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Warning! Prednisone can slow your heart rate.

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Posted 9/29/2016 10:10 AM (GMT -8)
I've never really seen this on side effects for Prednisone so I thought I post it. Prednisone can give you Bradycardia - slow heart rate. I was on prednisone for about a month. (The longest I've ever been on it.) And I started to notice that my heart rate on my Fitbit was going down each day.
I am an athlete and work out a lot and play hockey so I check my heart rate often. I had a bad flair and had to go up to 80 mg of Prednisone to get it under control. My normal heart rate is about 60 bpm. But my heart rate went down to 50-52 bmp. Now that's not a real problem normally but when I went to sleep my heart rate would go down to 40 bpm! I would wake up with shortness of breath. I at first thought I was having some sort of panic attack but then I checked my Fitbit and my heart rate was 40 bpm! It was always at the same time right after I went to sleep. It was a little scary. I still use Prednisone as needed but I make sure I don't take it late at night right before I go to bed like I did when I got the low heart rate scare.

Be careful!

Steve
Posted 9/29/2016 10:25 AM (GMT -8)
Steve, I would have to say that maybe something else is causing your low heart rate because prednisone actually increases your heart rate. Whenever I am on high dosages of steroids, I have to see my GI weekly so that they can check my pulse rate, blood pressure, water retention and sugar levels because they all increase on steroids.
Posted 9/29/2016 11:30 AM (GMT -8)
Usually my resting heart rate is much higher on prednisone. At times it's hard to fall asleep on high doses as my heart is beating so fast and loud.
Posted 9/29/2016 11:07 PM (GMT -8)
I've been tracking it carefully and I'm pretty sure it's the prednisone. I can see on my weekly/monthly Fitbit heart rate tracker exactly when I stopped taking my prednisone and how it effects my heart rate.

I also found this article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22283866

Which is the only article I've seen that talks about Bradycardia.

I'm just throwing it out there for anyone else that might feel the same thing.
Posted 9/30/2016 2:40 AM (GMT -8)
Really?? It always made my heart race.
Posted 9/30/2016 11:25 PM (GMT -8)
My heart rate is in the 130's when I'm on prednisone and I had to get a beta blocker last time. I can't stand the high rate and can feel my pulse in the tip of my nose. I realize I sound like a loon but it's so annoying.
Posted 10/1/2016 5:51 PM (GMT -8)
If your heart rate gets to the 40s when it is normally much higher you need to be seen asap
probably even goign to ED if you dont hear back from your doc asap

but generally, steroids cause tachycardia or increased heart rate

note that fitbit are not always accurate and you can take your own heartrate by counting pulsations
probaby the easiest to find is on your wrist on your thumb side
Posted 12/26/2016 6:18 PM (GMT -8)
The exact same thing happened to me! I also have a fitbit to track my heart rate and while I was on Prednisone my heart rate decreased every day to the lowest I had ever recorded (while on the 5 day higher dose). When I started doing the lower dose taper it went up a little every day to the point where I was at the highest hear rate ever recorded days after stopping Prednisone.

I mentioned this to my doctor and he said the same thing every one else is saying that it should increase your heart rate. With my Fitbit I can easily tell the day I started to the day I stopped, so like you I can prove through data that it did the opposite of what it does for most people.

So yes, I completely agree that it can cause a lower heart rate
Posted 12/28/2016 11:11 AM (GMT -8)
I too experienced this for the first few weeks I was on Prednisone. I am not an athlete at all, but my resting heart rate was about 52 bpm.
Posted 12/29/2016 10:34 PM (GMT -8)
I'm just starting Prednisone as a flare has come up. This is my go-to drug with enemas knocks out the flare. The only heart issue I notice with Prednisone is palpitations randomly throughout a week. I take in the same amount of caffeine and alcohol a day.
Posted 2/7/2023 7:31 AM (GMT -8)
One of the side effects of prednisone is bradycardia , an abnormally slowed heart rate. 2 Prednisone causes this by decreasing the amount of potassium, calcium, magnesium, and phosphate in the blood. All of these minerals play a role in the rhythm and rate of heartbeats.Dec 14, 2021
I am currently having this issue on day 3 of prednisone.. my bpm jumps from 68 to 49-55 in seconds then back to 61-66
Posted 3/19/2023 5:28 PM (GMT -8)
Prednisone wires me out. Even worse when weening off. Night sweats and anxiety. I referred it as the boogie man showing up
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