Odd beats after Check ups

I was wondering if it's normal, or if anyone else has had this happen--after I have a check up on my pacer, there are some times that I have weird heart beats for a few weeks after the check up. I was wondering if maybe this is a side effect of them using the computer to change the paceing of my heart and my body just has to get used to it again.

Also, this time I seem to be having much more illregular heart beats--I had to stop taking my daily asprin due to a surgry coming up later this week. Is there a chance that my heart is beating odd because my blood is thicking back up?

By odd beats I mean it feels like it's skipping beats. My doctor has said that the pacer hasn't recorded any skipped beats in the past when I have felt this way and have asked about it. So I now just call it an odd beat.

9 Comments

Odd beats

by philip.thecyclist - 2013-09-10 01:09:42

This sounds very much like ectopic beats, which are the the result of naturally occurring extra beats, which are weak and unfelt, followed thumps as the heart/PM compensates. There are times when I get them over quite prolnged periods without any ill effects. My cardio team have never shown any concern over this.

Philip.

Thanks!

by Darvox - 2013-09-10 09:09:21

I'll ask about that in the morning. Thanks for the heads up on that.

Thanks!

by Darvox - 2013-09-10 09:09:39

Thanks, helps calms me down some. I was going to get a single lead pacer, but the doc decided at the last minute to go on and put a 3 lead one in. I don't know if that makes matters any better or not. I'm going to be seeing him tomorrow, so I'll ask if he had any changes made to the settings. Thanks again!

Thanks!

by Darvox - 2013-09-10 11:09:46

Thanks for clearing that up for me. Granted that I do think that my cardiac doctor is from some part of Europe; I'd rather have the correct term for my part of the world. Just in case.

I thought PVC's could be dangerous, or am I thinking of V-Tac(tek, or what ever it is called)?

Also I didn't know that about aspirin, I just assumed, that since people called it a blood thinner; that is what it did. Never even thought about questioning this fact. lol, glade I know now. Thanks again.

Are you sure there isn't a Man in the Moon? Maybe he is just too small to be seen?

Coghlan probably has it nailed

by donr - 2013-09-10 11:09:55

Muff: Except he called what is happening to you by its common name in The UK.

When you ask, ask about PVC's (Premature Ventricular Contractions) their common name in the US.

They feel like a "Skipped beat," But I assure you that your heart does NOT skip a beat. One comes early, hence is weak because the Ventricles are not sufficiently full of blood. The THUMP is the next beat & the ventricles have a bit more blood in them due to a longer time for them to fill.

They are common as grass - even people w/ "Normal" hearts electrically have them. They just never notice them. Get a PM & you suddenly notice every little oddity that occurs.

I listened to my cardio say "They won't kill you" so many times that I started believing him. I've been having tham for nearly TEN yrs, now on the average about 2 in every three minutes. That's several THOUSAND a day - & I'm still here.

Sorry, but there is NO Santa Clause, Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, Jack Frost, Man in the Moon or "Thicker Blood." All that aspirin does is sloooooooow up the rate of speed at which blood coagulates. Seems to be thicker because it doesn't clot as fast, but it is just as thick (or thin) as it was w/o the aspirin. There are certain components that when in contact w/ air combine to make a clot. Aspirin affects the speed with which they can react to cause a clot.

Don

Sorry to doubt...

by Darvox - 2013-09-11 01:09:53

I guess I was mainly doubting you because I scare easy. In fact it's gotten worse after I had an ablation a few months back. When I first had my pacer in, I was ready to retake the world and make it mine--for some reason after I had to have the ablation so my pacer would work better, I've been scared about every little odd beat, leg pain, ect. The other day I had a migraine for the first time in over 4 years. For the first day I was dead set sure I was going to have a stroke before the night was done. It wasn't until I heard someone talking about migraines and I put in my two cents about how bad mine used to be that I could tell that I was having one.

So in short, thanks again and sorry to have doubted what you said. I really need to take care of this fear that I have about everything.

I guess that makes you right about there being no man on the moon... I had really hoped he was there.

The Fear

by Darvox - 2013-09-11 02:09:40

I think the fear seems to be worse than the illness. I brought it up with my doctor today and he acted like it was nothing. He was more concerned with my blood pressure more than the odd beats (seem my systolic is too high at 120).

In the year and a few months that I've had my pacer, I've tried learn as much as I can--while at the same time trying to keep from learning too much. This why I don't scare myself so much. Granted I don't think I am very intelligent, I think the General Patton quote is very true.

So I guess I'll just saddle up and ride it all the way to the moon. Because if I stay in this fear pattern, I don't think I could live a long life and even if I did--if I fear dying ever single day all day long, what type of life would that be?

You are authorized to be...

by donr - 2013-09-11 09:09:50

...scared outa your gourd over what is happening to you!

I'm not sure where I wrote it, or to whom, but you only have ONE heart (Unlike Spock from Vulcan on Star Trek) & it must work every time it beats for you to live. It takes TIME to gain knowledge & confidence in what is happening to you so that you can relax w/ the situation & reduce your fears.

John Wayne, who is before your time is reported to have said "Courage is to be scared to death - but you saddle up & ride out anyway." Whether true or not, the quote is true!

PVC's can be so dramatic the first time you sense one that you never forget it. I had my first one at about 9:20 PM, 15 March 1977; standing in a kitchen I shared w/ another officer in a BOQ at Aberdeen proving Ground, MD. I thought my heart had stopped beating. Now what do you think that would do to you? Gave me pause, that's for sure. Maybe a million of them later, I'm still here, writing to you about it. Hey - "They WON'T kill you!" ( direct quote from my cardio).

I was dead wrong - there really was a man in the moon; MOF there has been a bunch of them, starting w/ Neil Armstrong in July 1969. That one you may keep believing.

Knowledge is the weapon that disarms fear; Keep searching for it & go out & throw a saddle on "Old Paint." We've got bad guys to go catch.

Since we are on a quote roll, try this on for last. BY Gen Patton: "If we take the generally accepted definition of bravery as a quality which knows no fear, I have never seen a brave man. All men are frightened. The more intelligent they are, the more they are frightened."

Don

PVC's under the WRONG...

by donr - 2013-09-11 12:09:26

...conditions can lead to V-tach & potentially V-Fib, Yes then they are dangerous. You have to have a LOT of them & they have to be in continuous runs. IIRC, it also requires that you have had a heart attack sometime in the past.

If there is a Man in the Moon, it has to be named "Glenn Beck."

Go back & review my last comment about my PVC count. It has never lead to an episode of V-Tach or V-Fib - so you have to have a heck of a lot more of them than I have.

Don

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In fact after the final "tweaks" of my pacemaker programming at the one year check up it is working so well that I forget I have it.