Low Heart Rate

[FriendlySpartan]

My first son has a really low resting heart rate. As a first time parent I was freaked out by this. Our pediatrician said she didn’t see a cause for concern but I had her refer us to a specialist twice to check it out (once when he was born and once after we had a hospital stay for RSV and the damn alarms kept going off due to his heart rate).

Had him checked and both times the doctors said sometimes people just naturally have lower heart rates because the heart doesn’t need to pump as much to get blood through the circulatory system. All the tests and everything were fine and it was nothing to be concerned about, FWIW.

It’s a little different with kids. For kids your most concerned that their is a congenital heart defect or myocarditis.

I want to stress this point because people seem to be glossing it over: many people have a low RHR and a low RHR itself is nothing to be concerned about. However when that low RHR starts causing problems (such as fainting) that’s actually something you need to really stay on top of and is now something that needs to be regularly monitored.

As a parallel to make it easier to understand: snoring itself isn’t a problem, many people who snore do not suffer from sleep apnea. However if that snoring develops into OSA (obstructive sleep apnea) then now you have an issue that you need to monitor.

 

[Robb]

At 36, I was having dizzyness and general unsteadyness. Went to the ER and found out that I had a stroke that I didn't know that I had had. All they could tell me was it was an "old stroke" so over a month old.

Scary stuff, but one thing I learned is if you don't feel right, get it checked out!

 

[Spam]

Atenolol is the only drug that works for my hypertension. But my heart rate ends up being very low because of it. Hate it.

 

[Clone Head]

if ur getting up to pee you should also get your prostate checked

i prefer THREE fingers

I have a friend who is a Doctor. When he was in residency there was a gynecologist that had enormous hands, women would literally bolt out of the examination when he entered.

The other doctors were aware of this, and when the gyno went in for his prostrate exam he got the 3 finger exam.

 

[psycln11]

if ur getting up to pee you should also get your prostate checked

i prefer THREE fingers

So does your mom!! So I'm told by others on CF!!

 

[bosco]

So.. had a recent health scare and basically turns out I have a really low resting heart rate (around 45 on average and into the 30's at night) -53 yr old in good shape, but not ultra-marathoner shape or anything. Previous physicals hadn't really had it show up (walking in maybe elevated it enough or something). Now it's more anxiety than anything after Iowa Heart found nothing really wrong (was admitted because apparently was dehydrated and fainted while doing a middle of the night bathroom run) and it helps to hear that this is more normal than I think to have a really low resting heart rate!

Similar thing happened to me a couple of times during a midnight/early morning pee excursion. Mid stream felt very light headed and had to pull the emergency shut off valve and put the seat down or I would have passed out. Managed to pull it off without pissing everywhere and falling on my face.

I did have an EKG and stress test done for a different issue and I checked out fine. I chalked it up to one of those funky body things where it didn't compensate for the needed increase in heart rate. Haven't had an issue since.

 

[jsb]

I had the opposite problem, at least at the doctor's office. My heart rate when I'd go in was alarmingly high. The second I left the office, it would go way down, but after a year and maybe 3-4 visits, my doctor wasn't super convinced that it wasn't running high more than I thought. So I got to wear a monitor for a week and while I haven't seen the full results, my average heart rate was in a good range. I'll be curious if the results will be enough that my heart rate is lower the next time I have an appointment or if I continue my anxiety issue. I hope, at least, that my doctor will stop being concerned with it.

 

[FriendlySpartan]

I have a friend who is a Doctor. When he was in residency there was a gynecologist that had enormous hands, women would literally bolt out of the examination when he entered.

The other doctors were aware of this, and when the gyno went in for his prostrate exam he got the 3 finger exam.

This 100% didn’t happen and if it did that physician should lose their license. I’m not even joking about that. Inflicting additional and unnecessary pain or discomfort on any patient is grounds for a lawsuit and inquiry especially in this scenario

 

[FriendlySpartan]

I had the opposite problem, at least at the doctor's office. My heart rate when I'd go in was alarmingly high. The second I left the office, it would go way down, but after a year and maybe 3-4 visits, my doctor wasn't super convinced that it wasn't running high more than I thought. So I got to wear a monitor for a week and while I haven't seen the full results, my average heart rate was in a good range. I'll be curious if the results will be enough that my heart rate is lower the next time I have an appointment or if I continue my anxiety issue. I hope, at least, that my doctor will stop being concerned with it.

This is called white coat syndrome, it could also be something else but it’s good to get it checked out either way. It’s common for HR to be higher when being in the office or hospital so with it being “alarmingly high” it’s a good idea to monitor it.

 

[jsb]

This is called white coat syndrome, it could also be something else but it’s good to get it checked out either way. It’s common for HR to be higher when being in the office or hospital so with it being “alarmingly high” it’s a good idea to monitor it.

For sure....I was well aware it was white coat syndrome. They'd try all of their tricks like trying to take it after I'd be in there for a while or trying to distract me and I would tell them that I knew what they were trying to do and it wasn't going to work . But I do think I have pretty good instincts about my health.