heart stopped for 2 seconds

at my last checkup the reading showed that my heart stopped (one time) for 2 seconds last month, while i was sleeping. Is this serious. I am now scheduled for an ultrasound. What will that show? I was told that my pacemaker is working fine. I have had my PM for 6 months

7 Comments

Don't worry about sleep apnea

by Theknotguy - 2014-02-09 03:02:06

I have the a-fib, sleep apnea, and now the PM. Musta been sicker than I thought. Anyway....

The ultrasound is to look around and see if you have any other problems with your heart. I have mitral valve regurgitation which means blood goes both ways through the mitral valve. About 15 / 20% of the population has that problem so it's no big deal if you're still getting a good pumping of the blood. Your EF (Ejection Fraction) will give you a number on that. So if your EF is still good, no big deal. The ultrasound will give them a good look with no invasion.

Sometimes the cardio guys don't like to use the cardio terms because patients leap to conclusions. (usually wrong) It's pretty scary when you get told you have MVR and look at what the fix is for it. (In essence, slicing the heart apart, fixing the valve and putting it back together.) Not something to look forward to. That part is scary. But when you find out 15/20% of the population has it and you don't need surgery it's a lot better. So if you read it on a report it's best to find out what's really going on.

As for sleep apnea, I had the same thing. Would go to sleep, stop breathing, and (as I later found out) the heart would stop beating too. (That's why I say my grandparents swam in the wrong gene pool.) So now I'm sleeping better because the PM is stepping in and making sure the heart keeps beating. The stop beating part is part-and-parcel of sleep apnea. (Amazing! My heart keeps beating and I sleep better. Imagine that!)

Another person on this forum was talking about Autonomic Dysfunction. That may be part-and-parcel of the combination of heart disease and sleep apnea. It may be my doctors just didn't give us that diagnosis. It's a question to ask.

As for the doctor.... I showed up at my first cardiologist's office with a haemoglobin level of 7. (Normal is 14.) He sent me home as being OK. I ended up in the ER that night. Internal bleeding because of Coumadin. He'd keep watching his charts trying to get my blood numbers correct on the chart. Unfortunately that meant I'd start bleeding internally. Guess he hadn't thought about that.
Also wouldn't talk with me - just gave orders. So I dumped him for someone who would talk with me. In one company for which I worked they said, "If it doesn't feel right, it probably isn't."

So, if the guy doesn't take time to talk with you, it's best to dump him. People who participate in their heart therapy do better. So if you don't know what he's doing it's very hard to participate.

I'm thinking all medical insurance companies in the USA allow you to switch heart doctors as you wish. You can also switch multiple times.

You can call your medical insurance company and find out who the cardiologists are in your area who participate in your insurance plan. That makes switching easier because they are already in your plan.

Hopefully you can get some help. It's really harder to deal with the disease when you don't know what's going on. Living in a constant state of anxiety is exhausting.

My best wishes for you.

Theknotguy

Pause

by golden_snitch - 2014-02-09 07:02:46

Hi Tarsha!

Should be nothing to worry about, especially not at nighttime. Even healthy people can have slow heart rates or short pauses of that length at night.

Is your pacemaker single- or dual-chamber, what do you have it for? If it's dual-chamber, the pause could be due to a long AV-delay. This delay defines how much time the AV-node gets to do the job on its own. A long delay gives it more time, and that could theoretically lead to a short pause.

Don't know why they want you to have an ultrasound. The pause is not an indication for something being wrong with your heart muscle. Only reason I can imagine is for an optimization of the AV-delay.

Best wishes

Inga

heart stopped for 2 seconds

by tarsha - 2014-02-09 10:02:56

Thanks for your comment. I have a dual-chamber PM. I had it installed because of a slow heart rate of less than 30 beats per minute. I'm not confident in my doctor
(I was assigned him at the ER). He dosn't explain anything and scares me. Is it hard to find a new heart doctor or am I stuck with him? Can I easily get my records from my current doctor?

Thanks again,

Tarsha

Confidence in ....

by KAG - 2014-02-09 11:02:23

...your Dr is huge. I don't know where you live but I'd be looking for a different Dr if your current one won't talk to you. Your medical records are yours. You shouldn't have any problems in getting them transferred to a new Dr. At the very least I'd get copies of everything. If you're any place close to a large city there should be multiple cardio offices.

Good Luck
Kathy

heart stopped for 2 seconds

by tarsha - 2014-02-09 11:02:35

Thanks everyone,

I will look for a new doctor. I should have mentioned that I have sleep apnea and a stressful job. The 2 second pause happened 1 time (for 2 seconds) at 2am and was a 1 time event in 6 months on the pacemaker.

Thanks again for all replys,

Tarsha

New Doc

by lbdina - 2014-02-09 11:02:50

It's easy to transfer all your records to a new doctor. By law, you can also get a complete copy of your file for yourself, though they may charge a nominal fee to make copies.

Shouldn't be difficult to get a good EP in Michigan if you look around. There are lots of big cities and good medical facilities there (I lived in the Detroit area many years ago).

If you have a dual chamber PM, you shouldn't have a 2 second pause, unless it is set to 30 bpm or slower, which is mighty slow. 50 or 60 is more typical for a resting heart rate.

If you don't like your doctor, then by all means get a new one.

heart stopped for 2 seconds

by tarsha - 2014-02-16 03:02:13

Thanks you gave good information

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