Sick Sinus Syndrome , Now @ 2 Mos
I have had my first tune UP^ to 135 max. I am at about 8-9 weeks since ER collapse & 4 days in hospital led to implant of pacemaker. I do have a C-PAP machine, but Still, I get sleepy so often. I am taking naps multiple times each day, but I don't welcome them. I don't lie down, I sleep where I am: in a chair, traveling in car, watching a DVD. I find I have fallen asleep, when I wake in an hour or two, mostly. These are not 5 minutes cat naps. And they are sometimes embarassing. I went for a hair cut and fell asleep waiting. I let people know I have a heart condition that does this. I hope that this is not a forever condition, not at 68, today.
Others with Sick Sinus Syndrome: What's your timeline, adjustment & any advice, please. TY.
2 Comments
Sleep study
by Theknotguy - 2018-09-06 15:56:06
I don't know your background and that can factor into what's going on. I'm on a CPAP too and that can be a big factor in your problem.
I had a lot of trauma before getting my pacemaker. Multiple broken ribs, collapsed lung, re-separated shoulder, pretty much the works. It took me two years to get back to "normal" and during that time period I would fall asleep as soon as I sat down. Be right in the middle of doing something and would just fall asleep. Part of the reason I was falling asleep so often was due to the way my body was dealing with the trauma, pain, and healing. So if you had trauma before getting your unit that can be one cause for you falling asleep.
The other problem which took me a while to figure out was my CPAP mask. The dog-done thing wasn't sealing correctly so I was spending most of the night tying to get a good breath of air. Went back in for a sleep study and they suggested a new and different mask. They also determined my CPAP setting wasn't high enough for me to get a good breath of air. The sleep study tech had my setting at the low level and I was pretty much starved for oxygen the whole night. Needless to say my comments about the sleep study tech weren't very nice. The other thing I was doing was trying to get a good breath of air but was swallowing air instead. That was caused by straining to get a good breath of air because the mask didn't fit correctly.
Oh, and another thing that factors in is your pacemaker unit probably has your heart rate set to a higher level. Mine is set to 60BPM which is way up from the 50BPM I was getting from my natural heartbeat. Consequently you need more oxygen even when you are asleep.
Discussion with my sleep doctor after a second sleep study was to set my CPAP at 10. I requested and got 11. You'll have to determine what your numbers should be from your current settings.
Once I got a mask that sealed correctly and got my CPAP numbers up I started getting good sleep. That really helped and now I only fall asleep if I've had an exhausting day.
Hope you can find something that can help.
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not normal
by Tracey_E - 2018-09-06 09:38:32
That's not at all normal for pacing or this many weeks post op. If your settings are good, your SSS should be fixed now. You might want to talk to your cardiologist about raising your resting rate but I'd check with the dr who monitors your c-pap, see if something is up with that. Talk to your GP, get some blood work. It's easy to blame everything on the pacer but it's not always the culprit.