Pacemaker in Aug'13 and now epilepsy diagnosis

In August 2013 I had a morning where I fainted twice, so went to Emergency room at the hospital. One more faint/seizure in the waiting room and another when hooked up to monitors where they found my heart was pausing (18 seconds that time). Had a temporary pacemaker put in that day and permanent Medtronic Advisa MRI D put in a couple days later.
It was almost 4 months before I felt like it had fully healed, but was feeling OK by December ... except for waking up with a headache most mornings.
Then in mid-Dec'2013 I had a situation where I felt odd (tunnel vision, etc) and was quite confused for a few minutes. It almost felt like my 'normal for me' fainting spells except that I wasn't fainting. I tought perhaps my pacemaker was keeping me from losing consciousness so went to find my BP monitor to check heartrate. Then I had a few minutes where I was so confused I didn't know what I was looking for and didn't even remember I had a pacemaker. Off to Emergency again. They couldn't make a definite diagnosis, but referred to a neurologist and scheduled for pacemaker query and EEG's.

Well, Feb 25, 2013 after 2 EEG's the neurologist gave me the news that I have temporal lobe epilepsy diagnosis. She thinks that my lifelong issue with fainting easily and the heart pausing incident that resulted in pacemaker surgery were all caused by the epilepsy.

Wow ... not good news .. or perhaps it is good news that they have figured out what is happening and luckily have a pacemaker that will mean I won't have heart pauses or worse in the future. And now that I'm on medication I will be able to get back to normal life and will be able to drive again in 6 months of being seizure free.

Is there anyone else with this type of experience? I had always thought it was a vasovagal situation causing the fainting ... and they said it was sick sinus when the pacemaker was put in. Now the epilepsy diagnosis is a quite a shock, but perhaps answers all the questions?!?

7 Comments

very nice

by wjs1954 - 2014-03-02 05:03:12

Sounds like you have a great attitude. Good luck keep smiling and improving.

And an MRI scheduled too

by Gr8ful - 2014-03-02 06:03:24

Oh .... and I get to try out the MRI option on the pacemaker. May 5th I will have an MRI to check out my head and make sure there is nothing else that might be causing the epilepsy.
They said a pacemaker tech will be there to set my pacemaker to MRI mode and she/he will stay during the whole MRI session and then reset it when we're done.

The neurologist was very surprised that they have pacemakers that now allow you to have an MRI. But I am oh so glad that they do.

We took early retirement about a year ago hoping to travel and enjoy life ... I hope we can get started on that soon.

Fainting, pacemaker, epilepsy ... enough already

by Gr8ful - 2014-03-02 06:03:37

LOL @Theknotguy ... if the heart pausing incident was truly caused by the epilepsy, then it definitely wasn't the computers I've worked on in my career. I have had fainting spells for as long as I can remember back to very young child ... feeling pain, seeing blood, thinking of blood, getting a needle, fear ... all caused fainting.
I didn't realize it wasn't normal until I told my friends about the pacemaker incident and none of them had ever fainted in their whole life.

I've had a bit of the "why me" attitude too. So not all happy times. But I am an optimist and looking to make the best of it. 56 is too young to give up on life. We have just retired early and there are lots of things we want to do.

Lesley

MRI OK

by Theknotguy - 2014-03-02 06:03:42

I've had an MRI - no big deal. They probably want the tech there in case they have to go further down on the head. (towards the neck) Even though your PM is MRI shielded there is still a possibility of problems. Other than lying on the flat table there was no discomfort.

I also feel you have a great attitude.

Oh, and your problems were probably caused by messing around with all those computers. Shoulda burned the computer manuals on the altar of the computer god with the sheep guts. Might have saved you a lot of trouble.

Hang in there. Life gets better.

Theknotguy

Had an MRI last week

by Ck - 2014-03-02 10:03:40

Hi,
I had an MRI last week. The procedure the pm tech goes through is pretty much like a visit to the pacemaker clinic.

They put the mouse thing over the pm, test the pm, change the setting, and then you go get the MRI.

Initially I was to go to the Cath Lab to have this done, and then walk to the Radiology Dept. But I didn't like that idea (who wants to be walking around with their pm turned off?). So they got the pm tech to come to Radiology, and he stayed there the entire time.

After the MRI the tech changes the settings back and tests the pm again. And that's it!

Good luck!

No MRI for me alas....

by Harrie - 2014-03-03 12:03:51

Sitting in the radiologists waiting for a ct with contrast because my Biotronik Evia MRI compatible pm is not rated for the radiology practice's machine. Well that's what they said. Filling in time checking if other practices will do it ( for future reference).

mri ?

by wjs1954 - 2014-03-04 02:03:59

Hope all worked out? If not yet I am sure it will ; )

You know you're wired when...

You have a maintenance schedule just like your car.

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