not sure what i should feel

at the risk of sounding stupid...............I had my pacemaker implanted 2 weeks ago, i have begun to feel really hard pounding at times (often several times a day), I thought this was the feeling of pacing and that I should be feeling this but from the comments I read it doesn't sound like I should be feeling this strong of pounding heart beats??? any thoughts?? This is not a tingling feeling it is a hard pounding that actually kept me awake for more than 2 hours straight las night, also now have some dizziness with position change
comments welcome...

3 Comments

Beats

by jimmy412 - 2009-09-01 11:09:36

I had a hard time sleeping a few nights after my implant as well, but it did go away. I had a few nights I was up almost all night. I also felt like my heart was beating out of my chest when I climbed the steps. This stopped when they turned on the rate response on my first EP visit. I would say it does take a little bit of time for you not to notice it so much. Each person is different, you could always ask your doctor to see if they think everything is OK or not, since you do have dizziness.

Pounding & Thumping

by Pookie - 2009-09-02 07:09:42

Hi and welcome.

The first thing that comes to my mind is what happened to me...after having the pacemaker for a short time I could feel my heart thumping and pounding; as prior to the pacemaker I did not feel my heart beating at all, never.

My heart was not going fast, but each beat was a thump/pouding sensation. I thought it was just because my heart was always so slow that at this new rate perhaps this is what was "normal" but I kept on thinking how would one even concentrate feeling each beat like that. I tried to dismiss it, but that didn't work.

So, after bugging my cardiologist for a long time, he finally gave me a Holter Monitor that I wore for 24 hrs and that is how I found out that what I have is Ectopic Atrial Bradycardia.....meaning that if my poor old heart attempts a beat (but it's not that strong or on time) then the pacer jumps in to do its thing, but my heart is also making a beat, but a poor attempt. In other words, when my heart tries to beat my pacemaker is also working at the same time, like a millionth of a second in between each trying, so it's like a competition of sorts.

But the best thing to do is bring it up with your cardiologist. If it gets to be too much for you, go to the Emergency room. Leads are known to fall out of position as well.......I know, mine fell 3 times!

Don't let this wait.

Best of luck
Pookie

How should you feel?

by biggerscamp - 2009-09-02 08:09:31

Hi Twe -- I just addressed this in a comment from another post. Hope this helps you a little. I have experienced this. I started experiencing this just a couple of weeks after the implant. I kept bugging the office until they let me come in and they checked the unit. It turned out it was shooting out more voltage from the left wire than it should have been. It was causing my diaphram to spasm, which in turn was causing my breathing to increase, which in turn was causing my B/P and heart rate to rise. It was crazy! Before they got it adjusted, I spent two hours one days with my heart racing. After it calmed down, my chest was so sore and when I took breaths, it was a bit painful. This concerned them and that was when they brought me in for an adjustment. I am now six months down the road from my implant, and the heart racing is few and far between. I wish you luck and my best advice would be to keep on calling the doctor until they agree to do an interrogation to see what the problem might be. Shelia

You know you're wired when...

You have an excuse for gaining an extra ounce or two.

Member Quotes

In fact after the final "tweaks" of my pacemaker programming at the one year check up it is working so well that I forget I have it.