Dizzy

Hey guys, been awhile. 
 

last night I had a pretty uncomfortable feeling of lightheadedness followed by being paced and rapid heartbeat...not to mention panic and fear. 
 

I suffer from SSNS (sick sinus node syndrome). 
 

I just had a functions check done on dual chamber pacemaker. All was normal. 
 

Any ideas what may of happened? And why would I get dizzy if I have a pacemaker set to 60bpm? 
 

Thanks for advice/help. 

3 Comments

Dizzy with rapid heart rate

by AgentX86 - 2023-08-13 21:36:32

It sounds like some sort of atrial tachycardia. Tachy/Brady isn't at all uncommon with SSS. The pacemaker will take care of the Brady part but will happily sit and watch the tachy part go by.  If it is an atrial tachycardia, so, it's likely not an emergency but report it to your cardiologist/EP ASAP. A short period of a "reasonable" (you didn't state how fast, "rapid" was) tachycardia won't hurt but if in doubt, err on the conservative side (ER). Record as much as you can if/when these episodes occur.  Always measure the HR, manually, and note any irregularity.

An pacemaker check will be normal because it's not the pacemaker and it might not be fast enough to register on the PM (or your cardiologist has that feature turned off).

Dizziness

by piglet22 - 2023-08-14 06:56:12

I can only comment on dizziness and some falls I had in the last 7 months after 18-years of uneventful pacemaker use.

Ectopics (PVCs) are causing mayhem with my PM.

Just last night after several evening bouts, I went to bed and took my BP. The normally well-behaved monitor struggled to get a reading and eventually came up with 97/47 BP and 30 BPM.

Despite the fact it has caused one blackout already, it's proving difficult to get it looked at.

And, yes, do make sure you are taking regular manual and BP monitor readings.

Dates / Times

by Penguin - 2023-08-14 15:46:25

There are probably a variety of differing reasons for feeling dizzy including non-cardiac reasons - a virus or ear problems for example. The easiest way to find out if it's cardiac, if the clinic report says that everything seems normal, is to send a remote transmission to the clinic via your remote monitor if it happens again.  

Re: your recent pacing check - If the dizzy spell / attack doesn't match any of the criteria programmed into your event monitor it may not show up on the diagnostics. This can happen if the criteria are set too high or for too long or if the symptoms signal something new. If it's something new it's unlikely that event monitoring criteria will be set up on your device for these symptoms.  Techs often just check the event monitor if you can't provide specific dates / times. 

I hope it doesn't happen again. 

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