cannot talk for approx 40 secs after just climbing stairs??

What is wrong with me I am 41 had a pacemaker for 8 months was diagnosed with sinus bradycardia and also paroxsymal (intermitent a fib) just when i am getting used to pacemaker and beta blockers i start getting these small dropping sensations in my heart Is it the return of afib?
i am finding it hard to get a good nights sleep and my pacemaker clinic wont give me any more check ups as i have been back 5 times since October
I paid for a private doctor last week £150 and also for a 24 hour heart monitor £190 should get results this week .Honestly the back up care in uk seems to be an up hill struggle i mean it took me ten years for any doctors to believe there was anything wrong with my heart in the first place - with usual comments you are too young or they are just panic attacks.
So if tthere is one ting I have learned it is pester them till they listen.It strange how some doctors ( and i am not saying all because there are some great ones out there) are so dissmisive of our problems but it is us who are lying awake all nigh slowly going insane.Does anyone know of a private pacemaker clinic at least if you are paying for it they treat you with a little more repect and I can get some answers.
Sorry to be lue everybody but I find it all so depressing sometimes I mean life is tough enough without having your heart messing you about and to top it off having to fight to get after care or answers.

4 Comments

I know just what you are talking about!

by pacergirl - 2008-07-20 07:07:01

Hi Allan,
Yes, I've checked out your picture and you don't "look" as if you have a serious heart problem. I suffer just as you do...... as with many of us here do. We aren't grey colored, or bloated, or sickly looking so the medical people either don't believe us or they just don't know what to do. I sometimes think that my docs. think I am calling the PM a failure and in turn calling them failures because I can't get up the stairs without nearly passing out! I am now walking 45 min. 4 times a week to get the exercise that was prescribed for me. I am now beginning the 4th week of exercise tomorrow. I am still having trouble with climbing the darn stairs! I will stick with it, but I am doubting that my exercise program is going to help with the stair climbing. Of course my bedroom is... you guessed it, UPSTAIRS! So every night I am breathless when I reach my bed. I don't know what to tell you, except that you are not alone. I better get back to my walking.... Best of luck to you, Pacergirl

cannot talk for approx 40 secs after just climbing stairs??

by Fluzy Suzy - 2008-07-20 07:07:04

hi Allan
I too live in the u.k. in the West Midlands so I understand xactly how you feel about our doctors thinking it is all in our minds. I must admit though that my cardiologist at New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton is one in a million shame that he has just retired.
The hospital itself the Heart and Lung Hospital part of New Cross is relatively new, but I would not be here today without it. My closer Hospital (Manor Hospital) wanted me to see a Psychologist because thought it was all in my mind until I went into Total Heart Block and had to be resusitated on 2 occasion, hence my pacemaker - first one implanted in 1987 second one in 2005.
So you are not alone having great trouble with getting doctors to believe you are poorly - keep on badgering them, pity you are not a patient at the same hospital as me,
Thinking of you
Fluzy Suzy

Pacer girl

by allanrogers - 2008-07-21 04:07:10

You have a very similar medical history to me
Radio active iodine to get rid of over active thyroid
Did your heart problems start to surface before or after your radio active iodine treatment?
Is your afib under control?
Are you on your first pacer?
Are you on beta blockers?
If so what dose and how often do you take them once a day or twice a day?
How often do you get your pacer checked out?
I have just started on st johns wort which is supposedly ok with my current medications thyroxine each day 125 mg and atenlol(beta blocker) 25mg although last night I was sick of uneven heart beat so I took another atenlol to help control it and I slept quitewell dont know how much is placebo effect but I know i will pay for extra beta blocker and probably fel like a zombie for a couple of days.

Apparantly anti depressants can help with anxiety which is a main reason for afib attacks so the herbal equivilant to prozac is st johns wort but it takes two to three weeks to cut in although I swear i can feel some effects when i look at the sun.
You know all we want to do is get on and enjoy our lives and I feel with our conditions the best you can hope for is bursts of feeling ok and then just learning how to deal with the low times thank god for this club thta is all i can say

Sometimes Doctor does not know it all

by repwork - 2010-01-27 12:01:27

I have had many of the same experiences, join me on www.facebook.com look me up by using my email address repwork@gmail.com

You know you're wired when...

Your pacemaker receives radio frequencies.

Member Quotes

I am a competitive cyclist with a pacemaker!