KPCC Reveals President Bush Has A Heart Arrhythmia

KPPC ^ | 01/28/02 | David Robb

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

President Bush has a heart arrhythmia called sinus bradycardia that makes him more prone to fainting when he gags or chokes. It's why he passed out January 13 in the highly publicized pretzel incident.

Bradycardia means that the president's heart beats more slowly than the average person's heart. It gets its name from the Latin brady=slow + cardia=heart. 'Sinus' refers to the sinus node, which is the heart's natural pacemaker.

The press has reported that Bush has a slow heart rate. In August, after President Bush underwent a physical exam, the White House reported that his resting heart rate was 43 beats per minute. On Jan. 14, the day after the president's fainting episode, the Los Angeles Times reported that Bush has "a resting pulse rate of 35 to 45 beats per minute, which medical personnel consider extremely low even for a well-trained athlete." White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters the day after Bush's fainting spell that the president's resting heart rate was 51 beats per minute.

But up until now, the White House has not volunteered, and the media has not reported, that the president's slow heart rate is due to a heart arrhythmia called sinus bradycardia. But now the White House is confirming this.

Several calls to White House physician Dr. Richard Tubb finally got this response: "The president has sinus bradycardia consistent with athletic conditioning," he said through White House spokesman Ken Lisaius. "The president's resting heart rate is 38 to 49 beats per minute."

"That's the very definition of bradycardia," said Dr. Harold Karpman, a heart specialist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and a clinical professor at UCLA. Indeed, any heart rate slower than 60 beats per minutes is, by definition, bradycardia.

Generally speaking, a slow heart rate is a sign of a healthy heart, and many well-conditioned athletes have resting heart rates well below the normal 70-100 beats per minute. Bush, who works out for an hour every day and who regularly runs three miles in under 21 minutes, has the resting heart rate of a well-conditioned athlete, according to Dr. Tubb.

But one common problem associated with bradycardia is fainting.

Bush fainted while watching a football game in the White House on Jan. 13 after gagging on a pretzel. He fell to the floor, bruising his left cheek and his lower lip. In a recent interview with NBC's Tom Brokaw, Bush said that after he regained consciousness, he called his wife, who was upstairs in the White House residence, and said: "Come down. Something terrible's happened." The day after the incident, Bush joked with reporters: "My mother always said, 'When you're eating pretzels, chew before you swallow.'"

"Anytime you have bradycardia, the most serious concern is fainting spells," said Dr. Suneet Mittal, a heart specialist at New York Hospital, Cornell University Medical Center.

Fainting can be triggered in people with slow heart rates when their hearts - for whatever reason - slow down even more. This can happen when the vagus nerve -- the nerve that goes from the brain to the heart to the stomach -- is stimulated by choking or gagging.

"Anytime you have gagging, you can further activate the vagus nerve, and that will cause your heart rate and blood pressure to drop further," Dr. Mittal said. "From what I read in the newspapers, he may not have been feeling well, and that may have decreased his heart rate. And if you add the gagging on top of that, it could decrease the heart rate even further, and you have a fainting spell."

Dr. Karpman said that the president's fainting spell "seems to be a pretty innocent and common thing. The reflex that is initiated by coughing or by gagging initiates the reflex that causes the heart rate to drop, and depending on where your heart rate started that day, it could cause you to faint. It would be a consequence of this reflex, which is known as the vasovagal reflex."

Dr. Tubb described this very same sequence of events in an interview with reporters shortly after the president fainted. On the day after Bush's fainting spell, the Los Angeles Times reported: "Tubb said that Bush's slower heart rate made him more prone to fainting when a nerve was stimulated by the pretzel caught in his throat. The medical term for such an episode is vasovagal syncope, or vasovagal fainting, Tubb said. In such cases, the body sends a signal to the heart via the vagus nerve. This causes a sudden drop in heart rate, which is restored when the person falls."

But neither the Times, nor any other news organization, has yet to report that Bush has a heart arrhythmia called sinus bradycardia.

"He has bradycardia," Dr. Karpman said. "There is no doubt. Anything under 60 (beats per minute) is defined as bradycardia."

"Bradycardia is an arrhythmia - a malfunction of rhythm," said Dr. Karpman, who founded the company that developed the Holter monitor, a widely used heart-testing device. "A lot of people have bradycardia and they get along very well. But when the heart rate starts to get into the 30s, then that is really an area that we have to be concerned about."

Dr. Mark Livingston, a consulting physician at the Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital in Washington State, said: "A choking spell can induce bradycardia and is not an uncommon cause of fainting. Many types of gastrointestinal problems may trigger an exaggerated response from the vagus nerve which slows the cardiac pacemaker, decreasing the heart rate. The heart rate may slow to the point at which the brain no longer receives sufficient blood flow, which results in 'faint.' I would say that if our president has a resting heart rate of 38-49 that he definitely has bradycardia. However, bradycardia can be the result of many things; medications, various forms of heart block, physical fitness, or normal variation."

All the heart specialists interviewed for this story see no cause for concern just because the president has a slow heart rate. But in the wake of the president's fainting spell last week, they all recommend that he undergo a series of heart and stress tests.

The press has explored numerous theories about why the president fainted Invariably, most press accounts suggested that the president passed out because the pretzel had blocked his airway, causing him to faint due to a lack of oxygen going to the lungs and then to the brain. In an interview on CNN, Dr. Henry Heimlich, the creator of the Heimlich Maneuver, opined that the president inadvertently performed the Heimlich Maneuver on himself when he passed out and fell to the floor, dislodging the pretzel that was stuck in his throat.

Had the press known that President Bush has sinus bradycardia, and that fainting is a common symptom of bradycardia, the story might have been reported much differently. But the press didn't ask the right question, and the White House didn't volunteer the right answer. Instead, the Bush White House focused on the pretzel, and the press swallowed the story whole.

[america-rules]

"Had the press known that President Bush has sinus bradycardia, and that fainting is a common symptom of bradycardia, the story might have been reported much differently."

What a bunch of idiots picking at the wind hoping to catch something..

[r9etb]

the Los Angeles Times reported that Bush has "a resting pulse rate of 35 to 45 beats per minute, which medical personnel consider extremely low even for a well-trained athlete."

Actually, it's pretty normal for runners to have heart rates this low. My resting pulse at sea level is often in the 35-40 range. Up here at altitude, it's usually around 50.

Sounds like the LA Times is both misinformed and scare-mongering.

[freedomson]

They're celebrating over at DU.

[rintense]

Yeah, they would have been asking when Denny Hastert gets sworn in. No matter what would have been reported, the media would have made a mountain out of a mole hill as usual- just like that stupid chick on GMA who insisted that GWB had a stroke. Grrr.

[cricket]

"Had the press known that President Bush has sinus bradycardia, and that fainting is a common symptom of bradycardia, the story might have been reported much differently."

. . .shudder to imagine, had they had this story; what creative twist they would have amended this story to.

At least it might shut-up those interpreters of events who were convinced that it was a 'drinking problem'. . .but probably not.

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

We get back into the hypocrisy of the unknowing who politicize in whatever manner possible. These numbers are going to be different for athletes...

[DLfromthedesert]

In the NICU, we observe the phenomena frequently of the heart rate dropping due to the Vagus nerve being stimulated when a baby has gastro-esophogeal reflux, which is very commom in premies.

Thanks to our President, this has become much easier to explain to parents who "freak" when their baby has episodes of bradycardia, setting off the monitor.

[willieroe]

I think the reporter has an arrhythmia - I can imagine him breathless and heart-pounding as he wrote this article.

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

Who's the 5'7" Rat senator from the north east who weighs upwards of 300lbs? Send him up and down a staircase 3 or 4 times and he'll be comatose.

[Wild Irish Rogue]

Sinus Bradycardia is NOT a cardiac arrythmia-in a man who is a long distance runner and in excellent health. Most world class runners have sinus bradycardia-their hearts have been trained to pump more efficiently. Sinus brady in a non runner, with other health problems can be considered an arrythmia. They are trying to make it seem as if maintaining yourself in good physical shape, is now a bad thing. This article is scurrilous and a pathetic attempt to smear the president's excellent health.

[Grampa Dave]

So are you posting this a joke, an example or true left wing/extreme right wing idiotic ranting or as your feeling?

The president has one of the best cardiovascular systems of any president and better than probably 98% of Americans.

This article buried the truth with this statement: "The president has sinus bradycardia consistent with athletic conditioning," he said through White House spokesman Ken Lisaius. "The president's resting heart rate is 38 to 49 beats per minute."

In simple non tin foil hat words, the president has the heart of an athelete in great shape! There is no arrhythmia! There is no sinus bradycardia!

Was this an attempt to get around Jim Rob's request to stop posting garbage like this?

[Bahbah]

You could be referring to Jerry Nadler. That one made me laugh out loud.

[Tall_Texan]

I suppose this is why he stays so calm even in a crisis.

Brady=slow, eh? I guess that explains The Brady Bunch.

[wysiwyg]

...Jerry Nadler...

aka Jerrold the Hut

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

I said Bush's numbers are consistent with athletes. As far as garbage is concerned, be enlightened to what the other side is thinking. The majority of what we read is garbage, politically spun to do little more than hurt our efforts. What's new?

[Slyfox]

Gee, we know so much about Dubya's condition, but know nothing about Bill Clinton.
How come the media was not as diligent when their boy was in office? Hmmm?

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

What a bunch of idiots picking at the wind hoping to catch something....

Yep, that's all it is....a bunch of nosy liberals desperately hoping that Bush has some type of medical condition.

I don't recall white-wall tire legs Clinton making HIS medical information public.

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks, I got your intent now.

Please do us a favor when you post a thread like this, put your feelings about it in the area included below the new thread before posting it! Then we will know where you are coming while letting us know about the garbage you found! We need to know about the garbage, but it needs to be labled as garbage or with a barf bag warning. Thanks for posting this garbage.