Got Jolted 4x but no defibrillator

Crazy! Last night in bed I got jolted in the heart. But I don't have a defibrillator. Laying on my left side trying to fall asleep and I jerked and gasped then 2 sec later again and 2 seconds after that got it a third time. No pain just a jolt enough to make me jerk and gasp each time. Afterward it kept feeling like it would happen again - sort of like hiccups might come back after they had stopped. I fell asleep eventually and had one more jolt about an hour later and half the intensity. Went to cardio and my device is fine. Read them Donr's suggestion from the search menu about mono pacing something and they cut me off and said I was bi which I knew but whatever. They said my device is perfect and I've had zero arrhythmias and nothing is wrong. So now I'm at the ER. HELP!!!

5 Comments

Thank You Sunny

by NiceNiecey - 2015-03-26 06:03:11

Getting ready to send me home without an answer. Everything checks out as fine. Of course it does. BUT WHAT WAS THAT JOLTING IN THE NIGHT??? No answers.

Please weigh in PM Club friends. I am so disturbed by all of it.

Niecey

by Grateful Heart - 2015-03-26 06:03:16


So sorry to hear this.

Since you don't have a defib, the only thing I can think of is maybe you (your device) irritated a nerve while laying on your side.

I'm assuming they checked everything with your heart, EKG and enzymes to be sure nothing else is going on with your heart.

Grateful Heart


I've had a similar event

by Ellen - 2015-03-26 06:03:46

I had a similar event in early December and told my cardiologist about it and he made an appointment for me to see the other cardiologist that implanted the device. When I would lay on my side in bed, my body would actually gently rock back and forth. Honestly, it scared the hell out of me. They did an echocardiogram and an EKG and checked the pacemaker. All was fine. They claimed that one of my leads was hitting a nerve or nerves near my diaphragm and was causing it. They did turn my pacemaker down a hair and it has been fine ever since. Now I have a CRT-Pacemaker that has 3 leads. Though 1 lead is turned off in my atrium, I still have 2 leads that are in each ventricle. (1 in each ventricle). My device is from Boston Scientific. I hope and pray this helps you. Believe me, I know it can be awful scary at times. But they should have better answers than what they're giving you. Some of them have no bedside manners at all. If it were them, they would want compassion. Perhaps they need a reminder.

Ellen & Grateful Heart

by NiceNiecey - 2015-03-26 10:03:20

Thank you for comments! GH, I wondered about the nerve thing too from old posts I looked up. Ellen, I have no idea if my problem is the same as yours. A third lead has been discussed for me, too, due to diastolic failure. I'm pacing just about 100% in both chambers as it is.

The funny thing is, I had just responded to the messages of others last night before I went to bed and I was 😄bragging😄 about how well I've been feeling! Ha! I do feel better than I have in years and now THIS!

I'm just glad someone else got 'jolted' without a defibrillator! Thank you for sharing with me!!! And thanks again to Sunny, too.

Similar feelings

by PJinSC - 2015-03-27 05:03:02

Nicey,
I have a similar setup as Ellen, 3-lead CRT-P, with the atria lead just sitting there, since I still have A-flutter higher than the lead is set to pace. When I turned on my left side, where the device is implanted, I would get sharp jolting pains on the right side of my chest. My EP and device nurse said it is probably nerves affected by the leads and from the invasion of the implanted device. In 2 years, it has gotten better. I found that if I fold a pillow in my left arm between my left shoulder and chin, I would have less discomfort. I have done it so long, I am like Linus in Peanuts with his security blanket. I can't sleep without my pillows and my CPAP machine. (My wife says she can't sleep without me in my CPAP, either, except when I roll over to her side and the exhaust chills her neck. Another story....)

Hope you get it figured out. Would be interested in knowing how you solve it.

Oh, and don't take cr@p from your medics. I bug the devil out of them until I get a straight answer.

Good Luck and Good Life. PJ

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