PM with Brady

I have bradycardia with my resting heart rate normally in the 35-45 range with dips lower at night. My doctor told me that I might feel something after I get my pacemaker like my heart is racing all the time. I was wondering if anyone had a similar experience and what it would actually feel like once I have recovered from surgery?

3 Comments

Knowledgible advice

by oldearthworm - 2015-10-07 02:10:08

Impressive ..
there are many good people at this site !
My PM in at age 75 , also bradycardia with many others problems .. I feel nothing unusual at the heart area, maybe the years have led to insensitivity .

like a coffee overdose

by Tracey_E - 2015-10-07 12:10:04

My first thought when I woke up in recovery was that I'd been mainlining coffee. My rate was in the low 40's all my life, was in the 30's the year before I finally got the pacer. Yeah, it felt like racing for a good while after! It wasn't really racing, it's just that "normal" was twice what I was used to. I noticed it a lot, but it wasn't a bad thing. Mostly, I felt all hyped up like I could take on the world. Oxygen is a good thing, double the heart rate means double the oxygen flowing through your body. After a while it started to feel normal and now I don't even notice it, if my rate dropped to 40 again I'd feel awful.

Once you heal from the surgery, you are probably going to be amazed how much more energy you have. When we have a low rate as kids, our bodies deal. As we get into the teen years, our bodies have more trouble handling it and we start to compensate. It happens gradually and most of the time I don't think we even realize we are doing it. I had no idea how bad I really felt before until I had something to compare it to after. It made me really regret that I put it off so long, did not get my first one until I was 27. It's great that you are taking care of it now. I should have been paced in high school also, but that was 30 years ago and pacing kids/teens was virtually unheard of so my drs wanted to wait. I missed a lot of fun and really wish someone had told me how much better I could feel. I slogged through when I could have been feeling great. It's not going to go away so there's no reason to merely get by when you can fix it and move on.

rate

by ladybug55 - 2015-10-08 03:10:13

I was operating at 40-50. When I got my pacemaker the doctor agreed to start me out at 60 bpm. I have only been able to get set at 62 after two years but advise you to start low and move higher.

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I am just thankful that I am alive and that even though I have this pacemaker it is not the end of the world.