Are there other treatments? Maybe, but it will depend on WHY his heart is running slow...which it is.

You are probably aware that the great danger in the aged is falling. Falls kill as many of the aged as do those eventual cancers, heart attacks, liver disease, etc. Those falls come from muscle loss, infrequent movement....meaning muscle loss....and from poor vision/lighting in the space where they fall, or from heart defects that don't keep their brains and eyes functioning at optimal levels. It's a all just a horrible gang-up on the elderly. But falls are very serious, and bradycardia invites fainting, which in turn invites falls. So, you want this nipped one way or the other....and pronto!

The elderly frequently have problems associated with either/or/and electrolyte imbalances, often low sodium, or they are hypoglycemic...low blood glucose levels...or dehydration. They just don't drink enough. All of these can make walking around not just difficult but....dangerous. Those can be easily corrected, and that might also eliminate the bradycardia. That would be a win, but frequent monitoring must come after that. They forget.

Or, it's time for Ye Olde Pacemaker. They've been around in one form or another for donkey's years. They get better, like hearing aids get better. They do a great job in patients whose own rhythm centers have become tired or disordered. They can add safe years to a life with laughter, trips, shopping, hikes, gardening...all the great pleasures of living. They aren't even rocket science any more.

So, he needs a workup to determine if he is in distress due to imbalances, low oxygen levels, or his heart is just wonky once and for all, and it's time for a pacemaker. Make him read this post. Tell him to get on with living...for your sake if not for his. I'm a grampa who has had two cardiac ablation surgeries to stop my heart from fibrillating. Only the second one worked, but that meant I had that initial failure. Seven months later, tried again, and I have been free from atrial fibrillation for 39 months now. In bliss, and oh-so grateful. He can be there as well, but just with a pacemaker installed and doing its job tirelessly, waking or sleeping.