Irregular heartbeat and lightheadedness

Had a dual lead pacemaker inserted in Oct 2010 and have felt like crap ever since. I have always had PVCs(?) since insertion but now I have constant irregular heartbeat and am lightheaded/dizzy all the time. Going to the PM clinic in 10 days - will an adjustment of my settings help with these symptoms I'm having?

4 Comments

Depends

by ElectricFrank - 2012-11-06 02:11:13

From your comment, you have had the pacer for 2 years and felt like crap the whole time. What have you done to follow up on the problem? What does the clinic say about your symptoms?

It's hard to believe that you have gone through 2 years of feeling lousy without their coming up with a solution or reason why not. You will have to be assertive about getting some attention to the problem. It's possible that you have a condition that isn't solvable with a pacemaker alone.

frank

possibly

by Tracey_E - 2012-11-06 06:11:42

Two years is a long time to live with that! Settings can go a long way to making us feel better but they can't cure everything. The only way to know is to be assertive and make some changes, see how you feel.

Let's talk PVC's

by donr - 2012-11-06 07:11:25

Donna: I cannot believe that you tolerated 2 yrs of PVC's making you feel like crap & have not written before now.

Frank, above, spaketh a bookful when he said that a PM alone may not solve PVC problems - not if you have enough of them to have the symptoms you describe.

Let's see if I understand exactly what your symptoms have been: You started out w/ enough PVC's to feel like crap right out of the starting gate. Recently you have added Irregular HR & lightheaded/dizzy all the time.

I can empathize w/ you, having gone through a similar situation.

But - I must make an assumption here, 'cause you stuck that (?) behind PVC's. This tells me that you are not sure they were PVC's. Did the Cardio or the mfgr's tech tell you that they saw them in your download report? Or are you thinking that's what they were/are? PVC's in large enough numbers will do all that to you - as will other arrhythmias.

Here's what a PVC feels like - your heart skips a beat - or two, or three or more. At first it's scary. Then, once you learn that they will not kill you in small enough numbers, you accept them. Then you get them at a rate high enough to affect your functioning - at least long runs of about 33% PVC's. The heart is not pumping enough blood to keep the brain & body happy w/ it's Oxygen & you start to feel crappy - weak, washed out SOB. Then if the rate increases further, you can add lightheaded/dizzy to the mix.

The PM cannot help you w/ those problems because it can only fix things that are either NOT going to happen, or are about to happen too late. F'rinstance a Ventricular contraction that does not come on time, so the PM issues the starting spike to initiate it. IOW, the PM is an accelerator, not a brake. There's no way it can predict something happening too soon - like a PVC.

You then enter the realm of requiring meds to augment the PM's capability. I take two meds to help my PM. Acebutolol & Flecainide. They essentially induce artificial Bradycardia to drop my HR down to about 50 something & the PM is set at a lower limit of 75 (My "Normal" HR all my adult life was 72) to beat the PVC's that might want to exist at a lower rate. It's not perfect, but it works. I still have some PVC's, but not to the point where I am symptomatic!

Any further questions - ask away.

Oh, BTW, I second in spades the suggestion that you are going to have to become a tad more forceful to get someone to stop/fix this mess if you have gone two yrs w/ it!

I think the way I couched it last night for a woman who was being walked all over was that she better turn into an outright "Pushy Broad" 'cause NO ONE else was going to look out for her if she did not force the issues for help.

Don

Me too

by kwhite62 - 2012-11-06 11:11:55

I've always had the PVCs too but never as bad as I have had them since getting my pacemaker. It's driving me nuts! So thanks, Don, for that response to Donna's post. I'm having to turn into that "Pushy Broad" you spoke of...I want some relief and my doc is telling me all these erratic heart beats are harmless....which might be true but exhaustion from lack of sleep might just kill me!

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