Young adults with PM

I can not believe there is a web site for people with pacemakers. I am 37 and since I was in my early 30's I have had a really slow heart rate. I have never passed out but have recorded heart rates of 19 bpm and pauses of 7 seconds while awake and at work. I now have a pacemaker and do not feel that much different. I was wondering if there are any other people with the same symptoms. I did not read all the posts but the majority of people failed the tilt test. I have had numerous tilt test with and without nitro and passed them all. Hope to hear from someone.

Thanks
Matt

3 Comments

how you feel

by Tracey_E - 2008-12-21 07:12:19

Do you feel bad now, or just not better than before you got the pm? If you were asymptomatic then it's not surprising that you don't feel different, but know that you are safer! The younger you are, the better your body can handle the low heart rate and leave you symptom-free. If you had waited longer to get the pm, you probably would have had more fatigue and dizziness.

I was born with my problem (complete heart block) and other than being unable to get my heart up high enough to work out vigorously, I was asymptomatic until my early 20's. The symptoms came on so gradually over several years that I had no idea how bad I felt until after I got the pm at age 27. Had I gotten the pm a few years earlier, I probably wouldn't have noticed the drastic difference.

I've never had a tilt test because I've never had symptoms that warranted it.

Cause?

by TSA - 2008-12-21 11:12:59

Hi Matt,
I was at about the same numbers. I started getting really tired and passing out. The Dr.s had no idea what was going on but I knew something was wrong. I was 44 and not sure how much longer I had. This weekend is my second pacer birthday of returning to life! I felt very different the morning after waking up from the surgery. I had been noticing a decline over 18 months. It did take a bit to get used to the pacemaker but now I don't even notice it. It was a great Christmas gift.

Did they say why they thought you had this? They never came up with a reason for me- they said congental.

Enjoy Life - It is all small stuff,
Tom

No symptoms either

by kisabu - 2008-12-29 03:12:20

Hi Matt, I am 39 and only two years ago did the issue of my heart come up. I discovered that my heart rate would go down to less than 30 as well while I was awake and that I had long pauses while asleep. To this date I have never felt a thing!! I have attrial fib, apparently all the time, and I would never be able to tell. I will be scheduling my procedure to have the PM inserted/installed ??? within the next 3 weeks and am wondering whether all of a sudden I will discover that I could be feeling a lot better than how I already feel.......

I don't know what a tilt test is. I have had stress tests and I also exercise a lot and have never felt a thing!

You know you're wired when...

Your device acts like a police scanner.

Member Quotes

My eight year old son had a pacemaker since he was 6 months old. He does very well, plays soccer, baseball, and rides his bike. I am so glad he is not ashamed of his pacemaker. He will proudly show his "battery" to anyone.