Insomnia & Pacemaker

I am having insomnia for almost six years now. I decided last year to have a pacemaker because my heart rate was also low. Nine months after my pacemaker has been inserted, I continue to suffer for my insomnia. I am so worry that my current insomnia will reduce my pacemaker lifetime, as I am always awake, and tired (due to lack of sleep). Please any advice to recomfort me. I exercise every day at least for 45 minutes
Thanks

2 Comments

sleep does not affect pm life

by Tracey_E - 2010-06-28 10:06:08

Insomnia will not affect the life of your pm. It's there working whether you are awake or asleep.

Have you seen a dr about the insomnia to rule out medical causes? I'm a long time insomniac, here are some things that have helped me:
- cut out ALL caffeine. Some people are sensitive to even one cup of coffee early in the day
- calcium deficiency can affect your sleep
- keep a pad of paper by the bed to write down thoughts that keep you awake
- white noise or nature sound cd's
- melatonin. I find it only works for a week or two at a time for me, then it has the opposite effect, but it's good for a few nights
- visualize a black movie screen with gold glittery numbers and count down from 100. I read that somewhere, I swear I did not make it up, lol, but it works
- a new bed. old mattresses can mess up your sleep
- when all else fails, I take benedryl to knock me out and buy a few hours.
- when do you exercise? If I exercise late in the day, it keeps me up so I try to always exercise first thing in the morning

Good luck!

Pacemaker No Affected By Insomnia

by SMITTY - 2010-06-28 11:06:50


Hello Kend,

Your pacemaker is programmed to help your heart maintain a regular rhythm and it doesn't care if you are asleep or awake. As for your insomnia shortening the life of your PM battery, the opposite is more likely to be true. You see a pacemaker has an upper and lower setting. The pacemaker comes on to help when the heart rate drops below that lower setting, which is usually in the 50 to 70 range. When we are asleep our heart rate usually drops to a lower rate and if that rate is below the low set point on the pacemaker then it comes on to bring your heart rate back to that level whether you are asleep or awake.

I have heard talk of some of the newer pacemakers having a sleep mode. I'm not sure just what that is, but if yours is one of those, it still would not be affected by insomnia.

As for what may help with the insomnia, I have no suggestions. I'm one of those people that is asleep in less than two minutes anytime, day or night, I lie down. I hope some of the suggestions Tracey gave will help as I understand that is one very miserable thing to live with.

Good luck,

You know you're wired when...

You name your daughter “Synchronicity”.

Member Quotes

The pacer systems are really very reliable. The main problem is the incompetent programming of them. If yours is working well for you, get on with life and enjoy it. You probably are more at risk of problems with a valve job than the pacer.