BPM going below setting

I've just had my pm for a little over a week and it is set at 60/140. My problem was that my heart rate was dropping in to the 20s with me just walking around and it would cause me to pass out. I'm still dropping below 60 but I thought that the pm was supposed to keep that from happening. Does anyone know if this is normal? Does it take a while for your body to adjust? My blood pressure is also still going extremely low at times. I could use any advice since I'm new to this and do not really have any idea about most of it. I'm so thankful to have found this site!

4 Comments

Welcome

by E from Spain - 2009-03-09 05:03:22

Hi,

I have my PM for a little more than half a year. It took some time for me to “get used” to the PM. It takes some days (for the body to regulate the blood pressure, but the best thing of having a PM is that you don’t have to worry about the HR. The PM is extremely efficient but it can not think. What I want to say is that the HR depends on the adjustment that you have in your PM. If your PM is set at 60/140 you should not go under 60. If you have problems with that you should visit your doc and tell him to check the PM and the settings.

Another thing to consider is that you might think that your HR is dropping to 20 but it’s not true. It’s not easy to check the HR while walking and having a low blood pressure. Anyway, I would make an appointment with your doc or cardiologist to check the PM.

Take care

hr and bp

by Tracey_E - 2009-03-09 06:03:25

First advice I can give you is don't obsess over what your hr and bp are. Only take it if you feel bad or the doctor has told you to check bp regularly, resist the urge the rest of the time. You will make yourself crazy checking them all the time and worrying about perfectly normal fluctuations.

Odds are your hr is not actually going below 60, you are just getting beats that you aren't feeling as strongly as the others. If in doubt, ask to have the pm interrogated and they can tell you immediately if there have been any episodes. But if your min is set at 60, you can be pretty confident it will never drop below 60. That's one beat per second. The pm works as a watch dog, it keeps an eye on what your heart is doing and if it goes a second without beating, it generates a pulse that causes a beat.

How long it takes to adjust depends on your definition of adjust. Your heart started beating at it's faster, more efficient rate the second the pm was turned on, no adjustment time needed. Any symptoms you had from the low hr- dizziness, fatigue, etc- should be gone immediately. Your body will take some time to adjust and heal. Every time your rate dropped so low, your organs were starved of oxygen. You should notice your energy and overall health get better and better over the next few weeks, picture your organs getting flooded with healing oxygen.

Pm has no affect on low blood pressure. BP can come up as a side effect of having a regular hr, but the pm and its settings can't directly control bp. I've always had low bp, 80/50 to 90/60. I turned 40 and gained 25 lbs, now I'm finally in the normal range for the first time in my life. :o)

If you find your bp dangerously low, get to an ER or call 911 if you don't have anyone to drive you.

How are you checking HR

by ElectricFrank - 2009-03-10 12:03:17

TraceyE's suggestion that you may not be able to feel every beat is a good one especially if your BP is also low. The HR part of the BP monitor is also sensitive to very low BP.

You didn't mention how low you consider extremely low. When I am very relaxed mine goes down into the 85/45 range, but immediately comes back up if I get active. The main effect it has on me is that I get settled in and don't feel like getting up.

It is important to get a feel for your range of BP and how it affects you unless it is too low. There is a tendency by doctors to start giving meds to bring it up just because you complain. My bias is to stay away from as many meds as I can.

The most ridiculous thing I have seen is a friend who was getting meds to increase BP by a doc and meds for hypertension by her cardiologist. It was partly her problem for not letting the docs know what she was taking, but she is one of those people who just "does what the doc says".

frank

No meds!

by jljmom - 2009-03-12 10:03:09

I totally agree with you Frank! I do not want medications. I try not to even take advil.
I think I just need to get used to my pm. When I went in for my two week wound check the doctor said my HR might go a little lower than the 60 setting and to expect that. He also told me that I might still have to do some "tweaking" on the settings.
TraceyE you are absolutely right - I need to not obsess. I am so much better now that I have the pm! I still worry though that I'm going to start passing out again.
E from Spain - I think you are also right... I just need to get used to it.

Thanks!

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