New to the club

I am so grateful I found the site. I have spent the last few hours reading post and have more peace of mind about what I am feeling and going through. So thank you. I just received the news yesterday that I need a PM and I have gone through so many emotions. I have not lived with the knowledge that I had heart issues my whole life. As a child I had episodes of passing out and when my mom took me to hospital they passed it off as just pre puberty. As a teenager I was told that I was passing out and fatigued because I was anemic. So for years when I had episodes I just figured it was due to that. Until about 3 months ago when I went to a blood drive for my little cousin who has cancer and they turned me away because my hr was only 41. The next week I was told I needed to wear a holter monitor for a month. During that time at a bachelorette party I passed out over 20 times (very humiliating) and was admitted into the hospital but the monitor wasn't working properly so they didn't know what had caused it. We did get a few recordings where my hr was in the high 30s. So the week after my 30 days I was implanted with a loop monitor. That was july 3rd. Yesterday I had an appointment and the cardiologist was very surprised at how many recordings were taken. He told me he has never had a diagnose this fast before with the loop reorder. I have two problems the first is bradycardia my hr dropping down into the low 30s very frequently. The second is AF which can not be controlled until after I get the PM because the medication lowers the hr. Before this I had absolutely no knowledge of pacemakers and thought they were only for old people (I'm 27). Man was I wrong. So in 6 days I will officially be in the club :) one I never thought possible. I am very nervous but am also looking forward to the future. I have lived with being tired and exhausted most of the time for so long that I don't know how it feels to be normal (whatever that is). I have 3 young children and I have felt so much guilt about not having the energy to keep up with everything they have wanted to do.

7 Comments

Placement

by mamaof3 - 2012-08-02 01:08:40

I have an implanted loop monitor on my left side right under my collar bone. I wasn't given a choice on placement. They will be removing the monitor and placing the Pm in the same location. They will have to make the pocket they created a little bigger I'm sure. What I'm not sure about is if they will be opening up the same incision or cutting in a different spot because it was only 3 weeks ago and it hasn't healed yet.

Glad you found out about it

by ElectricFrank - 2012-08-02 01:08:46

Welcome to the site. You are already in the club, you just haven't gone the the step yet.

With your low HR you will feel much better with a pacer. It may take a while to completely feel the results because your body has been living for years with a shortage of blood flow. At your age though you heal fast.

Have they talked to you about where to locate the pacer in your body? Us old duffers usually have it just under the skin below the collar bone on the left side. For cosmetic reasons younger folks often have it implanted under a muscle or breast. This can affect how quickly the surgery heals. It helps to sleep on the side opposite the pacemaker with a pillow in front of you to support the pacer side arm when sleeping. This takes the pressure off the incision and makes it easier to sleep.

If you have any questions after the implant be sure to post them here.

best,

frank

GOOD LUCK!!

by LuckyLozzy - 2012-08-02 03:08:18

Wow, you are going to feel terrific soon!!!!!!!
I too am 27 and got my PM 6 weeks ago.
I too didnt know I was living with a heart condition. My heart stops and that then triggers a seizure. I have been treated for epilepsy for ages now but recently was in a sleep lab and had a "seizure" only to discover it was just a symptom of my heart stopping. Now 6 weeks on, I feel like I have so much more energy, i feel so much more alert and healthy. I didnt realise how crap I was feeling, I knew I was always tired and I would wake up feeling hungover almost every morning (no, I wasnt drinking) but now looking back I realise what I thought was normal, was most certainly not. I hope that you get to feel as fantastic as I do.
Good Luck with your surgery and welcome to the club!!

Loz xx

AF recorded by implantable devices

by golden_snitch - 2012-08-02 03:08:45

Hi!

Glad to hear they finally found out what's wrong.

Just one thought regarding the AF: Now, I don't know how many episodes you had and how long they lasted, BUT it is well known that when being implanted with a device (loop recorder, pacer, ICD etc.) a lot of people are suddenly diagnosed with AF. In most cases these episodes are very short, and do not necessarily require treatment. There has even been the notion that nearly every person might have short AF episodes from time to time, you just don't find out because most people don't have such a device. My pacer is showing AF episodes, too, when I'm not taking any drugs. But they are short.

So, if I were you I'd wait and see how you feel when the bradycardia is treated. If you continue to experience symptoms, AF could be the cause. However, if the loop monitor has recorded long episodes of AF - more than a few seconds or minutes - at least anticoagualation should be started. The arrhythmia itself only needs to be treated when you're symptomatic, it's benign. But it's important to thin the blood when you have frequent and long AF episodes, so that the risk of suffering a stroke is reduced.

Good luck with the implant! Hope you'll feel much better afterwards.

Best
Inga

Loop Recorder

by kat97 - 2012-08-02 09:08:36

I am 48 with hx of passing out since i was verrryyy young. My monitor has showed afib quite a few times but surgeon states that usually the afib recorded is only "noise" from movement or muscle twitches. I was told that they dont normally pay attention to the afib because the loop is only for diagnosing low HR and assystole. I understand the pm for the low HR (even tho Im still fighting not getting my pm....stupidly Im sure) but....after the pm be monitored closely for the afib to muake sure its really afib. Hopefully you have a good cardio. Good luck Lee

I agree

by ElectricFrank - 2012-08-03 02:08:45

Afib is very difficult to distinguish from muscle activity or other electrical signals. There are many ways the body creates electrical signals. It is a real problem to biomedical engineers. While computer analysis can help in separating the various low level signals it is far from being accurate.

I hate to think of how many patients are on thinners that are only treating noise, especially with the side effects and risks involved. As I've often mentioned they would have a lot of questions to answer before my accepting thinner therapy.

frank

Even pelagic sharks...

by donr - 2012-08-03 08:08:26

...have difficulty sorting out the electric field signals they detect. Otherwise why would they attack humans on surfboards, only to spit them out when they discover that they have not grabbed their normal prey?

Don

You know you're wired when...

Your signature looks like an EKG.

Member Quotes

My ICD/pacer is not a burden. I still play tennis and golf.