PM

Hi everyone.

I had my dual PM installed Oct. 28th. What took me to the hospital was I passed out on Kitchen floor. I had been feeling dizzy and had periods of seconds where I saw grey a couple days before. I was diagnosed with syncope, complete heart block.

Now 2 weeks with PM and no longer see grey, but am extremely dizzy. I don't go to the pacemaker clinic until Dec. 6th. I also feel heavy in my chest and it is sore to lie on my left side. My head feels let it wants to explode and I have major ringing in my ears. I have had ringing in my ears for years but not nearly as bad.

I have an appt with my reg. Doc. tomorrow. Anything I should ask. Let other newbys I seem to feel every pain.

I am under a bit of pressure as I am planing on flying to AZ on Dec. 7th, day after my PM visit.

The books they gave me at the hospital says you will be back to normal shortly after. I don't feel anywhere close to normal.

9 Comments

call sooner

by Tracey_E - 2013-11-11 05:11:38

Don't wait until your appointment, esp since it's the day before you leave. It's common to need to adjust the settings. Are you dizzy all the time or on exertion?

I've never heard of ear ringing associated with changes in heart rate.

Soreness is normal, it's common to take a few weeks before we can lie on our side comfortably.

Call sooner - cancel trip

by Theknotguy - 2013-11-11 06:11:21

Got my PM on 4-Oct-2013. Have ringing in ears but that may be from a "bug" I picked up before the collapse. Also have them have you start checking your Blood Pressure. I starting spiking right after I got the PM.

My BP was in the 60's on the low end. So when I start to exercise it would bump up to the 80's. After the PM I'd go from the 80's to the 100's so had to have high BP medicine to knock it down. Instead of 50mg once a day, 25 mg twice a day.

Discuss all concerns with doctor. If he doesn't address them, get another Cardiologist.

I'd cancel the trip until you get things under control. Flying is stressful and you don't need to collapse on the flight.

Hang in there. It gets better.

Tinnitus.

by Alma Annie - 2013-11-11 07:11:22

All of the above is good advice. Tinnitus can be caused by stress, although not always. It happened to me 21 years ago and has never left. I was stressed greatly at the time.
I hope it does clear up, if not you may need to see an ear nose and throat specialist.
Alma Annie

PM

by Peaches45on - 2013-11-11 07:11:22

I am dizzy all the time. My PM is set on 45. Prior to pm my pressure ran 118/ 74 pulse 50. Now it is up an down like a yoyo. I do take an beta blocker to keep my pulse rate down. I have been on that for 6 months and fought the dr. at the time as my blood pressure was always low. Before the beta blocker my pressure
was 104/69 pulse of 80. I have found my pressure has increased since the beta blocker but pulse is down. I see that Dr. end of Nov. Not prepared to cancel trip just yet. I spend approx. 5-1/2 months in USA. I am prepared to cancel trip if necessary. According to the PM Dr. I am in better shape to travel since PM installed. I will just have to play it by ear, but will make a call to PM Clinic.

dizzy

by judyblue - 2013-11-11 07:11:34

Dizziness and syncope sent me to hospital and home with a PM. Since then (sept. 26) I have never had dizziness aside from a bit due to the side effect of the antibiotic. but is was mild and gone when meds gone. I agree with the others, if your primary doc doesn't fix things up, insist on an appointment with cardio or EP before december. I have fussed enough to have 2 additional unscheduled appts.
good luck!
Judy

heart rate

by Tracey_E - 2013-11-11 10:11:20

lots of thoughts...

Before you got the pm, your pulse didn't go up and down because the signal never made it from the atria to the ventricles. The sinus node was making the atrial rate go up and down according to your activity level, but the ventricles were off in la-la land beating whenever they were in the mood. That's why your rate stayed the same, but it was misleading because even though your pulse stayed the same, your atrial rate was likely all over the place.

Now, when your atria beats, the pm gives the ventricles a fraction of a second to get with the program or else it steps in and causes a beat. That is why your rate is all over the place now. It takes a while for your heart to get used to beating in sync. My resting rate was high the months after implant and jumped up quickly on activity, but then it settled down to a more normal rate.

If your atrial rate drops below 45, the pm will kick in with atrial beats. I'm guessing that doesn't happen very often. With av block, our sinus nodes usually work like they should so getting too low isn't our problem. We need the pm to complete the broken circuit and keep the ventricles in sync, not make the atria beat faster.

Beta blockers will lower bp and lower pulse, that's what they do. Stress can run your bp way up.

Ask them if your rate response is turned on. Rate response senses movement and raises your heart rate as needed. If you have sinus issues, this is a good thing. If you don't have sinus issues, and most of us with av block do not, sometimes the rate response can compete with our natural sinus rhythm and cause problems. They often leave it on because theoretically if we don't have sinus issues it won't kick in, but many of us feel better with it turned off.

I would not cancel the trip, but I would insist on being seen asap and work aggressively to get this fixed.

Have you been to the gp to see if anything else is causing the dizziness?

By any chance did the dizziness start when you started the beta blockers? Check your side effects on the bottle, betcha the first one listed is dizziness. The first one I was on made me too dizzy to even drive. The second one I tried worked a lot better.

Ok, that is my random babbling for the night, hope it's more helpful than confusing :o)

Tracey, Right up there w/...

by donr - 2013-11-12 08:11:04

...Thomas Sowell for random thoughts.

Very good summary of all the first order issues. That's the place to start while looking for an explanation.

Anything beyond this gets into some more esoteric causes which are low probability.

Great job.

Don

PM

by Peaches45on - 2013-11-12 09:11:56

Thanks everyone, I see my gp today. Nice to know that everyone's rate seems to change after the PM. Maybe I will stop worrying so much.

PM

by Peaches45on - 2013-11-13 08:11:36

I saw my reg. Dr. and she says it is the meds that are making me dizzy. She cut my Nadol down to 10 mg and take at night. Hopefully that will do the trick.

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