Want my stamina back:)

Hi there,
It has been 6 weeks post surgery. I am doing well most days, however, there are occasional days when I just hit a wall of exhaustion. These episodes literally keep me on the couch for 1-2 days. I tend to be fairly active, and move about doing general housework, laundry, etc... Have been walking 20 minutes on the treadmill 2-3 times a week (@ 2 and 1/2 mph). I should mention that I have also had issues with my breathing, having a hard time getting deep breaths, etc...since my pacemaker installation. I have been to pulmonologist and they are treating me for possible asthma, but want to do further tests to make sure they are not missing something. I am just wondering if others are experiencing these same sort of symptoms.... I am only 49 years young:)

4 Comments

Want my stamina back

by slowthepace2012 - 2012-10-02 09:10:15

Thank you for your input. I had slight issue, only occasional with breathing prior to, but it magnified after pm install. Issues with breathing are both at rest and during exertion, doesn't seem to matter. No meds, had a chest xray in ER prior to my surgery, and yes, sleeping great. Have not been on treadmill since and cardio feels this is not cardiac related as everything has checked out perfectly with that... will not give up tho!

breathing

by Tracey_E - 2012-10-02 09:10:35

If you didn't have problems before you got the pm, it would be a heck of a coincidence to have suddenly developed asthma at the same time. I'd stay on the cardiologist, not the pulmonologist. Are you having the breathing problems all the time or just on exertion? If it's on exertion, it could be the pm settings. An easy way to see what's going on is get on the treadmill while hooked up to the pm computer, see what your heart and the pm are doing when it happens.

Are you on new meds? Lots of heart meds make you very tired the first few weeks. Pain meds do, also, though you should be off them by now.

Have you had a chest xray?

Are you sleeping well?

xray

by Tracey_E - 2012-10-02 10:10:20

If no one has done an xray since the insertion, I'd ask for that just to make sure no fluid has built up anywhere. Odds are it's fine but it's easy enough to find out for sure, because fluid would cause shortness of breath.

Just because the pm is working properly doesn't mean it doesn't need fine-tuning. Some drs are good at it, some have mostly sedentary patients so when they get an active one they tend to write us off and say we're as good as we're going to get. If you're not getting answers and it's not going away, I'd get a second opinion. Sometimes fresh eyes see something new.

Good luck!!

2nd opinion can't hurt

by ILoominatedEKG - 2012-10-03 02:10:00

I'm on the fence with this one. Something had to go wrong for you to suddenly need a PM. Whether or not that something can be entirely fixed with the PM is a subjecty for you and your cardiologist to discuss.

I had a serious problem that no one could find until I threatened to remove my PM with a box knife and a pair of vice grips. TThen, they figured out a lead had pierced my heart.

YOu know your body better than the doctor. I'm not saying don't trust the doctor. I'm saying trust yourself first! A second opinion is definitely in order.

Best of luck - Dave

You know you're wired when...

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