YOU CAN SET YOUR CLOCK BY ME!

Since I had my dual-chamber pacemaker fitted in the UK on December 8, 2014 I get a sharp, unnerving and worrying ectopic beat at precisely 22.58 hrs. each day. This is followed by further ectopic beats and a fiercely beating heart until approximately 01.00-02.00 hrs. Neither my surgeon nor the pacemaker technician I have seen since the procedure can offer a satisfactory explanation. This reaction at the same time every night - regular as clockwork - is both worrying and debilitating as it means I cannot get to sleep before about 01.30 hrs. at the earliest. Has anyone else suffered anything similar? Can anyone offer an explanation? John V

4 Comments

Hmm

by Shepheart - 2015-01-02 09:01:20

Just off the top I would think that it has something to do with the pm's setting. There are test modes that can be programmed on the pm for voltage etc.

Quite often in the evening at a 7:25 I can feel a little kick under my ribs on the left side while my pm does a test of some kind.

Just a thought, take care and happy new year.

self check

by Tracey_E - 2015-01-02 09:01:30

Some of them are set to self check at the same time every night. Most people sleep through it so they set it for the middle of the night. The time can be changed or it can be turned off. You'd think between the dr and the tech, they'd know about that, tho. Can't hurt to ask!

check medications too

by Theknotguy - 2015-01-02 10:01:11

I had to adjust times I took medications too. They wanted me to take one medication before going to bed. That resulted in pounding heartbeats just before going to sleep. Take that medication a little earlier and have less of a response. Didn't change dosage, just changed time by a couple of hours.

Automatic capture management

by golden_snitch - 2015-01-02 11:01:36

Hey!

It sounds like the automatic capture management (threshold test), but as Tracey said, one would expect the cardio and tech to know about that one, especially when you tell them that it happens every evening at the same time. And that your heart continues to beat fiercely for two or three hours is not typical for the capture management as this usually just takes a couple of seconds. Could, of course, be that the test triggers some kind of arrhythmia, some extra beats for instance, that need hours to settle down again.

As Tracey said, ask your cardio or tech about the automatic capture management. It's a great feature, because it can help to save battery life, but if it bothers you too much, you can either have the time changed or have it switched off.

Good luck!

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