Skipped Beats

Hello everyone!

It's been a while, so I will give you a recap. I had my pacemaker implanted in November for NCS and SSS, since then I have developed IST (inappropriate sinus tachycardia) and have had two SA node modifications. I was told after the last modification that I would have a hard time getting my heart rate above 80, but that sure hasn't been the case.
I am still experiancing episodes of tachy at rest where my heart rate will get up into the 160's. When my rate gets that fast, the signal to my ventricles is lost and I start to skip beats. The skipped beats are causing me to faint. Has anyone had any experiance with this issue?

Thanks,
Amanda

5 Comments

Similar problem

by nallen - 2008-08-18 04:08:36

When my heart rate went over 150 I had a similar problem. It turned out that my PM was programmed up to 120 BPM, so the St. Jude tech upped it to 150. You may want to ask your dr. about that possibility.

Pacemaker Programming

by scadnama - 2008-08-18 09:08:33

My upper limit was set at 180, but now I'm not even sure if there is a limit set. A feature called atrial preference pacing was turned on...this is supposed to keep the pacemaker working all the time, no matter how fast my rate gets. It hasn't really seemed to help much, I am still experiancing the episodes, but they do seem to subside a little quicker than before.

Amanda

Hi!

by tcrabtree85 - 2008-08-18 11:08:37

Hi Amanda,
I have missed you! I am so sad to hear that your still having problems. I have kept you in my thoughts a lot. I had the same problem as you did it took them 3 ablations to get it under control now I am completely dependent for the top part b/c they burned so much of the SA Node the last one he took the entire node.
I question if that is the case with you or if you have another problem where another circuit is bad. I had multiple spots the first surgery that he burned and the 2nd time they had grown right back.
Ask your doctors, techs, nurses etc. as many questions as you need too. Don't leave without getting your questions answered. I pray for you Amanda and am always a e-mail or phone call away.
Rest and drink plenty of water.

Much Love my sister,
Tammy

Similar problem/now worse off

by bunnykin - 2008-08-18 12:08:38

Amanda hi,
Read your experiences many times and have wanted to post but many things happened in between, and just couldn't reply. I've had IST many years ago and had ablations to modify the SA node. They're right in saying that the heart rate 'should not' go beyond a certain rate thereafter; however, I had the similar situation like you for two years after ablation..( after PM implant of course)...my rate went faster than I expected and worse still, 2yrs later I had two different kinds of arrhythmia, one of which can be deadly (VT) and I ended up with an upgrade to an ICD till now. The other kind of arrhythmia is supposedly congenital and surfaced only after the SA node modification. So Amanda, pls monitor yourself well, and hopefully you're not into something worse, like the VT. All the best..if you require any further information do drop me a line in the mesage box. There was not dull moment ever since those ablations. We are in this together so they say and so glad to have this site to vent sometimes!
Bunnykin

Hi there ;-)

by mikki14 - 2008-08-19 03:08:48

Hi there, first - I would like to apologize because of my English - I hope that you will underestand me... I am from the Czech Republic (Europe), I am 22 years old. I had many (5) ablation of sinus node. Each ablation took a lot of hours (from 6 till 9 hours). First I had 2 normal (endocardial) ablation of SA node, then 1 endocardial and epicardial ablation of SA node too, then 1 surgical (thoracoscopical) ablation with take away the phrenicus nerve, because I had the nerve really very near the sinus node. I had inappropriate sinus tachycardia with average heart beat about 130-140/min (during 24 hours holter monitoring) and then I had multifocal SV tachycardia (from 180 till 250/min) and onetime I had ventricular arythmia as well. And then another (5th) endocardial ablation. Doctors tried to modifiy it very much, but I had still average heart beat about 130/min. They burned really a lot, but the heart beat was still the same, so that they must interrupt the AV node and then they implanted the PM. I had interrupted the SA node after the 4th ablation but the average pulse was still about 130/min. I am glad that I have the PM now, because when I was on the last check-up the doctor told me that the pulse of my atriums is still about 200/min, which is really a lot - I think ;-).. but the ventricles goes about 50-60/min without the PM, but of course the PM stimulate it.

I wish to everyone just the best and a lot of health.

Kind regards!

Misa

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