What caused my Sick Sinus Syndrome

I had my PM implanted 4 months ago and am having a hard time accepting it. If I could just figure out what caused me to develope SSS maybe I could relax. I thing perhaps the Toprol XL or the Carvedilol that doctor gave me for high blood pressure the past two years (not at the same time) could have caused the problem. I read that these beta clockers should never be given to a person with sick sinus syndrome. I was feed it like candy. I am afraid to ask my cardiologist because he doesn't like me to ask too many questions. He did say my condition probably started during the past two years. I am 71 and angiogram showed I have no blockages at all in arteries probably due to my not eating any meat for the past 30 years. He was shocked that my arteries were so clean. When I called his attention to the fact that my pulse often dropped to 40 at times he had me wear the Heart Halter for 24 hours and said my heart dropped to 30 at night and I had to have a pacemaker within two days or I could die in my sleep. This was such a shock. I should have had a second opinion but he scared the bejusus out of me so I agreed. I am trying to be thankful that I have a pacemaker to keep me alive but I am not.

5 Comments

explanation

by Tracey_E - 2010-07-12 08:07:26

Here's a great explanation of SSS and what causes it from Mayo
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/sick-sinus-syndrome/DS00930/DSECTION=causes

51 and no known cause either

by COBradyBunch - 2010-07-12 08:07:30

I am 51, have been healthy for a long time, no bp issues (until post pacemaker implant), no cardio issues (pipes are very clean all the tests proved it), nothing that would indicate why I got SSS. Only thing the doc could possibly think of is I had Rheumatic Fever when I was 7, but that doesn't explain why it waited until I was 50 before it showed up.

Anyway, I stopped looking for a reason because it was preventing me from getting on with my life. Who knows why I have it but I do, what I want now is to live my life to the fullest and with my little BoSci buddy I know I won't pass out doing things anymore.

SSS

by Tracey_E - 2010-07-12 08:07:34

I think you should get a second opinion just to give you peace of mind. You need to be able to trust your dr. It's a lot harder to accept something when it happens too quickly to digest.

SSS most often simply comes on with age. I'm not a dr, but here's my guess- odds are you had it, probably mild and therefore undiagnosed, and the toprol made the symptoms worse. Unless you had symptoms and a reason to be on a Holter, there's no reason they would have caught it. A side effect of most blood pressure meds is they slow down your hr. This is dangerous if you already have a condition such as SSS which already gives you a slow hr, it can make a slow hr dangerously slow. The meds don't cause it, they exacerbate it, that's why they have the warnings not to take it with those conditions.

I think telling you you'd die if you didn't get it immediately was a bit of an exaggeration, but it's a cya world and it makes drs wary and overly cautious. If your rate drops to the 30's in your sleep, know that you DID need the pm. Anything under 60 is considered abnormal. In the 50's and even 40's we can get by without the pm sometimes, but the 30's is well below where it's considered optional. I strongly suspect you could have had two or three other opinions and they would have told you you needed the pm asap.

Electrical problems are completely unrelated to blocked arteries. Arteries are plumbing problems; SSS has to do with the wiring within the heart. Electrical problems can happen as a result of illness, occasionally side effects of drugs (usually antibiotics), but usually just come on for no known reason. There's nothing you could have done to prevent it.

I'm glad you found us. Please let us know if you have questions about living with a pm. Don't let it keep you from enjoying life! I'm on my 4th one now and most people don't even know I have it, they sure don't see a sick person when they look at me. I'm active and healthy, I just get a little help from my titanium buddy.

SSS causes / Doctor Queries

by CityslickerFarmhand - 2010-07-12 11:07:34

g-e-e-e-e-e, "afraid to ask my cardiologist because he doesn't like me to ask too many questions" ! It's from YOU he's getting his fees --either directly or through insurance. It's his JOB to answer your questions (or time to change cardiologists). Write your questions ahead of time so you don't takes lots of time hemming & hawwing & thinking. If necessary, GIVE him the written list -- he can answer them or hand to a nurse or assistant for some answers. It's the cardiologists JOB to answer.

I've wondered about MY SSS -- in my mid-30s, "resting heart-rate" was "only" about 57 -- but I walked lots (a nurse asked if I was a runner / jogger). SSS diagnosis came about after mid 50s colonoscopy & panicked that doctor dropping to 48 only under the light anesthesia. Had me see GP next day, where I walked in (feeling just fine) but heartrate of 44.

I've wondered if in my youth (age 9~14) playing with an electrical shocking device might have done it. Merely a 1.5 volt battery, but multiple windings and I'd hold electrodes in EACH hand -- passing that high voltage right through my chest -- just to make arms jerk. What fun! (and what damage?) Just don't know -- Also went through period of sleep apnea (whcih interestingly has disappeared ). AND, could be LOTS of people always have had such conditions--it's just that with modern medicine/science, it's eaiser to find / track/ give a name to things.

Four months IS still "new" in having a pacemaker. It'll become "merely there" -- something still wash gently in the area, but otherwise, "invisible." I DID have to change cardiologists where "new" one finally got settings right --

yeh who knows

by jessie - 2010-07-13 08:07:45

i questioned why for awhile. i too had rheumatic fever as a preschooler. my brother did as well. we both have pacemakers now. he had a lot of heart damage as he was sick at two and i was stronger and i had a murmur but was told nothing to worry about my whole life. i am about the same age as you give or take a few years.i am not going to wonder why anymore and don't care now. it is what it is.i am jsut glad to be here for now. noone has guarantees..hugs jessie and welcome

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Member Quotes

I had a pacemaker when I was 11. I never once thought I wasn't a 'normal kid' nor was I ever treated differently because of it. I could do everything all my friends were doing; I just happened to have a battery attached to my heart to help it work.