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What Causes Constant Fatigue After Recovering From Heart Attack?
Question: My husband had a heart attack two years ago. He consented to a heart XXXXXXX Dr Rivers, the cardiologist put a stent in. XXXXXXX refused to take any medication and one year later his stent was almost closed. Because of his daughter and me he consented to another heart XXXXXXX Dr. Rivers cleaned out the stent area and this time he consented to taking the meds. This spring he failed the angiogram. XXXXXXX will not consent to another heart XXXXXXX During all this, I have realized that Ken's pulse is now in the 40's. He is very tired all the time and has little energy. BP seems to stay normal. Would a pacemaker help? I intend to monitor his BP regularly. I wonder if he needs the BP meds?
Brief Answer:
I would recommend as follows:
Detailed Answer:
Hello!
Welcome and thank you for asking on HCM!
Regarding your concern, I would explain that this heart rate is low, which indicates bradycardia.
Is he taking any beta-blockers or calcium channel blockers? These drugs can lead to such heart rate.
Besides, a low heart rate can be quite physiologic, especially in active persons, who make a lot of sport.
Anyway, I would recommend performing an ambulatory 24-48 hours ECG monitoring to examine his rhythm trends for a prolonged time, in order to give a more professional opinion on the possible treatment options.
From the other hand, chronic fatigue can be related to other possible causes like heart failure, chronic anemia, thyroid dysfunction, chronic inflammation, diabetes, vitamin deficiencies, a lung disorder etc..
For this reason, I would recommend performing some other tests to investigate for the above other possible causes:
- a cardiac ultrasound and NT-pro BNP levels for heart failure
- a chest X ray study and pulmonary function tests
- complete blood count
- blood electrolytes
- fasting glucose and HbA1C levels
- kidney and liver function tests
- PCR, fibrinogen levels and ESR for inflammation
- thyroid hormone levels
- vitamin D levels
- vitamin B 12 levels.
You should discuss with his doctor on the above tests.
Kind regards,
Dr. Iliri
I would recommend as follows:
Detailed Answer:
Hello!
Welcome and thank you for asking on HCM!
Regarding your concern, I would explain that this heart rate is low, which indicates bradycardia.
Is he taking any beta-blockers or calcium channel blockers? These drugs can lead to such heart rate.
Besides, a low heart rate can be quite physiologic, especially in active persons, who make a lot of sport.
Anyway, I would recommend performing an ambulatory 24-48 hours ECG monitoring to examine his rhythm trends for a prolonged time, in order to give a more professional opinion on the possible treatment options.
From the other hand, chronic fatigue can be related to other possible causes like heart failure, chronic anemia, thyroid dysfunction, chronic inflammation, diabetes, vitamin deficiencies, a lung disorder etc..
For this reason, I would recommend performing some other tests to investigate for the above other possible causes:
- a cardiac ultrasound and NT-pro BNP levels for heart failure
- a chest X ray study and pulmonary function tests
- complete blood count
- blood electrolytes
- fasting glucose and HbA1C levels
- kidney and liver function tests
- PCR, fibrinogen levels and ESR for inflammation
- thyroid hormone levels
- vitamin D levels
- vitamin B 12 levels.
You should discuss with his doctor on the above tests.
Kind regards,
Dr. Iliri
Note: For further queries related to coronary artery disease and prevention, click here.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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