Handwriting has suffered

It's been a little over two weeks since I had my complete heart block and subsequent pm implant. During my episode, my bpm was around 20 for about an hour and a half. The only mental issues I now have is my handwriting.

Does anyone else have skills that may have been effected by their heart issues? I have to print almost everything I write because of my now horrible cursive.

Maybe I should get one of those handwriting primers from elementary school to relearn cursive!

I don't mean to be too gloomy because I'm still alive and feeling awesome!

3 Comments

The joy of oxygen

by cohara - 2012-08-30 12:08:22

Fuzzy1,

I haven't experienced difficulty with motor skills, but I can't always come up with the correct word right away. When speaking, I sometimes come up blank. I've noticed that people fill in the word for me sometimes.

I was going in and out of consciousness for some time before my condition was diagnosed. I was in such bad shape mentally that I couldn't process that I was passing out. My mind was mush. It is inevitable that lack of oxygen to the brain might cause side effects. I just blame being blond and move on when this happens to me.

The brain is a wonderful thing. It can and does rewire itself to accommodate these situations. Two weeks is not enough time, but you might be surprised to find your handwriting coming back to you, especially if you practice. It will be two years in November when I received my pacemaker, and the scrambling for a word is diminishing as time goes on. It seems even slightly shop worn, blond brains can recondition themselves.

Take care,
Carol

A likely reason

by ElectricFrank - 2012-08-31 02:08:46

Some types of anesthesia can have effects that take a while to get out of your brain. The amnesia type anesthetics affect the brain in ways to cause you to forget any pain that happened. There have been reports of various neurological symptoms following their use.

If you were conscious during the time of 20bpm heart rate I would think that would have been sufficient blood flow to prevent any brain damage.

Frank has a good point.

by Tattoo Man - 2012-08-31 05:08:22

When I had a 5 hour heart op followed by ages in cardiac ICU (not for a PM) it was quite a long time till I stopped having visual 'wierd things' going on ..I would see things flying about the room. It should come as no surprise that other side effects might well be possible.

I think that 'getting better' is something that we sometimes dont really notice because it can happen quite slowly.

TMs Diary Theory might be useful here. Every 2 or 3 days write something down,...it could be just a short verse from a song, you know, something simple. This way you can look back and see how things have improved and might well be of value should you need to be assessed by a proffessional.

Just a thought

Tattoo Man

You know you're wired when...

You need to be re-booted each morning.

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