new pacemaker

Hello, I recently had a dual chamber pacemaker implanted in an emergency situation and want to convince myself that it was absolutely the right thing to do.  Last week in the am I was sitting having a cup of coffee and began feeling a strange sort of nausea. The next thing I knew I was on the floor,having passed out, and was staring at the ceiling.  I picked myself up and went and laid down for a bit.  I started feeling better and got up but blacked out again about 10 minutes later.  My wife called an ambulance and they took me to the emergency room.  While they had me hooked up, I blacked out a third time.  When I came to the cardiologist came in and told me I'd had a heart block and very assuredly said that I needed a pacemaker.  The official diagnosis was cardiac arrest, cause unspecified, syncope and collapse and the problems syncope and cardiac asystole. I really wasnt in a position to do any research so I went ahead with the implant the next morning. The odd thing was that before this episode of blacking out I'd never blacked out before and never really had any  lightheaded symptoms.  Also, about a half an hour before passing out the first time I'd been changing the oil on my wifes car and was trying to get the filter off (didnt have a wrench), which I managed with no little amount of exertion.  When I asked the cardiologist if that could have contributed in any way to the heart block, he confidently said no and that it was just the natural aging process of the sinus node.  In the followup this week the cardiologist said my sinus node looks to be working fine, but that it's good to have the pm for backup if i fall below 60bpm.  Was it the right decision? Anyone had a similar experience?   I've healed up well since surgery last week but really dislike having this protusion that I feel I'm gonna snag on something.  The cardiologist assured me pre-surgery that it would be pretty discrete-not.  Thanks in advance for any input. Sincerely, Will

7 Comments

Interesting, we are all different !

by IAN MC - 2017-08-27 09:05:43

Hi Willi    You have blacked out 3 times and you are not convinced that you need a pacemaker.  I blacked out  only once and that was enough to convince me.

Only you know the answer as to how many faints would convince you , would 4 faints be enough , or 7 , or maybe 23 ??   Maybe your 4th black-out would be when you are at the wheel of a car , maybe you would smash your teeth and fracture your skull ..... I assume that would convince you.

As you know heart-block occurs when there is a problem with the transmission of the electrical pulse , the problem may be anywhere between your Sinus node ,  your AV node and your ventricle. but you have a problem !  If that is the case,  a pacemaker is  the ONLY solution for that problem.

Your sinus node may or may not be involved . If it is,  it may work fine most of the time but  may have lazy days. The fact that your sinus node was working fine on the day of the test may be irrelevant. As you have heart block, chances are that the problem is further down the electrical pathway.

Many electrical cardiac problems are intermittent , you will have good days and bad days and this will be reflected in the percentage of heartbeats which need to be generated by the pacemaker

Was it the right decision ?   It absolutely, definitely, certainly WAS .....but that is just my my opinion.

Best of luck 

Ian

ditto

by Tracey_E - 2017-08-27 09:34:22

What Ian said. You are fortunate to get a diagnosis and fix so quickly. We have members who either spend years suffering without a diagnosis or get seriously hurt when they pass out. Sinus dysfunction (either the sinus node pausing or slowing down)  and  heart block (the signal not getting from the sinus node to the ventricles) are two different things, but both are electrical, not structural, and have nothing to do with lifestyle and how we take care of ourselves. Both are fixed by the pacer. When they interrogate it next you can ask how much you are pacing. The atrial number is sinus, the ventricle number is heart block. Expect the number to be small, if it's only kicking in for a few seconds at a time it's not going nto add up to much but those few seconds are the difference between passing out and not.

Adjusting to having a Pacemaker.

by TAC - 2017-08-27 12:51:46

You were really lucky, that you didn't passed out while driving at 70 miles an hour on a busy highway. You experienced a malfunction of the pumping action of your heart, which deprived momentarily your brain from having enough oxygen and made you passed out. You did not have a heart attack from overexertion, you only had an electrical blackout of your heart. The pacermaker implant was a life saver for you, it was absolutely indicated without any doubt, because you were about to die from a natural death. Now you will have to adjust and to learn to love your pacemaker, because it's adding many years to your lifespan.

right decision

by zawodniak2 - 2017-08-27 12:58:52

I had a left bundle branch block, dizziness, and one serious blackout resulting in a broken rib and several days in the hospital running tests and denying the cardiologists  emphatic suggestions for a pace maker. Several months later, after serious thought and research, I consulted an electrophysiologist for a tilt table test.  He confirmed that my heart rhythm   had a tendency to not  adjust to demands sufficiently and suggested that my symptoms would get worse with time.  I got the pace maker and after10 years my interrogations have revealed my ticker going from 50% to 100% dependance on the pace maker which is set at 60 bpm minimum. I am glad I did it before a serious episode and take great solace in knowing I did the right thing.  Also, the anxiety of fearing dizziness and passing out is completely gone.

                             Rodger

My opinion ......

by MartyP - 2017-08-27 15:40:30

When in doubt, there is no doubt !!!!

Thank your lucky stars and your wife that you are among the living.

It will take a while to get used to it .... maybe give it a name,  mine is Sparky.

Stay with this marvelous group of people who have been there and done that as the next few months go by as you adjust to your PM .....

New to Pacemaker

by TBrous&Chip - 2017-08-27 18:18:08

Welcome.  You are fortunate to not have any injuries from blacking out.

As already mentioned at interrogation ask about the pm usage %'s.  This should convince you of the need for a pm.

While no one wants to need a pm I am thankful to have it because I am paced 100%. I am still a healthy, active individual with an electrical heart problem. The pm takes care of the problem.

It is both a physical and emotional adjustment.  This group as well as the Facebook pacemaker support group are great support people.

Thank you all

by Willi - 2017-08-27 19:54:19

Thanks all for what I would say is a unanimous response. 2 weeks ago none of this was on my radar and I knew next to nothing about the subject of pacemakers. And since I'd had no previous symptoms I just wanted to know if I had options besides a pacemaker.  Sounds like no and I can live with that. I wasn't fully aware of the life threatening nature of what happened and you all enlightened me on that .  I do thank the Lord that my wife was here at the time and restart it happened at home and not out driving.  She had just returned from a month away and had planned to be out of town a few days later. Thank you all for your input!  All the best, Will

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