now my heart is racing

I had a pacemaker put in Nov 2009. My heart rate was usually around 40. I am 52 year old female. Well now my heart races, and for as long as 5 hours. They now want me to take beta blockers for that. I also have high blood pressure which i never had before. I think the pace maker has caused this. Can it be removed? Or is there something else i can do because i do not like taking drugs.

3 Comments

why

by Tracey_E - 2010-03-07 07:03:09

Did you get your pm because of an av block? Here's my guess what is happening. Your heart was probably always beating too fast but with an av block the atria is beatingbeatingbeating, trying in vain to get your hr up when you need it, but the signal doesn't get through to the ventricles. The ventricles beat when they're in the mood to beat (that's the av block, the signal to the ventricles is blocked) and your heart is out of sync leaving you with a low hr. The pm works by watching when the atria beats. It waits for the ventricles to follow, when they don't it makes a pulse that causes a beat so your heart stays in sync. Being out of sync isn't good, and having a heart rate that's too slow is hard on our organs as well as leaves us tired.

How fast is it racing? Any irregularities or just fast? I was in the same situation last year. My hr gets up around 150 very easily and stays there. The dr wanted to put me on beta blockers to bring the rate down but since I didn't have any arrhythmia or fibrillation and 150 is fast but not dangerous, he let the choice up to me.

I researched all the natural solutions I could find. I started taking fish oil and a calcium/magnesium supplement, both are supposed to be good for arrhythmia. It helped somewhat, I felt good most of the time but still couldn't work out hard so last fall I decided to give the beta blockers a try. I feel it's crucial to stay in shape. I was born with a laundry list of electrical problems, it'd be really stupid to bring on additional problems that could be prevented with a healthy lifestyle. As much as I hate (Hate HATE) the thought of being on a prescription, I started the bb. I'm on the tiniest dose possible and it took two tries before we found one with no side effects. I'm feeling really good now- no racing, great stamina at the gym, lower resting hr.

So, my advice is try everything else first but be open to at least trying a small dose and see how you feel. If you're fibrillating or going dangerously fast, know that the bb is probably not optional. You don't want a stressed heart and fibrillation can cause strokes.

Stress can cause your bp to rise.

Same here

by COBradyBunch - 2010-03-08 09:03:09

My whole life, 115-120 over 80 now doc is talking about putting me on high blood pressure meds. Told him I am going to try and take care of it myself first, through exercise and dropping a few lbs. Also told there could be no connection. Of course I was also told no connection between the heart murmur that popped up after implant which not seems to have gone away on its own but I hear from other pacers that they too had heart murmurs pop up and some didn't go away. I think we all have to keep on our docs and get them to understand these little mechanical devices they put in us may be doing more than just keeping our HR's up or at a more predictable rhythm.

now my heart is racing

by dw406904 - 2010-03-08 12:03:11

I had the same experience w/ high bp, my bp was always in the 110-115/65-75 range and I never had high bp in my life...since the pm implant, bp is consistently high, especially in the morning...cardiologist and cardiac surgeon both said no connection, 2 internists both said the increase in hr (from 32 to 60) would naturally cause an increase in bp and that eventually my body would adjust...hasn't yet and its been since last Labor Day...

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