Holter monitor results

Thanks Lyn, I was originally referred to the Cardiologist by my GP just over a year ago , I had attended a 'Well Woman' check and my pulse was noticed as 38, which seemed too low. I had a Holter test done then and the results were normal. However, some months later after feeling very weak, I took my pulse using a blood pressure monitor and my pulse was low again (low 40's and sometimes lower). I monitored it myself for a few weeks just to see if it would go back to normal by itself. When it didn't, I returned to my GP and he referred me again and this was the result I received.

I'm a bit worried about taking beta blockers as I am anaemic and feel tired at the best of times. 

I don't drink any energy drinks purely because of the caffeine that's in them and I use decaffeinated t-bags and coffee, so I know that is not an issue.

I'm 64 years old and my GP said that they now like to treat irregular heartbeats as it could possibly lead to stroke in older age.

To be honest.I find the terminology used a bit confusing. The heart is a complicated organ! 

Thanks for taking time to reply to me and I'll let you know the outcome.

Don't know why, but I imagined you were having lots of extra fast heartbeats, so my reply reflected that.

?From your reply I see that you have if anything a slow heartbeat, and or missing heartbeats, take the bisoporol, can be a bit of a hit and miss, but if it agrees with you you will find it helps big time.

?I didn't mention this earlier, husband has heart failure which is completely different to what I have, the side of his heart muscle is all stretched or blown out, proabaly from a virus which attacked him and he is on bisoporol, works well for him, and he is on a much higher dose than suggested to you.

?If your heartbeat continues to fall below 40 again I would not be worring about GP or even waiting for cardiologist appointment, call an ambulance, they will get you on a monitor straight away and hopefully take you to a heart hospital where they can assess what is going on correctly.

?Husbands heart fell to 30bpm about a year ago while waiting for appointment with cardiologist, I did not wait, but drove him straight to our city heart hospital, they admitted him and monitored him, his heartbeat fell to 23BPM during the night, the following morning the consultant cardiologist came in looked at his file, listened to what I had to say about what happened, and ordered a pacemaker be installed immediately, some hours later they got it in and husband reported he could breathe the moment they switched it on, previous to that he had problems catching a breath, interesting point is that he also started peeing, LOTS & LOTS, in the few months previous we had been told problems peeing were because of enlarged prostrate, but even that seemed to settle down after pacemaker switched on, when I have mentioned to the dr's we get a shrug of the shoulders, and comment not related, but why the noticeable difference, blood flow, even I can figure that out.

Hi Lyn,

Thank you for your reply.

I'm sorry to hear about your husband's heart failure, it must have been extremely worrying for you both. My son had dilated cardiomyopathy when he was 20 years old, caused by a viral infection. Normally, a heart will go back to its normal size, but his didn't. Luckily he was seen by a professor at a major London hospital and they monitored him for a few years. Unfortunately, he had more symptoms in his thirties, he had private medical with his company and so was investigated again. He has something called Left branch bundle blockage. He's had loads more tests (one, in particular, was not very pleasant), but now at the age of 43 has been given the all clear as long as he doesn't do any extreme exercise. So good news there.

My mum had a heart attack at the age of 70 and another one after getting a virus at the age of 79, sadly she died. However, she had smoked in her younger years and I would guess this would have been a contributor. 

So, I was a bit concerned at my low/irregular heart rate, but my GP explained that it was unlikely that I would have a heart attack with those symptoms and it is just an electrical fault that can be fixed with warfarin or a pacemaker and not confuse the two. So that's a relief. (He didn't mention beta blockers at the time)

Reading what you were writing about doctors not committing themselves, I'm still wondering if my irregular heartbeat is caused by my anaemia. My blood count is only just below normal and it's been like this for years, even after taking iron tablets (I make sure I take them with vit c and no tea before of after for at least an hour), still it remains stubbornly below normal.I have had all the investigations to check for blood loss, colonoscopy, endoscopy, in the end they say it is 'normal' for me. Well, that 'normal' means I have lived a life feeling permanently tired.  

Perhaps, when I see my GP next week and the Cardiologist in March they will give me some answers.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Interesting that you mention left branch bundle block, my husband had that for a start, diagnosed with it along with his dialated cardiomyopathy, and then about a year ago his right branch bundle shut down, the underlying reason for his heart beating at 30BPM, as above, now he is reliant on his pacemaker, he has read all the booklets from the pacemaker clinic and done his best to comply with the rules, no magnetic exposure, big fight with the security at Auckland airport, until I said well if you are willing to put your house at risk, whats your name and address, have been advised by staff at the pacemaker clinic that they would not be risking an airport scanner.

?They were testing, some months ago they turned off his pacemaker completely in the pacemaker clinic, I watched them do it, he passed out completely, and they then declared that he now has 100% branch bundle block, the pacemaker turned off only lasted a few seconds, Dr's did warn him about what could happen, and it did, a little scary, but I keep reassuring myself he is in the right place, and they can control any unexpected result, lots of fancy looking machines, and two senior Dr's watching the computer screens and making any changes as required. 

We go to clinic every six months for the download of the memory of the pacemaker, very straightforward procedure.