Fooling around with self medication or worse taking advise from internet ‘experts’ is a disaster waiting to happen.
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Yeah @Morgan1946 I very much appreciate your concern, but some of us have little or no choice in the matter, and self medication might possibly be my only option… I use Propranolol 40mg twice daily, as proscribed by the doctor, my problem is with this medication, if I take 2 tablets a day, my heart will be around 44 bpm, that’s way too low, so I monitor my heart rate frequently, and try to stay between 65 & 70 bpm, this means cutting the dose to suit, I take 1/2 a tablet, if my sitting heart rate climbs to say over 90 bpm, if I leave it, it will climb to around 144 bpm, and too high! The list of side effects associated with Propranolol is horrendous, and I feel highly fortunate that I don’t appear to have many, perhaps my constant tiredness is a side effect? My body is more often than not, highly susceptible to side effects & allergies, even the likes of a simple drug like Aspirin will reek havoc with me, any longterm medication benefits, are usually curtailed by severe side effects… Now I am a double Sepsis Survivor, I had Post Sepsis Syndrome after the first bout, Sepsis left me with extreme anxiety, a legacy, I would wish on no one, and doctors here in the UK tend to keep you in the dark, and tell you very little! I have no idea, if I have Atrial Fibrillation, perhaps I do, perhaps I don’t? All I was told was, I would be on Beta Blockers indefinitely, because of my anxiety… Cheers Kev 
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@kevels55
My wife’s on 40mg for depression/anxiety. I’m on 10mg on demand, up to twice a day, basically to counter the negative effects I get from adrenaline. My blood pressure medication just isn’t enough for me right now, and need re-assessing. I have terrible white coat syndrome, which doesn’t help.
Peter
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Kev thanks for posting
What should minimum heart rate be?
Mine is low at night.
(My iWatch 6 will do ecg. That’s why I bought it. And heart rate. And blood O two)
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Yeah Peter, I’m not too keen on most doctors myself, I tend to avoid, or save up my various medical ailments, then hit them with a long list, all at once 
it’s been about nearly 3 years since I saw a cardiologist, she detected some sort of murmur, promised a follow up appointment, I’m still waiting… TBVH, you lose trust in the system, because of government cut backs on health spending, the whole Health System isn’t fit for purpose, it’s overwhelmed & understaffed, trying to just see a doctor, is a major problem, face to face, where I live, is almost impossible… And yes, I can go to a hospital A&E, and be seen fairly quickly, but I prefer to leave that for actual medical emergencies… For instance , approximately 6 weeks ago, I had a very large boil on the back of my neck, it was very painful, and creating sleep disturbance, could I get a referral to get it lanced, no chance, and after about a week of trying, I gave up, and did the hot compresses myself, thankfully it eventually burst, and I got it drained over a 2 week period… I reiterate, sometimes we have no other choice but to self medicate!!! my apologies for waffling on 
Cheers Kev
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Hi Dave, from what I have read, 70 to 75 bpm, is a good rested heart rate, for an auld codger like yourself 
Take care, Cheers Kev
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I agree with @Morgan1946 that the getting medical advice from people one doesn’t know on the internet is not a great idea but feel like I ought to comment. Regarding minimum heart rate: It’s a little bit like the old joke about how long should one’s legs be? Long enough to reach the ground. The heart rate should be fast enough to get enough blood to the brain to keep one from feeling lightheaded. For some it might be as low as 40, but 50 on up is more typical. Under 60 is officially “bradycardia” but many people do just fine with heart rates that are lower.
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On seeing a doctor, I listened to a podcast the other day that said that in the U.S., the average female lifespan is six years longer than the average male lifespan. Various reasons were given, but one of them is that males are more reluctant than females to see a doctor about a medical condition. (to relate this thread to the overall forum purpose, I wonder if the same applies to hearing problems, too!).
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Apparently females live longer in all mammal species. The article I read thought it might be related to having two X chromosomes (reduncdany) instead of an XY. My personal anecdotal experience was that women heart patients did less well than men at changing their lifestyles. My kidding on the square analysis was that it was because they didn’t have wives. With the men, their wives were always there asking how they should change their cooking, how much exercise their husband should do, etc. It was very rare to have a similarly concerned husband. In our society women are used to taking care of others, but not themselves. There is lots of discussion of why things are different but I haven’t run accross anything convincing to me.
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I’ve heard that hypothesized before. And then there is this recent article: Sex Chromosomes Hold the Secret to Female Longevity | UC San Francisco (ucsf.edu). Would that be similar to what you read?
Although mammalian females have two X chromosomes, during early development, one or the other is randomly inactivated, so each female cell will get the same “gene expression dosage” that a male cell with only one X to begin with would provide. If a male has a “bad” gene on his X, he’s screwed, as there is no X with a good copy. With females, it’s a crap shoot. If one X has a good copy, the other X a bad copy, there’s always a chance that in the tissue that gene is needed, (some of) the cells will be able to express the gene because it happened to be the X with the bad copy that was inactivated. X Marks the Spot: How X Chromosome Inactivation Gives Females an Advantage · Frontiers for Young Minds (frontiersin.org).
Calico cats are caused by this X-chromsome inactivation mosaicism of coat color in female cats. Only 1 in 3,000 calico cats is a male. Calico cat - Wikipedia.
X chromosome content cannot exclusively explain the longer female lifespan in the U.S. Besides males being less prone to go to a doctor early enough in a disease onset, another factor mentioned was that males tend to engage in more violent and more risk-taking activities. Men were more susceptible to COVID-19 than women, perhaps because women’s two Xs gave them a stronger immune system. Scientists may have finally figured out why women live longer than men (msn.com) (not the podcast I listened to but a similar explanation).
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I hope to see family doc soon
I’ve started taking BP again and heart rate
So I have talked about resting heart rate 4 times in the last year. Since I’ve fallen onto the treatment treadmill my resting heartrate has been 40 to 50 regularly.
She got me to take a stress test that eventually be came a recommendation for open heart surgery. I refused. Instead I accepted stents and have 3 my cardiologist is haopy
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That’s good you have now got stents Dave, my wife had a couple of stents fitted, after a heart attack, approximately 5 years back, she now does cardiac training 5 days a week… As @MDB says, heart rate, is such a variable, I guess it all depends on age, health and overall fitness levels, I am basically learning the ropes, but I am planning to do some basic improvements on my own fitness levels, like swimming, walking & outdoor bowls, going out and about on my e-Bike, nothing too strenuous, but enough to improve my overall fitness, fingers crossed 
Cheers Kev 
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or… maybe… men listen to their wives’ advice more than the other way around. 
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Thanks Kev
I attended a heart recovery program for 6 months in hospital. My cardiologist reviewed progress and did an ecg when I spoke of dizziness and being extremely short of breath at the end. I asked for help during the program. I had to find it myself.
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I totally agree.
For heart rhythm problems, you should get advice from an electrophysiologist — these are the cardiologists who deal with this type of problem.
I had an ablation in April and have been aFib free since.
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This video has very interesting information on treating your A-Fib.
As for magnesium I would personally recommend magnesium glycinate as it is inexpensive, readily used by your body and avoids the laxative effects of other magnesium supplements. The glycinate form also has other benefits that the other forms do not have. I don’t know why but it is never mentioned if a supplement is causing you to have diarrhea or other distress the simplest thing to do is take it with a meal, which is what you should do anyway.
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The safest, most effective form of mineral supplement is the amino-acid chelated mineral. This is the form of minerals found in plants (before canning and other processing methods degrades them). Albion Labs pioneered the chelation of minerals process in the 1960s and many animal science trials were done at Michigan State U. which then led to human trials. They hold patents on the process and they produce chelated minerals for many supplement brands. The properly chelated mineral is encased in the amino acid which makes it recognizable to the body as food, so it passes through the villi of the small intestine and directly into the bloodstream. By comparison, a cheap mineral salt must be broken apart from its carrier in the stomach, and then it must happen to bump into the appropriate amino acid from your food protein, and get chelated in a hit-or-miss fashion.
Some minerals are more readily chelated in the stomach than others. Iron is one of the most difficult ones. Iron sulfate (a common supplement) is broken apart, and the sulfate is not good for you (too much and you’ll feel sick). Then it has to get chelated in the stomach. Studies showed that the bioavailability of iron from iron sulfate or iron oxide is only about 3%-5%, but it exceeds 90% if taken as iron amino acid chelate. Calcium is one of the easier minerals, and chelating calcium does not help dramatically with absorption & retention. But chelation is very helpful with manganese, chromium, magnesium and copper.
A word about copper: it had long been known that ingesting too much copper can cause symptoms of toxicity (in the extreme it will cause death). Copper chelate does not cause toxicity. In the lab, scientists filled the bellies of rats with copper amino acid chelate as full as they could get them. The rats were completely unharmed, and no ill effects were noted.
One of the best sources online for chelated minerals (I am not affiliated with any of the following) is a website run by the daughter of the man who pioneered this science. It’s called LifeZone dot com. Their Amino Key Basic is a multi-vitamin-and-mineral. Other products contain specific minerals for targeting a person’s individual mineral deficiency. Other companies that include Albion chelates (in varying amounts and formulations, so read the labels) include Carlson, Bluebonnet, Healthy Origins (a good multi mineral with no vitamins), and Swanson.
Personally, I have difficulty swallowing pills, so I found a chewable version from Seeking Health called Optimal Multivitamin. I’ve been taking chelated supplements for 30 years at about 1/2 the RDA on the assumption that I’m likely to get some, but not all, of what I need in my daily varying food intake. At 65 I rarely get sick and have good mobility and decent stamina. No major issues other than an eye condition which appears to be genetic… and, of course, my hearing.
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I pray that no one considers this post rude or disparaging. I just want to suggest another health site I was fortunate enough to have stumbled upon called HealthUnlocked. I have been using this site since diagnosis with Polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) and began taking Prednisone and have found the feedback to be uniformly excellent and informed.
It is described as:
HealthUnlocked, a social network that connects people with similar health conditions or well-being needs, was founded in 2010 by Jorge Armanet, who serves as the CEO, and Dr. Matt Jameson Evans, the Chief Medical Officer[1][3]. The platform aims to transform how information and data are used in healthcare and to support individuals with their health needs. It has become one of the top 20 private health websites globally and has over 4 million monthly users from around the world, with a significant presence in the UK and the US[1]. In 2020, Corrona, LLC acquired HealthUnlocked, integrating it into its HealthiVibe business unit to enhance patient engagement offerings[4].
Citations:
[1] HealthUnlocked - Wikipedia
[2] HealthUnlocked | LinkedIn
[3] Matt Jameson Evans, Co-founder and Chairman, HealthUnlocked - Doctorpreneurs
[4] Corrona Acquires HealthUnlocked, Creating a First-in-Class Patient Experience Ecosystem
[5] https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/62872-39
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