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Wayne3413 Asked June 2020

Congestive heart failure 91 year old man, low pulse rate. Any feedback?

My father is declining quickly. Had lots of fluid build up due to congestive heart failure. Drained 1.5L from his lungs last week, and lost 14 lbs during a six day hospital stay on heavy IV diuretics. Now home on two diuretic pills - 40 MG furosemide, and 25 mg spironolactone.


His BP has been running 110 / 50 - ish, but today his pulse is way down to 36. My cuff wont even read it. I started him on hospice today. He is on two BP pills - 100 MG Losartan, and 2.5 MG Amlodipine.


Looks for some advice feedback....

Countrymouse Jun 2020
Don't tinker with meds. If there are changes you're worried about, report them to his doctors. Expect it to take a while for him to stabilise and adjust after what he's been through.

More importantly than what the devices say, how is he? Don't forget that your job is to keep him comfortable, pain-free and easy in his mind, and don't let the technical readings distract you from that.

Shane1124 Jun 2020
My advice would be to address your concerns with his hospice provider.

You can take his pulse the old fashioned way using your fingers to palpate his inner wrist or neck artery and compare the rate with what his machine says. Sometimes a BP machine doesn’t get the values correctly due to other conditions.

Hospice is your #1 support now. Let them know.

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AlvaDeer Jun 2020
This is for an MD to evaluate. Very dangerous to play with these medications on your own, or by advice by a forum.

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