Missed heartbeats

Hi I haven't posted for a while and I am pleased to say that all has been well with the pacemaker until five days ago when I suddenly developed a feeling of my heart missing a beat. This has continued and is now getting increasingly worse , I checked my pulse and my heart beat misses a beat every two or three minutes.
Not sure why this has suddenly happened, I did have a nasty fall ten days ago , falling up steps and landing on my knees and falling foreward on my hands with a jolt but wouldnt have thought I had damaged the the leads? My pm was inserted ten years ago and although the box was changed five years ago the leads weren't, so they should be pretty fixed?
This is a very new thing for me but really uncomfortable feeling , reluctant to rush to pm clinic as they aren't the most approachable so wondered if anyone had any ideas?
Thankyou Anita

3 Comments

Start w/ the most likely ...

by donr - 2013-09-30 08:09:37

...scenario.

That is a phenomena called Premature ventricular Contractions (PVC's), They are exactly what their name says. - the ventricles contract prematurely & you do not sense that beat - you think it is SKIPPED. It is followed by a heavier THUMP due to the ventricles having more blood in them due to the first one coming early. You definitely will sense the THUMP.

Unless you get a lot of runs of them, they are harmless.

You say it hapens every two-three minutes - PIKER. I have them 3 PVC's every two minutes, to the tune of about 100,000 per month. A couple days ago I was having them every 4th or 5th beat. Not a serious problem, but downright annoying.

I'll tell you what I finally accepted from my Cardio: They will NOT kill you! I've been this way for many yrs, now. It is not at all uncommon for people t suddenly develop PVC's; you may well have had them for yrs & never noticed them. You fell down, now you are alert for things that might be happening So you suddenly sense them.

I doubt that you damaged a lead - after 10 yrs, they are so heavily embedded in your vein walls & the heart wall that they will have to be taken out w/ the cardio version of a plumber's Roto-Rooter. I took a jeep Cherokee doing 35 mph in the right shoulder about 9 weeks after having a broken lead replaced. Darn near killed me, but leads came through unscathed.

I would say that for your piece of mind, go get the leads checked out. You will become a basket case otherwise.

Supposing that you did damage a ventricular lead - w/ a 2nd Degree block, a damaged lead could actually lead to a skipped beat. So, bite the bullet & go see the unapproachable PM Clinic.

Ther is no easy test you can perform yourself to definitively determine damaged leads. Perhaps Pacer Rep will stumble by & help you out on that.

Don

I second what Don says

by PacerRep - 2013-10-01 12:10:39

Doubt you broke them but go get it checked out anyways...it's their job so don't feel bad about it.

Skipped Heartbeats

by imed2u - 2013-10-05 06:10:23

I have only had my CRT-D for a little over 6 months. However; on my last cardiologist's appointment I asked him about feeling "skipped" heart beats. My Cardio Doctor said that it had shown up on my interrogations and that they were significant. It happened over 11% of the time. He acted like he was not worried about it but he was going to keep track of it. When this whole problem first started, it started with my heart missing a beat that just became worst. I did not have any problem I thought after my surgery. Now it is starting again. Any insight here?
Ed

You know you're wired when...

Your pacemaker interferes with your electronic scale.

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