palpations

Hi everyone, sorry to bother ya again. I had a pacemaker put in 7 weeks ago now after a ablation. I am paced 100% of the time. I went for my intergation of the pm on Tuesday and my doctor said everything looked fine.

I was driving home today and 4 skippe beats in a row. I am now freaking out. Called my doctor and he said that this is ok. Can anyone help.

9 Comments

Skip Beats

by SMITTY - 2013-03-01 08:03:39

Hi Tina

An ablation doesn't necessarily totally stop all of the electrical impulse generating capability of the hearts natural pacemaker. What may happen is the heart's natural PM may generate an impulse that is too weak to make your heart beat but strong enough for your PM to detect it and it does not sent one thus you have a skip beat. All of us with PMs run into skip beats like this when we think the PM should be preventing them.

I suggest that you talk to your dr about this, not that I think you have a problem. It is just that I think he should have given you a better answer than "everything looks fine".

Gook Luck,

Smitty

Keep talking with the Dr.

by pacergirl - 2013-03-01 10:03:28

Sometimes it feels like skipped beats.... I get that myself. However, my cardio showed me that I'm getting "extra" beats instead. I was so surprised! I experience this a lot when I am very tired, like when my work day is way too long.
I hope you are feeling better soon.
Pacergirl

hang in there

by SaraTB - 2013-03-01 10:03:41

I am in the same position as you - pacemaker after an ablation, 100% paced. I had the same experience as you, with what feels like skipped beats. In fact what is probably happening is a faint first beat then a second beat, from the pacemaker, which feels as though there's a pause and is pretty disconcerting.

I told my doctor about this, and they were able to re-tune the pacemaker settings so that this doesn't happen. We ended up with the doctor and three techs from Boston Scientific plus a nurse, crammed into this tiny room, while they all looked at the readouts.

I know this is scary, but it sounds like the same as I was experiencing: it does take a while to get things set up optimally, so as others have said, make an appointment and tell them what's happening.
Then let us know how you get on!

My 2 cents.

by Casper - 2013-03-02 06:03:32

Could these be related to a Wenchebach setting?

If your heartbeat exceeds your upper rate limit, might there be a forced beat to prevent you exceeding your upper rate limit?

Ian..... I agree with you, if you took 100 people off the street and gave them a EKG, you probably find there are a lot of people out there that have skipped beats, sans pacemakers.

Caper

thank you everyone

by TinaH - 2013-03-02 07:03:23

I appreciate all your input. I spoke with my cardio again last night and I have had palpations for as long as I can remember but now that I have the pm I freak out more when I get them.

There just seems to be no real reason for them and that is scary. When my doctor downloaded my pm Tuesday he said I was having PVC's about once a day. He said everyone has them.
I just need to get a hold of my fear.

Thank you all again

Skipped beats

by IAN MC - 2013-03-02 07:03:38

Interesting posts on the possible causes . I was particularly interested in your explanation, Smitty, and I will be discussing this with my Dr soon. I get missed beats about 10 minutes after stopping falrly intensive exercise such as running a few miles ... does anyone else experience this ?

I know that exercise is a trigger factor as is consuming large quantities of caffeine or alcohol.

But the important thing, Tina , is should you be freaking out ? Your Dr doesn't think so and everything I read suggests that the occasional skipped beat isn't anything to worry about. I wonder.... if a Dr pulled 100 people off the street and gave them an ECG , how many would have the occasional harmless hiccup in their heart rhythm ?

Having said that, if it happens frequently you should get it checked out.

Cheers

Ian

Soft Beats vs Skipped

by donb - 2013-03-02 09:03:58

Good morning Guys, I'm glad you all have similar descriptions of what you sense & feel with irregular heart beats. I have had this going on years before my pacemakers & also the last 21 years with each replacement. I've never felt that my Drs have given me an honest explantion but my cardiac nurse wife has finally convinced me also that they are soft beats that you don't sense. As she has shown my each time I've been on a hospital monitor that each beat is displayed even I think I'm having skips. I also want to mention that I notice them also more so after stenuous exercise cooling down and they're proportional to the level of work you do. The "Biggie" is when I "hit the wall" after exceeding my pacemaker upper limit, then those skips are for REAL!!
DonB

Welcome to the PVC Club!

by donr - 2013-03-02 09:03:59

I'd have guessed that you were just having PVC's, but everyone else was so positive about the condition, I figured that I'd wait till this AM to comment

First para of your last comment is spot on - you suddenly become MUCH more aware of them post-op because you expect that they will all end w/ the advent of becoming paced.

Unfortunately, even your PM cannot predict the future - which is necessary to detect when a PVC is coming - so they still pop through.

Not to worry, however - to quote my cardio (& everyone else associated w/ him) "...they won't kill you..." at least is small numbers.

But, let's define "Small." At 60 BPM, in a typical 30 day month, your heart beats about 2.5 MILLION times in that month. At a 1% PVC rate, that's 25,000 PVC's. OR - roughly 1 PVC every 90 seconds. Disconcerting till you finally resign yourself to them & ignore them.

That, BTW is the PVC rate I live with, in spite of meds & my PM to control them. To me, that is small. They can be controlled further, but the toll in side effects from the meds is unacceptable.

Don

Skip Beats

by SMITTY - 2013-03-02 12:03:36

Since the answers given are so different from mine I just want to say I didn't dream my comment up here. That answer came from the electrophysiologist that implanted my PM when I asked about my skip beats.

Smitty

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