Going back to waitressing

Hi everyone,
I just got my defibrillator on the 3rd,I got this because of ventriculo tachycardia,my heart rate was at 230 when i went to the hospital.
My fear is about going back to work and getting my heart rate up,is this fear normal?I have a fear of doing anything that might raise my rate,How do you get over this?

7 Comments

work

by gamma - 2008-09-16 04:09:35

Once you go back to work you may want to pace yourself. Make changes so you won't have another event.Do ask for help at your job. Yes it is normal to have this fear, slowly the fear will pass. I, too suffer from ventricular tachycardia and have a pacemaker/defiibrillator. Like the poster before me stated let your Dr. ok you for work.

yep!

by Tracey_E - 2008-09-16 04:09:52

It sure is normal! I'm thinking you're not ready yet, it hasn't been very long yet. You shouldn't be lifting your arm over your shoulder for 6 weeks, esp with the weight of a tray. But once your doctor clears you for full activity, the best thing to do is just go for it! Try it and see how you feel. The time to be afraid was before you had the icd to control it.

I had the opposite problem before I got my pm, my heart wouldn't go up no matter what I did and I was always dizzy. I started normal activity again slowly. The better I felt, the more I did until one day I realized I wasn't afraid anymore.

Back to work

by Katielou - 2008-09-16 05:09:57

I can only agree with the other posts. I have ventricular fibrillation with a heart beat that hits 400. I was fitted with an ICD and went back to work at about 3 weeks. For me it was probably easier as I am office based and was able to rest whenever I felt the need. I think that might be difficult for you? Hopefully your manager will be understanding. I think you are expecting to do too much too soon. You have to get used to the ICD and to come to terms with it. Personally it took me quite a few months to feel secure with mine. Give it some time -get used to it and gradually you will settle down and feel more confident. It will come I promise you but it's different for all of us.
I wish you good luck and hope that you will give yourself time to heal both physically and psychologically.

Take care,
Lesley

Working With A D-fib

by SMITTY - 2008-09-16 06:09:25

Hello Grams,

I'll try to add a little to the discussion here. Now if I try to tell you something you already know please forgive me as I'm not trying to insult your intelligence.

But let me start by taking a look at how and why a defibrillator works. Ventricular tachycardia where you heart rate went up 230 BPM, was probably caused by a malfunction of your hearts natural pacemaker system and not because of tour physical activity. When you experience V-Tach, the ventricle is trying to contract so fast it is totally out of sync with the atrium; therefore it does not get filled with blood. So while your heart is beating, an insufficient amount of blood is being pumped throughout your body. Of course this could cause a person to feel weak, pass out or even worse.

What the defibrillator unit does is hit the ventricle with a pretty strong, but short lived, jolt of electricity. This in effect stops the ventricle momentarily. The idea is to stop the ventricle from beating and when it restarts itself it will be beating at a viable rate. If the rate is still too fast the defibrillator will shock it again. The doctor has programmed into the defibrillator unit the number of times will keep trying, but usually one is all it takes.

So, I don't think your job as a waitress will cause your heart to go into V-Tach. If it does then you have the wrong occupation. Many people get defibrillators and go for days, weeks, months or even years without it ever having to shock their heart. But the thing is you went into what the doctor apparently thought was a life threatening V-Tach so he implanted a defibrillator unit. What you now have is a very important part of an ER implanted in your body, just waiting for a call.

I don't have a defibrillator, just a pacemaker, but I would say your fear is normal for a person just getting a defibrillator. I know I would probably look I was walking on a crate of eggs. As the days go by you will not be so concerned about the fact you have it, especially when you see that normal physical activity will not make it shock your heart.

I will say you need to talk to your doctor about when you can go back to work and also find out how high your heart rate will have to go before the defibrillator comes into the picture. Also, you might want to ask him what is the possibility of normal physical activity causing the defibrillator to fire.

I wish you the best,

Smitty

i went back to work

by curly - 2008-09-16 08:09:14

hi. i went back to work after 3 weeks after i recieved my icd. you have to be careful you do not lift anything heavy. you do not want to pull the wires that go to your heart. i had my icd fire and it was not due to physical activity. i am taking meds to help my heart now. i was told it is good to get your heartrate up by walking or swimming.so do not worry and if you do worry ask the doctor for meds. for anxiety. they do help. good luck at work. stop in the chat room sometime, from curly

Thank You all for your input

by grams6939 - 2008-09-16 09:09:49

Thank you for responding,I'm trying to be positive about all of this.
The thought of changing my occupation is scarey in itself,I've be a waitress for more than 30 years and at my present job for 18 yrs.
Penny

back up plan

by Tracey_E - 2008-09-19 07:09:49

You should be fine waitressing again once you heal, but if it doesn't work out, what about changing to hostess? I waited tables in college, before I got my pm. My cardiologist found out and had a fit (I was under orders not to overdo it but I was having fun and the money was good, lol) so I changed to hostess. Money was similar but I wasn't running around with big trays so my doc got off my case.

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