was it just me?

I haven't post in some 4 years. I think I posted right after I had my pacemaker inserted 4 years. I was down to say the least but like most (if not all) of you I live my life exactly the way I used to with my pacemaker.
When people ask what were my symptoms and why I needed a pacemaker I always make it seem very simple.'' I just blacked out one day. Had tests done. Nothing. Wore a holter for a day and Mobitz Type II...pacemaker. '' Which is kind of true.
But when I think back about the years that preceded the blackout, I do recall times of intense fatigue, where I almost dosed off whilst having a conversation (I blamed the heat / or I was over working) but also (and this is what I'd like to ask)......at night when I'd go to bed I used to have these what seemed like short but bad nightmares where I'd wake up gasping for air. These dreams were all about a struggle in desperation for survival....the last seconds would be like I'm dying dying...than I'd wake up and...phew I'm saved.
Since the pacemaker I don't think I've gone thru these experiences again. If so very rarely. I have sometimes come to the conclusion that my heart was slowing down and missing beats and I was actually 'fainting' in my sleep. It was quite regular and effin scarey I can tell you.
Has anyone been through this?

3 Comments

Central Sleep Apnea?

by jean - 2015-10-21 08:10:04

thanks for your post.
I haven't really suffered from this since I've been pacemakered : ) maybe once or twice. Maybe its just a coincidence that its stopped. It usually used to happen like just after I've gone to sleep. Within the first half hour. Than I'd wake up in shock and fall asleep again. It never happened more than once in a night.

Dieing

by oldearthworm - 2015-10-21 11:10:31

I think Jean, that during your episodes of "death nightmares" that you were "dying" .....scary, IMO .. I never got to that point , no nightmares, no fainting, no dizziness.. BUT, thank God for the PM , else I'd be not typing this ..

Interesting

by Gotrhythm - 2015-10-22 03:10:03

Recently I was thinking along the same lines as your post.

Although at the time I thought I had no symptoms except tiredness, with 20/20 hindsight, I can see that I had some episodes of tachycardia--one that sent me to the emergency room where I was told it was a panic attack. NOT. Later, a holter monitor test showed that my HR dropped to 34 in my sleep, with frequent four second pauses.

Apropos of your post, I also remember having dreams that the doorbell was ringing. Half dreaming, half awake, I knew it wasn't really ringing, I was dreaming, but it would keep up until I completely woke up. Like you, since the PM, no more dreams.

I very much suspect I sometimes drifted close to death as I slept, and the doorbell dreams happened because my body wanted me to sit up and get my heart going again. Rather than thinking it's scary, to me it's comforting to think that my body has that kind of wisdom.

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