PM born 9/5/08 for me

Had been feeling tired and short of breath for several weeks. Finally went to family doc on 9/4, EKG showed heart rate around 40. He set appt for 9/11 with cardiologist, BUT he called their office all day to be sure the cardiologist actually looked at the EKG he faxed. They said, get her in here tomorrow a.m. 9:15 am was in heart doc office, 10:00 am admitted to hospital, 12:30 pm Pacemaker was implanted. I continue to say ALL IS GOOD. Timing was absolutely everything. Heart rate dropped down 30-35 before procedure. Prior to all of this, I had been doing 2 miles on treadmill or taking daily walks. I ignored the symptoms, never in a million yrs thinking it was my heart. I tell the story to anyone that will listen so everyone will listen to the flags their body is waving and get it checked out. I love this site, thanks to all. GOOD LUCK AND TAKE CARE

6 Comments

peggy

by jessie - 2008-09-29 01:09:25

same story for me. never sick and boom. heartrate dropped. i was going to curves and denying a lot of what i was feeling. i thought maybe my hemoglobin was low since i had this experience years ago and i felt lightheaded. i was born in 1941 so four years older than you. yes listening to your body is important. jessie

Me too!

by Gonnie - 2008-09-29 02:09:51

I denied my shortness of breath & heavy feeling in my legs for about 9 months. We are very lucky to be here telling our stories aren't we? I don't think we can tell enough women, especially to not ignore their symptoms. I will pay more attention to the American Heart Asso. "Go Red for Women" campaign from here on!

We ARE the lucky ones

by Yorker - 2008-09-29 04:09:28

My story is similar, had been to the dr in July, even had an EKG! In late August started feeling a "heavy" but even heart beat when I was resting in the evening, felt a little tired, but just put that down to the days getting shorter. Finally went to the dr on Oct 30. They took another EKG and next thing I know they're telling me I have a complete heart block, need a pacemaker and an ambulance is on the way to take me to the hospital.
The really scarry part is realizing that I could very easily been one of those people who just drop dead and nobody knows why!
The other thing that really amazes me is the fact that the communcation between the 2 nodes of the heart can be broken and the heart will STILL keeps beating!
I tell everyone I can now to LISTEN to what your body is telling you - it knows what it's talking about.

Donna

yep

by kayakgirl - 2008-09-30 05:09:50

Hi Peggy:
Your story could have been my story.. Except that I ended up in the emergency room and had a nuclear stress test and had a cardiologist tell me that because my heart rate was going up and down there was no problem.. She totally missed the skipped beats, nor did she review the heart rate when in the hospital in the 30's the night before.. I did ask my family practioner for a referral to another cardiologist who saw me two weeks later. She did an EKG at 11am and put me in the hospital at 12:00 and I was on the table at 4:30pm.. yep.. denial is not a good thing in this case.. Got my pacemaker 9/11

Good Story

by bobad - 2008-09-30 09:09:36


Peggy,

Glad things worked out well for you.

When people have heart conditions or arrhythmias that cause faster heartbeat, they notice it immediately. Bradycardia is different. It's stealthy and insidious, causing no sensation in the chest that you notice. Many times brady is caught unexpectedly on an EKG, Holter, or because of fainting.

Best of luck, and I hope you are happy with your PM.

WOW

by PeggyR - 2008-09-30 10:09:18

The more I come to this site, the more I realize I'm not alone in this new style of life -- but how wonderful to have a life!!! I continue to tell the story to as many folks as I can, just maybe someone will think twice about ignoring their symptoms and go to their doc asap. I only hope all of you are recovering or have recovered as well as I think I have. No depression, but it is still a little surreal. So far so good, went for walk yesterday, might have gone a little too fast and too far but checked heart rate/bp as soon as I got home and all was well. My fave to all of you "Always Blessings, Never Losses".

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