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My dad has been feeling like crap lately - really tired, unable to make it through a movie without clutching his head and needing to go lie down. A couple weeks ago he even passed out. He finally went to his doctor after me, my mom, and my brother constantly harangued him about it, and he was diagnosed with brachycardia. His heart rate is about 40bpm. The blood test has ruled out obvious causes, so he has an EKG and an appointment with a cardiologist on Tuesday. My dad exercises constantly, but he does have a minor heart defect, which I don't actually know the name of. According to him it was ruled harmless years ago. He was born with a sunken chest, but that was corrected surgically. Unfortunately his doctor (who is also my former doctor) is an idiot, which doesn't make me feel any better. Basically, I'm freaking out. Is it rational to freak out? Is this not actually that serious? What are treatment outcomes like for this? The other complicating factor is that I myself technically have brachycardia: my resting heart rate is about 52. According to the German doctor I saw in Tokyo (long story,) that's just due to the fact I'm 28 and run 4 miles 6x a week. Should I also be seeing my doctor right now as well? I don't want to add any unnecessary burden to the healthcare system right now if it's foolish to do so. I love my dad, and I don't want to lose him.
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Jul 16, 2020 17:01
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| # ? May 5, 2024 13:15 |
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There are a lot of reasons someone may have bradycardia like your father. A heart attack may have damaged some cells and the way the heart generates or conducts electrical impulses may be affected. There may be electrolyte imbalances. Etc. Ultimately, either the heart is generating beats more slowly for some reason (possibly leading to something other than the sinoatrial node generating the beat as per normal) or its conduction of beats is slowed. As well, people who are fit will normally have a heart rate <60, 60 - 100 being the "normal" rate. If you feel fine, e.g. aren't weirdly tired like your father, and your healthcare provider says you're okay, then you're okay. But without knowing what the underlying cause of the bradycardia, it's difficult to speculate. Some of the causes are serious, some are not so serious. That said, a common reason people have pacemakers implanted is to treat symptomatic bradycardia like this.
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Jul 16, 2020 21:43
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There's a heart thread in Goon Doctor for ya: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3828788&pagenumber=10&perpage=40
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Jul 25, 2020 12:30
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