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Rising Blood Pressure / Declining Heart Rate
Here’s the fact set:
I went into afib for the first time in late March. At the time, my bp was pretty good for a reasonably fit 67-year old male who exercises a lot, usually ranging 110/130 over 65/80. Resting heart rate was 53-65. Since afib, bp runs 140/155 over 80/85 while resting heart rate today is 43. I stopped metoprolol (without consulting my cardiologist) a few days ago because of the low hr. I presume the metoprolol has been fully metabolized and is not influencing my hr. I am not in afib at the moment (thank God) but it seems contradictory to have a declining hr and increased bp. What could explain this? I will consult the cardiologist, who will respond electronically through his NP.
Any thoughts? Thank you. Grateful for this community.
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The higher BP is because there really isn't a relaxing systole. Your left ventricle is what generates the two measures of BP, but it isn't acting all by its lonesome; it gets fed from a chaotically beating left atrium above it which sometimes contracts during, or milliseconds prior, to its own forceful contraction. Normally, the left atrium contracts, forcing blood through the valve between the those two, the mitral (or bicuspid) valve, but it is normally a fifth of a second or slightly more prior to the same signal running further down the bundle branches and causing the ventricles to contract later. The interval when neither chamber is beating is when the diastolic number is seen, it being a lot like 'slack tide'. During fibrillation, the two chambers work against each other, raising the overall pressure by a few inches of mercury.
take the BP medicine every other day till you can see the heart doctor.