RA and Bradycardia?

[Brushwork]

I have always had a low heart rate, never worried much about it. I first found out when at 38 I joined a gym for the first time, was having the fitness assessment and the instructor asked if I had been an athlete 🤔🤣🤣! A few years later I consulted a herbalist (early years of RA), he took my pulse, looked very uncomfortable and took it again, then got a colleague to do it…. “Your heart rate is 45 is your doctor aware?”.

Anyway, I never did consult a doctor until in the past few months I’d woken middle of the night feeling really, really cold, and I checked my watch, which has a HR monitor, it read 35bpm! Oops. I have been feeling tired, getting a bit breathless and dizzy at times. I contacted the GP surgery, had to do the econsult thing GRR 😖. Got an appointment the following day for an ECG and consultation with an actual doctor. Referral to cardiology for monitor… now awaiting appointment. ECG was fine, but bradycardic - no surprises. Also getting thyroid checked again. I asked if it was really a problem, said I’d always had a low HR, it’s often around 40…. “There’s a danger to all of your other organs when your HR is very low, they need oxygen”! Oh OK. 😊

I can be incredibly dumb for a supposedly intelligent woman. To be honest, RA is enough to deal with I’d like to not have to worry about anything else please.

It’s been a fun week.

I didn’t enjoy telling my only son that I’d been referred to cardiology. Especially, when I told him I’d been ignoring it for a few months. Sons are not supposed to tell mothers off are they 🤔😂. “Mother that little muscle is what’s keeping you alive” is still ringing in my ears.

Anyway, I am fine, the HR dipping below 40 seems to be just a beat here and there…. Literally 😂😂

The moral to this story. - Keep Calm and Carry on

Go gently and stay safe out there.

[charisma]

Good you finally got some expert medical attention, Brushwork.My sons also make remarks that put me in my place! 😄

But I hope your heart rate might improve. My pulse and BP were always at the low end of normal pre RA. I was active though; practised Karate, walked everywhere, cycled, swam. Makes me tired just getting a gentle mile or so in now! 🙂💐

[Pythagorus]

Hi Brushwork, I too had had a slow pulse about 50 bpm then two years ago I was sitting down but felt a bit odd. My pulse was 30bpm and did go as low as 23! My BP machine wouldn’t work (I found out later this due to low pulse rate)Waited a day as it was Easter Monday before seeing GP and then immediately into hospital to have a pacemaker fitted. I now have an app on my phone which connects with the hospital and can read my heart rate. The marvels of modern medicine and the NHS. I don’t even have to go to hospital for any check upsThe RA doing ok too on biological.

I hope you get sorted soon😊

[Brushwork in reply to Pythagorus]

Gosh, I really hope I don’t need to go that far. But… pleased you’re doing well and gosh the technology is so good.

[oldtimer2]

I used to have a low heart rate - often commented on. But I was also quite fit in my 'youth'. But now I'm old it is about the same as everyone else's (and I've had lots of heart investigations because my GP was obsessed with heart failure as a reason for my breathlessness - which is wheezy, not secondary to fluid retention).

[Hidden]

Thank you for sharing Brushwork! Well done for getting in touch with your GP