diagnosis

I was wondering if someone could tell me what the following are and if they are significant beyond a pacemaker. These were some of the things I was told but did not fully understand them please forgive the spelling not a strong suite

1. bradycardia
2. pvc's
3. sick sinus rythum
4. heart block
5. sinus rythum arrest
6. venticular fibulation

If some one could tell me what any of these are and if any are very serious beyond the correction copasity of my PM. thanks

8 Comments

thank you to all

by deerehunter - 2009-10-30 01:10:35

I thank you for all your insight into this new world that I have found myself plumited into. As far as v-fib I am sure that I did not experince that as I never needed to be revived however it was mentioned by the cardiologist during my pre surgical appt. It came up when I told him that I did not want to have anymore surgery and he said that with the 2nd degree heart block, bradycardia and sinus rythum arrest that I would need to have a pacemaker or further and much worse consequences could and most likely would occour and told me that had I not been on coumidan he would have done it the next day I had a implanted loop recorder for a month and that is how the defects were discovered along with symptoms. As a child I did go int cardiac arrest 2 within 4 months one time for just under 2 min. I was to young to remeber but my folks would talk about it at all the family get togethers. I am not sure of the exact cause however my father told me that I had been having seziers prior to the event. I am not sure if the new stuff is related or just that I am getting very old as my daughter tells me. Thanks to all again

Ventricular fibrillation

by lenora - 2009-10-30 01:10:56

Thank you JB. Ventricular fibrillation is NOT a chronic arrhythmia as atrial fib usually is. It is a lethal (deadly) rhythm which requires the immediate intervention of CPR and defibrillation, meaning the delivery of a direct electrical shock to the heart muscle. And, by the way, PVC's are NOT always "harmless and annoying" if they land on the Twave in the cardiac sequence and set off Ventricular tachycardia which can deteriorate into vfib. That's why we "bolus and drip" with lidocaine in CVICU for frequent PVC's.




















definitions

by Tracey_E - 2009-10-30 06:10:00

1. bradycardia- a slow heart rate, it's more a symptom than a diagnosis, can be caused by blocks or sick sinus or sometimes it just happens with no known cause. The pm fixes it by never letting your hr fall below the minimum rate programmed (usually 60 or so)

2. pvc's- premature ventricular contraction, when the ventricle starts to beat prematurely, sort of like a half beat before the real beat. These are annoying but harmless. not affected by the pm

3. sick sinus rythum- sinus node in the atria is the part of the heart that senses oxygen level and raises or lowers our hr accordingly. With sick sinus, sometimes your sinus rate (atrial rate) will drop off while at rest. Usually getting up and moving around will get it to kick in and beat normally again. The pm fixes this by keeping your rate up for you when it senses it's dropping off

4. heart block- the sinus node in the atria tells the av node in the ventricles when to beat. The ventricles cause the strong beat we feel as our pulse. With a block, this signal sometimes or all the time (1st, 2nd or 3rd degree block) does not get through from the sinus node to the av node. The pm fixes this by always watching when the atria beats and making the ventricle beat if it does not do it on its own.

5. sinus rhythm arrest- not positive about this one but arrest means to stop so I'm guessing it's a pause in the sinus rhythm, when your heart stops beating for a few seconds. The pm fixes this because if your heart pauses, it'll cause a beat to keep it going

6. ventricular fibrillation- fibrillation is when the heart muscle quivers instead of making a strong contraction. Ventricular means it's coming from the ventricle rather than the atria. I'm more familiar with atrial fib than ventricular, not sure if they're treated the same way. Afib is usually treated with medication (beta blockers) to bring your heart rate down. When meds don't work, they can ablate the part of the heart that is working overtime and let the pm take over. It's dangerous when not controlled because the risk of a clot is higher, but most people easily control it with medication. Again, I have no idea if vfib is treated the same as afib!

re thanks

by deerehunter - 2009-10-30 10:10:36

Tracey thank you once again as when they are throwing these terms around and you have never had any form of heart problems well I did know about the pvc's in the past just the term not what they were. Never expected to be dealing with this stuff at 43 years old. Have already delt with 8 spinal fusions failed spine syndrome, mrsa ostyomiolitis, dvt and pulmnary emblisom muptipial times, gallons of vanco and coumidon. over the corse of 7 years. Thanks again folks like you are helping me understand what is going on.

V-Fib

by J.B. - 2009-10-30 10:10:40

Fibrillation is an uncontrolled twitching or quivering of muscle fibers (fibrils). When it occurs in the lower chambers of the heart, it is called ventricular fibrillation (V-Fib). During ventricular fibrillation, blood is not removed from the heart. Sudden cardiac death results.

The most common cause of VF is a heart attack. However, VF can occur whenever the heart does not get enough oxygen or if a person has other heart disorders.

The treatment for ventricular fibrillation includes defibrillation and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

PM to cause plaque?

by deerehunter - 2009-10-30 10:10:55

I have another concern that I forgot to ask the Dr. about could someone tell me if the 2 leads from my PM that go through my vein into my heart could help to cause plaque to build up quicker due to the reduced space and additionl surfaces for it to attch to and cause someone to have a heartattack. And did not think to ask if I ever needed another pic line for vanco treatments how that could be done my PM is on the left side. Thanks for looking.

Diagnosis

by ElectricFrank - 2009-10-30 11:10:33

These could actually be your heart problems or as in my case the original doc just checked everything on the sheet. They had me down for Sick Sinus, Variant Angina, LBBB, heart block, and something else I can't remember. They may have been suspected problems early on, but a close look at my ECG ruled out most of them. AV block was the only thing I had. It took me almost a year to get the rest out of my records.

TraceyE covered the definitions well so I won't go into that. One questionable diagnosis was the ventricular fibrillation. It is deadly and I can't imagine them not implanting an ICD (implanted defibrillator) instead of a standard pacemaker if you actually have a risk of vFib.

frank

Sick Puppy

by mrag - 2009-10-31 08:10:56

Not seeing a compete medical report, it sounds like you are a sick puppy (probably like the rest of us here). All your 6 conditions can under specific situations be less than optimum for humans. What caught my eye and has been mentioned in earlier posts, #6 V fib. That at the very least, I know to be a very dangerous situation to be in. And you do NOT get to be in V Fib very long-a few MINUTES for most people. If you are in it, as stated, you need to be defibrillated to get out of it.

You know you're wired when...

Your license plate reads “Pacer4Life”.

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.