the bottom of the cause.

Around the end of November my blood pressure monitor stopped reading my heart rate and giving me an error message instead.

I got myself a Fitbit and was finding my heart rate was dropping as low as 32 at night and as low as 36 when relaxing during the day.

This, coupled with my other symptoms (occasional light headedness, tingling in left hand, heart palpitations and what I'd describe as feeling like my heart was swollen) caused me to phone an ambulance during a particularly worrying time.

I got blue lighted to A&E with the low pulse being one of their main concerns.

For myself it looks like the low pulse is a heart rhythm called bigemini where my heart is alternating a normal sinus

heartbeat with a ventricular ectopic beat, the ectopic beats often not getting picked up by Fitbit / Blood Pressure monitor hence showing as a very low pulse rate.

For me this is intermittent so when in hospital and on subsequent follow up tests it's not always in this state so not always seen by doctors. The ECG machines in hospital did pick up the ectopic beats so my pulse was showing as higher that my Fitbit / BP monitor. As is often the case it was also never as bad when I was in hospital as at home.

I've been told that this on its own is not necessarily an issue but for me I'm still trying to work out the cause (possibly stress) as when it's happening for prolonged periods I don't feel at all well.

At its worst, every beat is ectopic and this is when I see mid/low 30's on my Fitbit.

This is all still pretty new for me so i don't have all the answers yet, just sharing my experience to date.

I've bought a home ECG called Kardia Mobile 6L which has been brilliant for me. When I'm freaking out with a really low pulse it's come back and told me my BPM is actually higher than I thought as it's detecting the ectopic beats.

I've just this week managed to capture an ECG reading during one of these periods of low beats for the first time so am about to share them with the Cardiologist.

I don't know if any of this helps or is even relevant to your husband but thought I'd share anyway.

What kind of readings was your husband getting when in hospital on their ECG, was it still 37 BPM of more like 50?

Are his reading at home always this low or does it vary?

[popeyeuk]

Hello yes I'm 59 and resting pulse is about 40 sometimes 37 or 38.. had many tests and seen a cardiologist or 2 .. all of them said if you're not symptomatic then don't worry .. In fact I had heart surgery 2 years ago and I sent them mad in the ICU as I was constantly setting off the low pulse warning ... I have done lots of cycling in the past and maybe it's to do with that ...Doesn't cause me any problems though..

[Mentdent]

Miguel Indurain, who won the Tour de France several times, had a resting HR in the 20s.

[Row5]

Hi PositiveThinking68, I had a low pulse of 36 for about 20 years with chest pains occasionally, taken to hospital a few times, told i was a fit person. Two years ago I started fainting now I have a pacemaker, was originally set at 40 but now set at 50. I feel like a new person, getting my confidence back to go out on my own again. Good luck .

[vbonariensis]

Thank you for your posting which has sparked some really helpful responses.

Eighteen months ago, at my excellent GP practice, my doctor and I agreed that my blood pressure was a little high and she prescribed daily 20mg rivaroxaban and 5mg ramipril.

This has helped bring my blood pressure down – for example, it’s been 125/76 over the past two months.

My doctor ordered an echocardiogram which suggested atrial fibulation (AFib) and I was referred to a cardiology centre.

I do not have common AFib symptoms.

I, too, however, was alarmed by an average pulse of 35-40 beats per minute (bpm) over many months based on three times daily monitoring on two new blood pressure machines and monitoring by hand.

However, ECGs at my GP practice and hospital showed 50-60 bpm.

At a private consultation, a top cardiologist explained the differences – ectopic beats not recognised by simple home monitoring machines.

He also recommended a Holter monitor and a stress MRI.

Although I had medical insurance to cover the costs (about £2000) I chose, however, to go via my local NHS route and try some self-help.

I posted earlier this year about my plan to follow, rigorously, Dr John Day’s advice in that excellent book on beating AFib.

Whilst pretty fit at 78, a non-smoker, and eating a Med diet for thirty years, I was drinking a bottle of delicious Shiraz almost every day - easily done when you are a keen gardener.

So eight months ago, I gave up alcohol, increased my exercise to at least 90 minutes each day, ate even more strictly and brought my weight down to a healthy BMI of 24.

My blood pressure remains good, but my pulse is still a concern.

So I’m now in the hands of the excellent people at Bristol Heart Institute.

A 24 hour Holter monitor last week showed a variation of 25-80 beats per minute and, more worryingly, several four second interruptions between beats.

So I’m up for a stress MRI in twenty days and I am now on the waiting list for a pacemaker.

With hindsight, I wish I had accelerated the medical interventions using my private medical insurance.

But I confess to having enjoyed following the John Day regime even though it does not seem to have ‘cured’ me.

So, PositiveThinking68, my advice is to ask your doctor to order a echocardiogram and a Holter monitor and then decide with her if you need to see a cardiologist.