Food For Thought

• by SMITTY
• 2007-10-12 11:10:01
• Complications
• 1971 views
• 1 comments

Hello,

The following is an article by Andrea K Collier published in Heart Insight, a publication from the American Heart Association.

I found it interesting because it points out something our pacemakers can do or cause that I was never told about. Obviously "lethal heartbeat" caused by a pacemaker is not common but is one more thing of which I think pacemaker recipients should be made aware.

"Ralph Davis, 60, wasn't used to living his life on the sidelines. A competitive swimmer, he was always trying for a personal best—in or out of the pool. But in 2002, he was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, which could have caused dangerous blood clots and, eventually, stroke. "Doctors warned me that I might eventually need a pacemaker." Two years later, Ralph did get his pacemaker, but he developed what doctors call a "lethal heartbeat" —a dangerously irregular heartbeat that sometimes occurs after a pacemaker is implanted—just one month after the procedure and was rushed to the hospital. He got a new combination pacemaker/defibrillator device. Since people who have atrial fibrillation are susceptible to developing blood clots, Ralph was given a blood thinner, and it wasn't long before he was back performing his normal routine —including four-mile-a-week swim workouts."

Mr. Davis’ good health didn't continue and he had a heart transplant some month’s later, and the need for the transplant was not related to his pacemaker. He had an adverse reaction to an antibiotic that resulted in the need for yhe transplant.

If you would like to read more about this, get your self comfortable and Google "lethal heartbeat." You will find the complete article from which I took the above excerpts and much more on this subject.

Smitty