What does sinus rhythm and poor r wave progression mean in an ECG?

Question

I just had my physical exam and the ecg revealed a sinus rhythm and poor r-wave progression. My blood pressure has dropped from 145/100 to 117/89 in a month's time after taking simvastatin and xenical together. Should I stop the zocor and the other hypertension meds like norvasc and co-approvel or just lower the dosage or strength of my meds? My appointment with the cardiologist wont be until late next week. I am not experiencing any pains except for feeling a something pushing down my back when I swallow food.

Answer 1

Sinus rhythm is the NORMAL rhythm of the heart. It means that your heart beat is originating from the Sino Atrial node - where it should originate from.

Poor r-wave progression means that on the ECG, the chest leads v1-v6 show an atypical pattern of electricity.

This is usually associated with an unhealthy heart, perhaps one that has had heart attacks in the past, but it can also be caused by wolf-parkinson-white syndrome, or hypertrophy of the heart.

You should continue your zocor, but you might want to discuss with your doctor about decreasing the dosage of your blood pressure medications.

Answer 2

Your blood pressure is much better! I wouldn't make a sudden change in your medications without the guidance of your physician. Sometimes changing your medication quickly can cause problems - a co-worker changed her BP meds and then kept having fainting spells. This is not a good thing for an employee that works in a hospital! Somebody always called it in as a "code blue" and then she would come around with all kinds of doctors and nurses standing around her. In your case - your former blood pressure was very troublesome and you have had to take drastic action to get it down. Now that you have done so your doctor may suggest tweaking it a bit. The Zocor is to reduce cholesterol so you should continue that. If you are having problems with it you might need to switch to another cholesterol reducing medication. I would strongly suggest that you bring ALL of your medications with you to your doctor's appointment and discuss exactly what and when he wants you to take each. Sometimes doctors add meds or substitute meds and don't explain clearly when they want you to stop something - so toss all the bottles in a baggie and bring with you. A picture is worth a thousand words. Also - anytime you (or anyone) goes to the emergency room you should always bring ALL of your medication with you. The reason for this is that there are a lot of drug interactions and you wouldn't want the doctor to give you something that could interact with something currently in your system that would make you worse.

Answer 3

R Wave Ekg

Answer 4

6

Answer 5

5

Answer 6

4

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3

Answer 8

2

Answer 9

1

Answer 10

I do not know the best way to answer this without offending