Father keeps passing out

My father has Alzheimer's and has been passing out over and over.  They have taken him to the hospital several times, saying his heart rate has dropped, sometimes registering at 40 bpm.  He looks like he is going into an "absence seizure," but then falls down and loses consciousness for a very short time.  He is very weak and sleeps all the time.  They finally put in a pacemaker and a week later he had two of these "episodes" back-to-back in one morning. 

He still is fairly early in this disease process.  Still eating and caring for himself fairly well.  He doesn't wander off, he just wants to sleep and says he's so tired.  He is still at home, Mom is still watching after him. 

Anyone have any comments on this?  We'd appreciate any advice.  Thanks

Yes, a lot seems to be related to his heart, and having a pacemaker put in was supposed to help, but I'm not so sure yet. We will wait and see. I guess just the overall weakness is what has most of us worried. He has had all the heart tests, nothing is really wrong. He's on meds for bp, just to try to stop this fainting. It's just the "blank stare" look when he has these spells that gives us pause...

He's 83, but the weakness just seems a little over the top for a man who has hardly been sick a day in his life. Never in the hospital, never had anything wrong but some bp problems. Always been in great shape. Really odd!

Thanks for the reply. I was glad to see that this forum works and might be of great help with all the support.

I don't normally post here, but the topic caught my eye.  My father-in-law has been dealing with progressing dementia for several years - not a firm Alzheimer's dx as yet.  He's 82.  In the last 6 mos. he's had two of these kind of spells.  Both times he was seated and just went out like a light - totally unresponsive.  Both times he went to the hospital where all kinds of tests were run.  They assumed heart because he had a mitral valve replacement more than 10 yrs ago and has been on coumadin therapy ever since.  Anyway - couldn't find anything wrong with his heart - no stroke activity - basically no explanation.  He also tends to sleep quite a lot. 

Then a family member remembered he had narcolepsy as a younger man.  He could fall asleep between bites of a sandwich.  It was something that sort of ebbed and flowed, and though he was diagnosed, I don't think he was ever on medication for it.  At any rate - there is something called "Sleep Paralysis" that is associated with Narcolepsy.  The description of it fit his episodes perfectly.  Apparently it often comes on after a high carbohydrate meal - which was the case with him - both times occurred after he'd eaten lunch.  His GP isn't convinced - but family members think it lines up pretty well.  He also suffers from sleep apnea and sleeps with a Cpap machine.  You can google narcolepsy and sleep paralysis and see what you think. 

Hope this helps.