Unable to sleep

Oh to have a good night’s sleep

by Gemita - 2020-02-16 03:57:03

I do not think we can only blame the pacemaker for insomnia.  Looking at a computer screen before bedtime or during the night when we cannot sleep isn’t going to help either and is probably a leading cause of insomnia for many of us alas !  I have had a sleep study and have learnt a great deal about my sleep patterns and I too can suffer from poor quality of sleep which really impacts on my quality of life, so I can relate.

A major cause for insomnia in my case has been nocturnal arrhythmias and central sleep apnea, both of which have now been addressed. My quality of sleep is so much improved.  I would speak to your doctors about a sleep study and/or nocturnal monitoring to try to establish what is happening during the night.  You might be surprised at what they find.

With regard to the pacemaker as a possible cause, if a sleep study doesn’t show a potential problem then try working with your pacemaker technicians to adjust some of your settings to see if this might help.  My heart rate is now set at 70 bpm at night and this is a great help since it was dropping below 30 bpm before pacemaker implant and these low heart rates would trigger my arrhythmias and I would be either prevented from falling asleep or woken suddenly from “air deprivation”.  

You could also try asking your clinic what your pacemaker settings were for your old pacemaker and change your current settings based on those to see if it helps?  I know some pacemakers have a "sleep mode".  You could ask about this too.  There must be an answer somewhere.

Some additional tips.  My sleep consultant prescribed a short course of melatonin to help my body get back into a normal sleep pattern.  I also found magnesium supplementation helped with both sleep and my arrhythmias.  Sleep hygiene is so important too - that is, try to go to bed same time and get up same time each day.  Hard I know when you start falling asleep when it is time to get up but if we don’t keep to a regular sleep pattern things can get a whole lot worse and we start falling asleep during the day too or having accidents.

I really hope things improve for you quickly and that you get the help you need to have a peaceful night's sleep.

testing

by JoanneMT - 2020-02-16 09:55:45

Do you have home monitoring?  Not long after my pacemaker implant in 2018, I also was awaken often during the night.  I asked the PM representative.  He said that some tests were scheduled during te night and he then turned them of.  This seemed to have improved my sleep on that point.  

Remote monitoring

by Gemita - 2020-02-16 13:34:21

Yes JoanneMT makes a good point.  Some of us can be very sensitive to remote monitoring which may be carried out at the same time each night, so that is something to ask your clinic.  Maybe they can arrange for this to occur during the day?  

Have there been any other changes in your life since 2016 which might have caused difficulty in sleeping.  Any new illness, change in medication or change in your heart condition?