Resolved question:
Hello ,
My dad , who is very old ( in his 90s), has shown symptoms that are difficult to expain.
These sympotoms has appeared several time in the last 6 months and a few times over the last few days.
While sitting at the dinner table or a sofa, first he acknowledged of discomfort or dizziness and they suddenly his eyes started looking weird ,pointing to another direction, forexample towards the ceiling , and he get this mild or sometimes stronger body shakes for 5-10 seconds and later he recovers and does not remember what just happened.
Using the blood pressure monitor I noticed low blood pressure , sys 80, dia , 50 and very rapid heart beat after the event.
We took him to emergency after this happend last week and doctors mentioned of him having low heart beat rate into mid 40 to 50 but an irregular one that jumps into 70-80s at time.
Doctors recommended installing a pace maker, which we did earlier this week. They said once the pace maker is in , they will treat him with blood thiner and some heart beat regulator medicine called amiodrane .
I was wondering if you are ware of the symptoms I mentioned earlier, the body shake and etc, and if there are any recommendations. I mentioned this other doctors but they didn't say anything specificnin return.
Thanks very much for your help.
P.s, sorry for the spell check mistakes , typing with tablet.
Submitted:
4 Days
Category:
Cardiologist
Hello,
Thank you for your query at doctorspring.com.
An ECG done at that time would have really helped. But going by the description and the recommendations of your doctors it seems your father is likely suffering from tachybrady syndrome or AF with intermittent slow and fast rates. So the doctor must have prescribed your father a pacemaker for low heart rate and amiodarone for high heart rate.
Also the irregular rhythm of Atrial fibrillation or AF will require blood thinning agent like aspirin and warfarin so as to reduce the risk of clot formation and strokes. The fact that during the low heart rate episodes your father has bp of 80/50 indicates that the low heart rate results in hemodynamic instability and reduced blood supply to brain resulting in the symptoms like body shaking and up rolling of eye balls. These are most likely seizures following syncopal attacks. Such a symptomatic bradycardia or low heart rate requires pacemaker without much delay.
Amiodarone may be necessary if the heart rate increases beyond 100. This is my analysis from the description given by you.
Hope it helps. Please feel free to discuss further.
Regards
Dr Vivek Mahajan