DX of Brady - now having extreme Tachy?

Hi there-

I searched around the site a bit for an answer to this but I have been having some problems with my pm... I had my pm put in October 2010 for brady and irregular heart beats. I went in today and there are several alerts for my heart going up to 205 bpm - for no apparent reason. This explains my recent dizziness and palpitations (and anxiety as I had recently posted). I am getting a holter put on next week but thought I'd see if anyone has heard of this since I am feeling nervous about it... Has anyone experienced this? Could this be more harmful if I run (cardio)?

Thank you so much!

4 Comments

Thank you!

by mermaidonfoot - 2011-03-18 03:03:19

Thanks cabg patch - I will be getting a monitor on Monday but this helps with my anxiety over the weekend. The St. Jude technician said that I have no tachy pace (?) - that if my heart starts going fast, my pm just sits back and records so I guess I am just being paced for brady (which is at 50%). I will try to post a follow up once I get some answers incase someone has similar worries.

Miranda - i would follow up with your cardio to be on the safe side. I bet you just need your settings tweaked since you have only had it for 6 weeks. I am an active person and it took a couple times for my pm to work with my lifestyle... and it definitely takes awhile to get used to the feeling... (obviously I still am sorting this all out!!!) but definitely go in to make sure your leads are ok...

yep

by sugar - 2011-03-18 08:03:41

It takes some of us a long time to adjust to this pm. The pm brings your beat to a normal rate and the A-fib rapid beat for me is controlled with Inderol. It took my body at least 10 months after being in for me to say I am adjusting to it and accepting it. I knew since 1995 that I would need one and I was fortunate to be able to hang in there till 2009 (ablation in 1995) and now I am okay with this and I am fixed emotionally to this thing - the awareness in my body seems extreme. I am very sensative physically and mentally - not always a good thing.
Be well and make sure your heart dr. knows and also your GP - maybe together they can come up with a solution.
Sugar

Don't trust the pacer report

by golden_snitch - 2011-03-19 04:03:45

Hi!

I would never trust the pacer report alone, if often records artefacts, so wait for the holter monitor and for what it shows. Did you write it down when you had palpitations and dizzeness? That would be important, too, so that one can correlate what the pacer reports with how you have been feeling. And then, when you feel palpitations and dizzyness again, try to take your pulse. If it should really go as high as 200 bpm, you should be able to feel that (or feel almost no pulse because it's so fast).

Normal pacers don't have anti-tachycardia-stimulation, only defibrillators have (Patch has a defi). Some pacers have something like "overdrive" stimulation which means when there is a tachycardia, the pacer can try to pace at a faster rate than that of the tachycardia, and then slow down. Doesn't always work, sometimes the tachycardia is just too "strong", and at least in my pacer this overdrive function won't go above 200bpm so if the tachycardia is faster, it can't overdrive it. Also, when I had this feature activated, my pacer did lots of overdrive pacing, basically whenever I had an own rhythm. Not good.

Best wishes
Inga

thank you!

by mermaidonfoot - 2011-03-19 08:03:10

I really appreciate all of the comments. It is a source of major anxiety right now. I have been feeling my heart skip beats or flutter like butterfly wings so often on top of the tachy and it just scares me. I am hoping this is just my pacemaker working but it doesnt feel good and it seems to be happening so much lately. It really helps to read your responses. I hope something more conclusive or reassuring comes from the monitor next week. I would like to be reassured that this device cant cause damage... that it is only there to help me... but it doesn't feel like that - it feels all wrong. I just wish I knew what means what.

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