Irregular heart beats

It will be okay

by Hoosier Daddy - 2017-11-26 01:41:24

Hi Lilly,

I'm up here about 60 miles north of Owensboro, so I hope you FEEL my vibes - I'm rooting for you.

I assume you do NOT have a CRT device, or a device for resynchronization. That's what I have. They are very different from standard pacemakers because they have a third lead that sits on the outside of the left ventricle, near the phrenic nerve, the nerve which makes your diaphram move with breathing. 

The night after my CRT-D device was implanted in August, 2017, I experienced the hiccuping of diaphragmatic stimulation / phrenic nerve stimulation. It wasn't painful, but it was very annyoing. I actually knew what it was because of my background, but that didn't make it any less annyoing. It happened beneath my ribs on the left side only and was indeed identical to hiccuping. It lasted for an hour or so, and on the postop visit by the Medtronic rep while I was still in the hospital (Deaconess Heart in Newburg), he reprogrammed it and it has never happened again.

If your pacemaker is NOT a CRT device, or a "biventricular" pacemaker, this is 100% NOT what is happening to you.

The anxiety you are feeling - do you have a pacemaker and an ICD? Is your device one that can deliver a lifesaving shock? Is that what your anxiety is about, or is it just in general for what you've been dealing with, with your new gadget, and about what is going to happen with your health? 

I am highly informed about cardiac issues but it's always been applied to other people. 

Until this all happened to me.

When I was told my follow-up echo results 90 days after my cardiac arrest - after cardiac rehab and maximal medications - that my LV ejection fraction was STILL 10-15% - l literally began crying. I could NOT believe it. I could not believe this was happening to ME.

I have just a few months later come to complete peace with my situation, with my health, with my medical bills, and with my new dependence on my device.

Even tonight, I joked with my 9 year old daughter about how I'm like the Terminator - part machine, part living tissue. 

I promise you that you can return to whatever normalcy you had in your life some time ago. You WILL come to accept your device without thinking much about it. You will find social support among friends, among church peers, and among family. And in the short term, cardiologists / EP docs are used to the fact that some patients need temporary help with anti-anxiety precriptions. 

Irregular heart beats

by Lilly - 2017-11-26 01:57:22

Thank you so much for the kind words, and support. I don't know if it where I've been through so much or what. I have had cornary artery disease for 12yrs now I have 9 cardiac stents, I've Angioplasty twice. A five hour ablation in January of this year. Now the pm. Sounds like you to have been through a lot. Thanks for sharing you story with me. Thanks again for the encouragement! God bless you!