Heart Rate of 26

[longbow]

81 year old male and a heart rate of 26. No pacemaker yet. What is the lowest heart rate you can have and still be awake. He is in ICU at the moment.

At what point does a low heart rate start to shut down organs. He is a family friend, so be kind on the comments........

 

[rmabrey]

I haven't learned enough to give you specifics other than it can vary per person.

Someone with more experience/training will be along to give you a better answer.

 

[Lucas156]

Wow 26?!?!? I didn't even know that was possible!!! I hope he gets fixed up and doin well again

 

[revsaxon]

According to my mom (an ER nurse of 20 something years, not just a random person on the street) its not all that unusual to see 60+ year olds come in with a heart-rate in the 30's. Not that thats heathly, just that she has seen it a lot. No clue where the shut-down point was though.

 

[Bazooka Joe]

The big thing to worry about with a heart rate that low is how well it is pumping or not pumping the blood. The blood can actually start "pooling," in the extremeties and the risk for blood clots is increased. All thought I am pretty sure with a heart rate that low they are probably on some sort of blood thinner.

 

[redneckmedic]

Treating Heart Rate is dependent on blood pressure and whether or not a patient is symptomatic. Folks laying in beds in a nursing home generally don't have high B/P's or HR's, as there brain doesn't need a high level of pressure to perfuse properly... they are just laying there.

However if he is in the ICU he is sick and the body is working hard at repairing or just maintaining life, one reason the docs may not be touching his HR is that they want his pressure or stroke volume low to keep another system from being stressed or heeling properly. IE, if he had a Cerebral Hemorrhage.

I would agree though... A heart rate of 25 is awfully low, and would give me the pucker factor as a clinician.

 

[redneckmedic]

The big thing to worry about with a heart rate that low is how well it is pumping or not pumping the blood. The blood can actually start "pooling," in the extremities and the risk for blood clots is increased. All thought I am pretty sure with a heart rate that low they are probably on some sort of blood thinner.

This is a good point, however many of the newer ICU beds have oscillators that rotate the body on the long axis and leg bags (similar to the old MAST pants) that help with that.

 

[turnandshoot4]

Mentation is also important. If they are out of it then their brain could not be getting enough blood.

BP is also very important. They can bring up the heart rate with drips too.

I'm an ER nurse.

 

[rmabrey]

This is a good point, however many of the newer ICU beds have oscillators that rotate the body on the long axis and leg bags (similar to the old MAST pants) that help with that.

I cant help but stare in amazement at those. I dont know why they fascinate me so much. I watched one for 20 minutes last week waiting for an RT to show up to transport a respiratory patient.

 

[Plinker]

81 year old male and a heart rate of 26. No pacemaker yet. What is the lowest heart rate you can have and still be awake. He is in ICU at the moment.

At what point does a low heart rate start to shut down organs. He is a family friend, so be kind on the comments........

Prayers going out for your friend.

 

[longbow]

He is "fixed" ....

State of the art pacemaker and all went well. His new resting rate is 73 and he looks great.

This brings up something I had not thought of before. His pacemaker is wireless as in controls for pacemaker settings, so can this be hacked?

It also looks like it will connect to wireless open internet access to give battery status to the manufacturer.

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

My roommate my freshman year of college had a resting heart rate in the mid 30's.

Guy would go on long jogs and come back home and be perfectly dry.

He was in PHENOMINAL shape...for a collegiate golfer.


-J-

 

[Rayne]

So glad your friend is doing better. Mother-n-law is on her second pacemaker. They have greatly improved in the last twenty years. Her's too is wireless. Never thought about it being hacked. Wonder if they have a firewall set up on it. She just recently had to go back to Indy to have it reset. We couldn't figure out how it got turned up. Wonder if it was inevertenly changed.

My daughter has a resting heart rate of 40. She's an athlete and has extremely low blood pressure too. Scares me when I see the numbers but Doctor say's she's in great shape.