Nausea

Good Afternoon
I am new to this club as of today, and I am asking for information for my 85 year old mother, who had a PM in 2007. (St. Jude, 2 lead). She suffers from both rapid/slow heartbeat, but has responded well to the PM and betablockers. The problem is she suffers from bouts of nausea that leaves her very fatiqued, weak which takes her a couple of days to recover her strenght. We are journaling these episodes to see if there is a pattern and so for we have not found a pattern. We've asked the doctors about this and they just kinda shrug their shoulders. Is there any help for this nausea or does she have to learn to live with it?
Her GP has given her medication but that just puts her to sleep for 24 hours.
I would really appreciate any advice or input.
Thanks
Susanlee

6 Comments

Nausea

by SMITTY - 2008-07-27 02:07:43


Hi Susanlee

Welcome to the PM Club. I'm sorry that it is your mother's illness that brought to our little cubby-hole.

I will never say a pacemaker can, or cannot, cause anything but I would doubt that your's mother's nausea is caused by her pacemaker. As you know nausea can be caused by many things.

Of course beta blockers are pretty much a standard treatment for irregular heart rhythm such as your mother apparently has. You don't say which beta blocker she is taking, but I do know some beta blockers (Betapace for one) have nausea listed as a possible side effect. I would suggest that you check with her doctor to see if some of her medications could be the cause.

I wish her the best,

Smitty

Welcome!

by auntiesamm - 2008-07-27 03:07:41

Susanlee,

I can tell you this: Smitty is right about oh......say, 100% of the time! I agree with him about it being unlikely the pacemaker is causing the nausea but rather her medications. Has she started on any new medications following the PM other than the nausea Rx? You need to really push on her doctors to come up with an answer. Too often they tend to blame everything on the pacemaker because it is the latest insult to one's body. If your mom is mobile insist on getting an appointment with either her PCP or cardio and take her in. Do not leave until you are satisfied with the answers! These darn doctors are too quick to dismiss some of these symptoms - it makes me so angry. Some of them are not well educated about cardiac devices. You don't want to try to treat the nausea without knowing the cause as it could mask other symptoms. Please keep us updated on how your mom is doing. You are very lucky to have found this PM Club and the terrific members. You will find lots of information and support for yourself and your mom. God bless you both.

Sharon

nausea

by thomast - 2008-07-27 03:07:47

I would say check the medications. After my PM was implanted they put me on Sotalol. I was so sick for 3 months that I lost about 40 lbs. I had a terrible time convincing my PM Doc, that Sotalol was the cause. Finally he was in the room when I was in the hospital and saw me gag when they took the cover off of my food tray. He took me off that day and when he came in the next day I had eaten everything on the tray and was after the nurse to find me some more. I was then put on Tikosyn and it has worked fine for over 3 years.

Thanks

by Susanlee - 2008-07-27 04:07:21

Thanks everyone, for you quick responses. I will be taking her back to her heart doctor in a couple of weeks. He did take her off Pacerone back in December which was really making her sick and increased her toporol (sp?) which has helped with the heartbeat. It's just hard for me to understand..cause she can go like 2-3 weeks without the nausea..and then she gets a bout..that can be between mild to severe. She does suffer from GERD and has been on the purple pill for several years...is there any connection here?

Thanks so much...

Susanlee

Agree but also...

by tlsh - 2008-07-28 10:07:59

Hi,
I too am suspicious of the medication. Have you checked her BP during episodes of nausea? Low blood pressure can be caused by BB and low BP can cause nausea.

And...

by Paula - 2008-07-30 04:07:50

Push on the doctors. I know they can't know everything (though we frequently expect them to), but they should be attentive to your concerns.

You know you're wired when...

Your old device becomes a paper weight for your desk.

Member Quotes

You'll come to peace with it in time.