loose lead?

I am concerned, I felt my heart drop some beats. I have had a variety of "funny" feelings since joining the world of pacers on the 23rd. (for bradycardia & a 2nd degree block) I have racing episodes that are fluttery, racing episodes that are thuddy, both of which only last 15 seconds to 2 minutes. But last night & this morning I started feeling my heart block again. The heavy in the chest & throat feeling along w/missed beats!

I go in for my 1st appointment tomorrow. Could the dropped beat I am feeling be something normal? Could it be the pacemaker working? What could cause it besides a loose/disconnected lead? The odds of a lead going wrong are farely low, right? I have been uber careful with my left arm so the only way I could have dislodged a lead would have been in my sleep.
Oh, I am so overwhelmed by all of this. I am trying to keep my chin up, focus on the good things. I do feel better now that I did prior to the pm going in. It is so scary, though.

4 Comments

Problems

by SMITTY - 2010-03-11 01:03:34



Hello JessiWay

Settle down now. You are just being welcomed into the world of pacemaker recipients.

Seriously, you do need to discuss this with your doctor, but what you are experiencing is not uncommon and usually not serious. Sure it gets our attention because it involves our heart, and gets aggravating, but not much more. I'll venture a guess that there is nothing wrong with your pacemaker or the leads.


I got my first PM in 2000 and I can't count the number of times I have felt what I think is the exact same thing you describe. Getting an explanation for this from the people that do the checks on my pacemaker has been very difficult so don't be surprised if you are, shall we say, brushed off with your questions.

I'll try to give my thoughts on what is taking place when I have problems similar to what you describe. My PM is an on demand PM (as are most of them) which simply means that it monitors my heart function and if it detects what it thinks is the heart's natural PM failing to send an electrical impulse to make the heart beat (this is caused by 1st, 2nd or 3rd degree block), the manmade PM will send the needed impulse. The problem arises from the fact the heart's natural PM is not always "on or off." It will sometimes send weak impulses which will not be strong enough to make the heart beat but will be strong enough for the manmade PM to detect, therefore it does not send an impulse as it thinks the heart is doing so. This results in skip beats.

As for the other symptoms you are having, the pacemaker is not designed to interrupt those. We are lead to believe (at least I was) to think with a pacemaker we are going to have a regular and stable heart beat form now on and that is not true for most of us. Of course those people that have had heart procedures (ablations) that make them 100% dependant on their pacemaker may have a more stable heart rate. But for those of us that still have an on demand PM irregularities in our heart rate can happen.

Again in my case, these come and go. I may have them for one to several days in a row, then they will be gone for some amount of time. I give them little thought unless they are bad enough to interfere with my daily routine. When this happens I call my Dr.

As for your Dr visit tomorrow, I suggest that you make a list of questions to ask. I make a list because I have learned that there'll be enough discussion in areas that I am not familiar with that trying to comprehend what is being discussed makes me forget many, or all, of my questions.

Good luck and please let us know how things go.

Smitty

Listen to Smitty

by heartu - 2010-03-11 02:03:08

JessiWay,

Got my pm on 2/24 and know what you are talking about. I met with my EP yesterday loaded with questions I had written down. He answered everything I asked and truly allayed any fears that I had.

I have that flutter feeling sometimes. I have taken my bp and hr (I have my own bp monitor) and my hr is great, but the one thing I did notice was my bp was a little lower than usual (I am usually around 115/70).

Remember you are still recovering physically, mentally, and emotionally and it will take some more time.

As for the left arm, don't baby it too much or you will end up with frozen shoulder! That's an order. Watch some comedies,(I like The Bing Bang Theory), laugh, keep your mind occupied on other things or you will drive yourself insane. And if you ever want to talk, send me a message.

Let us know how your check up goes.

You will be fine...

by jm - 2010-03-11 06:03:45

I have experienced some of the same feelings you are describing. I got my pacemaker 01-18-10, and last week I just wasn't feeling right. Heart rate got up to 130 just from walking across the room, missed beats and shortness of breath. Went to the clinic and of course the pacemaker checked out fine. I always get a copy of the interrigation report, and when I got home to compare it to the last one, I noticed that I have had alot of PVC's since the last one which was 1 month earlier. I decided to get off caffiene. Didn't do it cold turkey, but over 5 days. I am MUCH better...I fell it was contributing to my problems...so..if you are on caffiene, you may want to consider going off it and see how you feel. Blessings, Jeane/Texas

Thank you

by JessiWay - 2010-03-12 02:03:41

Thank you all so much for your wisdom & guidance, it is scary...unfamiliar. I will have answers tomorrow & I will let you all know what they say. Again, thank you!

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