Out of breath

How severely short of breath are you?

by Gemita - 2024-09-27 13:01:00

Babesmom,

I was intermittently short of breath for several months prior to and even after my pacemaker mainly due to my arrhythmia, Atrial Fibrillation which worsened after my pacemaker implant until my heart settled down and got used to being paced.  This took at least 3 months before I felt better.  

An arrhythmia cannot be stopped by a pacemaker and may need to be treated with medication or other treatments. Do you have any significant arrhythmias as a cause for your shortness of breath (SOB) or other health conditions, like heart failure?

I know you have had several investigations already but if you continue to be significantly out of breath for long periods, you should seek help.  Have you had blood tests to rule out anaemia and other conditions other than your heart condition?  

I cannot tell you how long you will experience SOB because I do not know what is causing it or how severe it is?  Have your doctors given you a diagnosis for your SOB?  It may not be due to the pacemaker or to its settings, although if this continues, you should receive further immediate checks to establish a cause?

GEMITA

by Babesmom - 2024-09-27 13:37:34

I had Bradycardia and Arrhythmia issues

As for other health conditions I have had every test available just to get to where i am at today...

Lungs and Pulmonary are good, Thyroid is good

I was SOB before the Pacemaker and heart was skipping beats and creating extra beats

thus the need for the Pacemaker 

I don't know much about settings but know they Monitor it daily & when I go into the office

I did tell my doctor about a week ago & he said give it another couple weeka

Then I would give it a few more weeks

by Gemita - 2024-09-27 14:19:43

Babesmom, If your SOB has been investigated fully and you are satisfied that nothing is seriously wrong other than mild SOB, then I would wait for up to six weeks when they will usually carry out a first main pacemaker check and adjust your lead + device settings if this is required.  I remember I had problems with my Rate Response setting when I first got my pacemaker and this can be difficult to get adjusted.  It triggered tachycardia events which in turn made me breathless.

Looking at your comments, you don’t mention anything about rhythm disturbances other than ectopic beats/bradycardia.  Ectopic beats if they are prolonged or intermittently frequent can really upset pacemaker timing and make us feel as though we are living with a much lower pulse.  We have had a lot of comments about this.  The problem is that no one is too concerned about atrial or ventricular ectopics but they can cause difficult symptoms for some of us, and they can certainly be a cause of SOB when they lead to other disturbances, like Atrial Tachycardia in the case of PACs and Ventricular Tachycardia in the case of PVCs, not to mention pacemaker mediated arrhythmias.  However I am sure they are monitoring you carefully now.

Hopefully by around week 6 and your main pacemaker check, things will have settled or they will be able to make some adjustments to your settings, if you and they feel your SOB is caused by a pacemaker setting.   Please report any worsening symptoms before you get into trouble since only you will know what you can and cannot tolerate and how severe your SOB is?   Stay safe

If you still have air hunger after the PM implantation then it's not doing its job

by crustyg - 2024-09-28 02:26:56

The whole point of a PM for folk with air-hunger (==lack of oxygenated blood to muscles that need it) is to increase the delivery of oxygenated blood to working muscles.  Many (most?) of us feel air-hunger when heart output isn't adequate for our exercise needs, whether that's climbing a single flight of stairs at home, or cycling up a mountain.

Depending on the intensity of exercise where you still experience 'breathlessness' - or air hunger - your device should have fixed most or all of that immediately.  Myself: implanted on Wed, out on road-bike on Sunday and could feel much better exercise tolerance - and I wasn't out of breath at the top of our stairs at home.  More intense exercise will require some time post implantation before your PM can be fully adjusted to your needs, so some delay is to be expected as others have advised.

We're of an age, so our expectations shouldn't be that far apart.  Go back to your EP-team and tell them about your air-hunger.  I think your device isn't doing what it should.

SOB at rest or activity

by PSUCW2024 - 2024-09-28 15:17:55

Are you having the SOB at activity or at rest? I had a pacemaker installed going on three weeks and mine is more at rest than with activity. Not sure if this is normal or not but I have many of the same symptoms as you, bradycardia and arrhythmia issues.  Do you cardiac rehab in your plans, I am not able to start rehab due to a hematoma at the incision site and will need to wait until my six week appointment for clearance, but hoping that once this is started, I will get past the  shortness of breath and improve. 
Good luck hope you get better on your journey.