Neck and Bradycardia

I had to get a pacemaker about this time last year (2/2019) because of bradycardia and my heart random pausing.

The pacemaker is a miracle for me.  My heartbeat was getting worse week-by-week.   I feel so much better now.  I would likely be dead now without the pacemakers.

(I struggled with this for years.  Going to doctors telling them I would have a sensation like my circulation was blocked briefly.  They would look at me like I had 2-heads and have no idea what was going on.  It was my heart pausing all along.  A nurse practitioner found the problem.)

I'm still having problems, not with my heart but my neck and stomach.  I suspect my neck problems are to blame for everything.  I have degenerative spinal problems that I have struggled with my entire life.  My neck has what the doctors call severe arthritis.

 Early with the bradycardia, I noticed an effect where if I laid on my back with my neck straight, the bradycardia would stop.  I would have a normal heartbeat.  The doctors, again, looked at me like I had 2-heads when I told them this.  But there was something real here.  (As my condition worsened, this would no long work.)

I’m wondering, expecting, that there are other people out there like me who have neck issues causing bradycardia and stomach problems.

Let me know if you know anything about this.

Thanks!

Michael

PS:  I’ve asked more than once, why, at a relatively young age, 60, I would have this problem.  The response, every time, has been, it is just something that happens.  I don’t buy this.  There is something going on to cause this problem.

6 Comments

Frustrating to say the least!

by arent80 - 2020-02-27 22:03:25

Hello!

I don't have an answer regarding the neck issue but boy can I relate regarding how the docs look at you almost sideways. I've brought up so many things that I feel or notice and to them it's like I'm speaking a foreign language. I experienced the same as you but only at night when I slept. My heart would pause and heart rate would drop really low. My lowest recorded was 21BPM. Did I mention I'm only 39?! I got my PM put in Dec 2019. I feel better most days but some days I swear I have heart failure. I'm actually scheduling a Cardio/Pulmonary Exercise Test to see if they find anything between my heart and lungs. I can't shake this shortness of breath. Some days it's good, some days it's bad. They say it's my anxiety but I say their full of S#%*! Anyhow I hope you find some answers here. Best of luck and take care!

Alejandro 

Two Heads

by AgentX86 - 2020-02-27 23:10:02

I ha that problem for a couple of years.  I was complaining to anyone who asked about a weird feeling (lightheadedness, not dizzy by definition but feeling like I was falling forward, and sweats).  This doesn't fully describe it but it was the same each time.  This would only happen about one day per month but that day it might happen two dozen times. My doctors (all of them) looked at me I had your second head.  ...until I had a seizure while having one of the episodes. That got some attention and after a couple of drug changes (very bad side-effects), it hasn't happened again.

The seizure, or the really nasty drugs I was on have left me feeling like I'm walking in a canoe.  I've not fallen but have had to grab onto something to right myself.  There are times when I think I'd fail a police feild sobriety test.  Again, out come the second head.  Very frustrating, so I've decided to not say anything about it again.

 

A difficult complex journey

by Gemita - 2020-02-28 07:49:34

So often imaging fails to detect a problem and we get the usual response that it may all be in our heads.  I have been there too and it angers me.  I believe the "type" of imaging used may need to be questioned.  I feel functional imaging as well as structural imaging may need to be done in the neck region to really see what happens when the neck is in certain positions or moving.

From personal experience, for example, I know that long term, as opposed to short term ECG monitoring, is more likely to pick up a potentially dangerous heart rhythm  which may only happen rarely or intermittently.  How many of us have had echocardiography of the heart only to be patted on the back and told all is well structurally (and it is) and yet we keep having racing, irregular heartbeats which frequently lead to breathlessness, chest pain, weakness and syncope and many other undesirable symptoms.  It is all about the right imaging at the appropriate time to catch the problem.

From the doctor’s perspective (and I am not a doctor), they have to be clear what the problem is before they can safely treat the condition because treating inappropriately can have devastating consequences.  So what is the answer?? 

Catching the problem when it occurs through our own self monitoring is one way (say with Kardia mobile for symptomatic episodes of heart rhythm abnormalities) and sending the evidence to our doctors.  Alternatively I pushed my doctors for long term monitoring (Reveal Linq implant) which eventually confirmed the problem and also my syncope episodes.  Fortunately we both have a diagnosis now Michael and have the right treatment for it (a pacemaker) even though the problem may well originate in the neck.  

I will be asking whether functional imaging in the form of a functional MRI (fMRI) or a PET scan might better help to see what is happening to blood flow when my neck is in certain positions.  

I have cervical instability due Ehlers Danlos Syndrome.  Some compression of structures in the neck seems to be occurring during certain neck movements, leading to instability.  The vagus nerve too is apparently involved when I am in certain positions and this can cause havoc with my autonomic nervous system and trigger many difficult symptoms, from sudden swallowing difficulties, to stomach emptying problems, to heart rhythm abnormalities, to blood pressure and heart rate instability leading to syncope.  When I am lying flat or on my side in a fixed supported position, the problem may not always be apparent but when I move my neck suddenly or sometimes when I swallow, difficult symptoms are more likely to occur, so functional imaging is likely to be more beneficial I believe. 

I am looking into prolotherapy (regenerative injection therapy) which may help to repair ligaments/connective tissue, for my neck pain.  I do wish you well and hope that you will find the best solution for your difficulties.  It is a long and difficult process I well know but never stop searching for answers and a better quality of life

 

vasovagal syncope and swallow syncope

by Pacemaker_Sally - 2020-02-28 21:08:01

I did them all a favour and diagnosed my own swallow syncope - I almost fainted one day while swallowing vitamins. The vagus nerve goes from stem to stern and over-reactivity can cause various types of heart block. They are notoriously hard to diagnose. 

My swallow syncope was confirmed by a Holter monitor and then by the cardiologist - when he pressed on my carotid, my heart stopped beating. Yikes!

The vagus nerve

by Gotrhythm - 2020-02-29 18:07:32

I'm on the same page as Pacemaker Sally.

I have both bradycardia with random pauses and neurocardiogenic syncope, and as I read your post I immediately wondered if your difficulty is vagus nerve related.

The vagus nerve is a very long nerve with many branches, but what you need to know is that it travels through the neck down to the heart. I'm not a doctor but it's not hard to imagine that some people's neck anatomy might be arranged so that certain neck positions could put pressure on the vagus nerve and produce effects on the heart.

Even if vagus nerve issues are going on, you probably need a pacemaker, but you need to understand that the pacemaker will not fix vagus nerve issues or keep them from happening. It only keeps your heartrate from slowing past your pacemaker's base rate or stopping.

PS The vagus nerve also travels to the stomach.Your intuition that the neck thing, the heart and the stomach are all related could be right on.

I urge you to google vagus nerve (pronounced like vague-us) and educate yourself. The more you can demonstrate that you understand, the more respect you get from doctors and the less often you get the "two-headed" stare.

 

Thanks!

by michaellexky - 2020-03-05 09:33:01


Thank you everyone for the kind remarks and information.  This is helpful.  Good luck with everyone struggling with these problems.  If I ever get a helpful diagnoises or treatment, I'll post it.

Hope all is well.

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It may be the first time we've felt a normal heart rhythm in a long time, so of course it seems too fast and too strong.