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Frustrating
When I was 19 I was diagnosed with SVT and had corrective surgery. Fast forward to 37 and my heart rate slowed down to much and I had to get a pacemaker. I got it in November. I went to the ER in October because I was feeling horrible and it turns out my blood pressure was high for me. They didn’t tell me that I payed attention to the reading and it was on my discharge paperwork. I used to have perfect blood pressure and this time it was 144 over 88. And at one point 90. This hospital visit is where they determined my heart rate was extremely low and I needed a pacemaker. It dropped down to 29 overnight while I slept. The first test they performed, the machine did not work properly so instead of giving me a pacemaker they gave me an internal cardiac monitor. Three weeks later they gave me a pacemaker. Nobody addressed the high blood pressure so I think it won’t happen again. Then yesterday I have the symptoms I had previously of me almost passing out, tongue feeling weird, dizzy sweating jaw hurting heart palpitations so I check my blood pressure and it’s high. I don’t know what to do about it because no one ever addressed it so I decided to go back to the hospital and not only did they still NOT address the high blood pressure, they get a reading from Boston Scientific that shows I have mild SVT again. That my heart races in spurts to 190 beats per minute. How am I supposed to know that! I’m trying to get used to this thing that is making my heart beat faster than 39 beats! How do I go from a super low heart rate to a fast heart rate at times and something that I had fixed. They want to do another Surgery but I said no I’ll take the medicine because I need to see my cardiologist first. And they still have not addressed the fact that my blood pressure gets high and I don’t know why. My blood work is normal! I’m frustrated, I’m confused and I know I am babbling on here but I figured I may as well babble where someone might actually understand my frustration! And the medicine they gave me, I took my first one this morning and I am dizzy so I will need to take it at night! I thought this process was going to help bring normalcy to my life and give me energy to be a better wife, mom, friend and all the other hats I wear but not only am I still tired, now I am having other issues. I am done complaining now! Sorry about the rant. If anyone has read this far and you have any advice as to what I can do when my blood pressure gets high, I would love the advice.
Brittney
2 Comments
High blood pressure
by Tem - 2019-01-11 04:32:30
I wouldn't be to concerned about your blood pressure as it is normal for it to vary widely, usually lower when sleeping + usually upwards as the day progresses + when you are stressed. Mine would shot up to 189/100 even 201/101 when I first fainted because of an AV block. Neither the ambo's or the hospital were particularly concerned. When calm + relaxed it dropped back to 127/75. It is only a problem when it remains very high say around 200/100. Some people do have unusual blood pressure spikes, which may indicate other problems. During stress tests when you get to your max. heart beat blood pressure goes up significantly as you would expect. 144/88 is not very high. Good luck.
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separate issues
by Tracey_E - 2018-12-29 13:39:09
You need to talk to your cardiologist/electrophysiologist. Blood pressure and heart rate are unrelated. It's possible to have episodes of high rate as well as episodes of low rate. It's also possible that your atria was going fast all the time but the signal didn't get through to the ventricles so the fast rate was masked so now you're feeling something it's been doing all along. Now the pacer makes sure the ventricles beat when the atria does so your rate can be higher.
They can use meds or ablation to fix the fast rates. Personally, I'd take the ablation over meds and their side effects. It can take 4-6 weeks to get used to the side effects and feel good again. I was on them for several years and constantly battled fatigue. The worst potential negative is risk of needing a pacer, and you've already got that so nothing to lose.
One good side effect of the meds is they also lower blood pressure.
Most people don't feel symptoms of high blood pressure. I do not. Low, yes, but not high. Mine has crept up as I've gotten older and gained weight. It used to be so low they'd check it twice and ask if I felt ok (90/60 was my normal). It eventually got high enough to take meds, and then it tanked the first time I took it. So, I check my bp every morning. If the first number is over 135 or the second is over 75, I take half of a pill (full dose is too much for me). I'm usually good for about 3 days after that, tho getting dehydrated, eating a lot of salt, drinking more than one glass of wine all affect it. Everyone is different, tracking it for a while may help you figure out what affects you most.
Complain and rant all you want. Get it out of your system here among a crowd of folks in the same boat then put your smiley face back on for your family. We get it.