New pacemaker

Anxiety

by CrockerNut - 2017-03-26 15:22:37

I've had mine for 3 months and have had Pacer related or non-related issues since having it placed. The anxiety that comes with can be overwhelming at times. Good days are great and bad days can be near disabling, to the point of causing issues like shortness of breath, diziness, and other symptoms that appear to be the same as the issues that lead to our needing a Pacer. Don't dismiss your symptoms, but also be aware that the subconscious mind is a very powerful thing.

Anxiety

by LORIAAA - 2017-03-26 20:43:29

 I suffered from Anxiety for months.  My cardiologist suggested Phase 3 (Supervised Rehab).  It is a supervised cardiac rehab and wellness exercise program.  The 12-Week Wellness Exercise programs are for cardiac patients who need a re-start. It was just what I needed.  I feel better each day!  I go 3 times a week.  I am 65 years old.  A few are younger, some older - and we have a few in their 80s and a few more in their 90s.

I highly recommend rehab.

Out of Breath

by lcw306 - 2017-03-27 10:10:16

I was out of breath for a while after my pacemaker was inserted, probably weeks if I can remember correctly! I remember being very anxious about it, but I had to keep reminding myself that my body needed time to adjust and eventually, my shortness of breath did go away! :) Keep an eye though and definitley mention it to your doctor, just on the safe side!

- Leanne 

OUT OF BREATH

by BOBJ - 2017-03-29 12:11:16

Took me about 3 weeks for most of it to stop. However my EP says that I am not normal and have recovered/improved very quickly. Originally told me it would take months for my breathing to get better.

could be real or not

by dwelch - 2017-03-30 23:54:31

There is no doubt some level of anxiety.  That is normal and it will pass, and it will return from time to time, you feel a strange set of beats, hmm is it broken what is going on...And on the other hand being this new the leads are going to for a while now grow scar tissue which affects them electrically, so it is going to take a little while for the pacer to settle in on you.  And the doc may need to make some adjustments, if the signal is not strong enough your heart wont respond it it and will use your natural (although probably broken otherwise why do you have it) signal, or if too strong you can get double beats an echo of the signal coming back around beating again.  Modern pacers are soo much better than my first one, it took several months to get my first one tuned right.

They will have you come back in in a few weeks to both check the incision and to check and as needed ajust the settings, then perhaps a few to six months after that to do the same thing.  It may take you that long or longer to trust the thing, but it is doing its job, making your life better/safer.

Note when you do go in and the hook you up they may/will do a couple of anxiety producing tests, one will jack the rate up, another will drop it, some techs warn you some dont and you will want to punch them.  Just expect that while hooked up they will mess with it you may breath faster, your head may pound, or you may stop breathing like someone is sitting on your chest, this is all normal and when your axiety relaxes which may be after you leave the room, it will be all back to normal.

Tell the tech you want your copy of the printout  from the machine, ask your doc about what the things mean, in particular the battery life which is a very rough estimate dont let that freak you out if it says 4 years on day one, and your lower and upper limit.  Know your lower limit in particular if you take your pulse (count out a full minutes worth) and it is lower than that number like 50 and should be 60, call someone.  dont trust your tingling skin or pounding head or rushing sound in ears that might be there for some completely different reason, take your pulse that is what the thing is driving, thats the whole point of it.  there may be other items on that print out that dont make sense, etc, someone here probably knows if you are interested.  dont worry if it says you had an event three months ago, what was I doing that day, why didnt I notice it.  let it go.

After the second or third visit you should be on annual visits or maybe those home things avoid this, but it should do a diagnostic every year and they can tell from that that the leads are not broken or the settings are just right, etc as well as a rough (ROUGH) estimate on battery life.  when it says you have 3 months or 3 weeks, trust it, when it says you have 4.5 years dont get worked up about that.   When they think you are in the last couple of years of the battery life they should hopefully start doing the interrogation twice a year.  When the battery gets low enough (many years from now) it will lock you at a pace like 65, so climbing stairs, etc might be painful as your heart will not change and you cant get the oxygen you need, the battery can go like this for months, just endure it until they swap the unit out.  Surgery and recovery from the next ones are easier, the units keep getting smaller...