exhaustion & sleep apnea

I had a medtronic pacemaker installed about 2 years ago for SSS. Within weeks following I felt an increased level of exhaustion. In bringing it up to my doctor he felt it was depression and started me on effexor. That didn't help and the exhaustion continued to the point that I'd become practically dysfunctional in my job...memory loss, lack of concentration, no enthusiasm. I brought myself off the effexor last summer and with continued complaints to the doctor about listlessness, was given a test for sleep apnea. It came back positive. I didn't have this level of exhaustion prior to the pacemaker and am curious if it somehow has exacerbated the exhaustion issue or contributed to bringing about the sleep apnea? There is a distinct negative change in my energy level post-pacemaker. Anyone with similar experience and advice?

5 Comments

no sleep

by Blueaustralia - 2007-12-10 03:12:59

since having a pm in Sept 2004 I found it really hard to sleep. I am tired all the time. My doc said it is my depression but having suffered from that for years I am able to push it away by getting on and doing things. Since my pm there are days when I just have no energy at all and want to sleep all day. My doc has referred to a sleep clinic for testing for sleep apnea. It was interesting to read your comments which gave me comfort. All the best

Exhaustion & Sleep Apnea

by SMITTY - 2007-12-10 05:12:22

Hello,

First, if this is your first visit to the site, welcome. The best place in the world to learn the experiences people have with their pacemakers. Also, it is a good place to get the wild speculations of the likes of yours truly. Read on and you will see what I'm talking about there.

While I do not claim to be an expert on pacemakers, I have spent more time than I should have trying to figure out what all the things can and cannot do since I got mine in 2000. I should make that should or should not do.

Now with that said and with what you people are saying about how you are feeling since you got yours I’m going to throw out some food for thought for you based on my idea that your problem may be due to a low ejection fraction caused by your pacemaker. More on that later, but for right now, we all know a pacemaker is only supposed to help our heart. Unless the heart’s natural pacemaker has been destroyed by Mother Nature, or by some medical procedure known as Cardiac ablation (also known cardiac catheter ablation, radio-frequency ablation, cardiac ablation, or simply ablation - there are others but I don't know their names), then your heart should send out an impulse to make your heart beat.

However these natural impulses sometimes get blocked or they are too weak to make one or more chambers of the heart contract. This is where the pacemaker steps in. It constantly checks for electrical impulses generated by the heart and when it detects one that has been skipped or too weak to cause a contraction the pacemaker will send out a replacement impulse.
To prevent the pacemaker from taking over the function of your heart’s natural impulse system, there is an adjustment in your pacemaker that causes it to wait so many milliseconds to see if the heart will beat without assistance.

In your case I visualize this interval being set incorrectly and the pacemaker is the only thing causing your heart to beat. I’m not saying that is all bad, but if those pacemaker impulses are coming to rapidly then even though your heart rate is whatever the PM is set for it may not be giving your heart’s chambers time to completely fill with blood before causing those chambers to contract. What this does is give you a heart rate that is within the specified limits for you, but the amount of blood being pumped is not what you need.

What I’m really saying is because of an ill-timed pacemaker, you have what many of us know as a low ejection fraction. The only thing is I’m saying your low EF is mechanically induced while ours is due to one or more of the following: abnormally enlarged, thickened or stiffened heart muscle. If my speculation will hold water, your situation can be remedied by fine tuning your PM while those of that have a low EF because of heart disease have to depend on medicines or learn to live at a slower pace.

Either way, a low ejection fraction, regardless of cause, can make a person feel old and tired before their time.

With that I’ll stop and while I may will not have offered you any help, I hope it may give you something you want to discuss with your doctor.

I wish you the best,

Smitty

apnea

by hooimom - 2007-12-10 05:12:55

I just finished a 14 day CardioNet monitor and will get the results on the 26th. If that doesn't show anything one of the tests my EP is suggesting is a sleep study to see if I have sleep apnea. I too am tired all the time and have periods of memory loss as well as other symptoms. I think we get our pacemakers and expect to be totally cured, but that doesn't seem to be the case for many of us. My health is better, don't get me wrong, it just isn't what I hoped it would be.

Michelle

Sleep Apnea

by gsue55 - 2007-12-12 07:12:38

HI Everyone,

This is very interesting as I was diagnosed as having sleep apnea before I ever had the Pm implanted. Right after I got my PM I felt pretty god but now...I am tired all the time and find myself sleeping almost ALL weekend. I am however going back in and having my PM moved to under a muscle as It has been moving and is very painful for me. I just got that worked out with My EP today.

Keep us posted Beaum1 as I would really like to know what your EP has to say about it all.

Gloria

ME Too Fed up and Exhausted

by Shani - 2007-12-14 09:12:48

I have had my PM since 1996 and have not felt quite right since. I have been suffering with bouts of fatigue and need to sleep for days at a time.

I become confused and struggle with my memory and have lost my concentration and now really struggle working. I have gone from having a high powered job that I could cope with to been signed off with depression right now. I am only depressed because of the physical symptoms and I cant seem to get this across to anyone in the medical profession. I keep been told the PM should be stopping the symptoms and that the depression is causing the symptoms.

Being at my wits end I was surfing the net trying to find out more about bradycardia and thankfully came across this site.

I am also concerned about the Medtronic problems I have had leaky leads as my cardiologist put it I wonder How this has impacted on my health??

If anyone else is having any similar issues please reply so I feel like I am not going crazy.

Thank you

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I wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for pacemakers. I've had mine for 35+ years. I was fainting all of the time and had flat-lined also. I feel very blessed to live in this time of technology.