Your advice/input please
Just yesterday I was told that I would need pacemaker implant surgery next week. I fainted once last week, was hospitalized overnight, monitored, and observed. I was told all tests were normal. Doc told to wear a loop heart monitor for a month and not drive. Got the monitor the beginning of this week. Three days into wearing it, cardiologist contacted me that it reflected an "event" where my heart stopped for 4 seconds. She said I have "High Grade AV Block". That's the reason I fainted, she explained. She consulted with an electrophysiologist who will do the surgery next week. I am having difficulty wrapping my head around all this that has happened so quickly. I am a bit light-headed and my pulse rate is elevated...I'm so anxious...it's no wonder! I would really welcome some response from those with similar experience/feelings. I feel as though I've very quickly joined the team on the "unhappy bench". Doctor said that finding out what actually caused me to faint is huge. Thanks for your help and thoughts.
Mimi G.
7 Comments
My Heart Block Was 31 Seconds - Yes to the pacemaker !!
by MartyP - 2017-06-30 18:00:28
I'm 5 weeks past surgey and while "things" are different, no more caffeine (it causes my heart to :pound") I am alive and doing fine. My biggest complaint after the surgery was a NASTY stiff neck that lasted for 3 weeks.
It's sort of comforting feeling that little lump on my upper chest, knowing I won't faint and more over wont die from a heart block.
I had no warning whatsoever, just keeled over while at a diner having braekfast.
Just one piece of advice - don't wait for the "scheduled" appointment with the physiologist to have the pacemaker checked; a few days after surgery my heart "ached" so I went to the doc to have it checked and they found it was pacing almost 100% of the time. It was reset to 60 BPM and all is well !!
You will be tired for a while after the surgery, but that happens with ANY surgery.
You are lucky they found it and you now have a friend (I call my "sparky") keeping "pace" with you heart!
Good luck !! BTW, I'm 72 :)
Cover all your bases
by FitMomma - 2017-06-30 19:21:43
just to cover all your bases, are you on any medications and if so, ask your doctor if the meds you are in could be causing the heart block.
i am only 3 months in to having my pm and it turns out the meds I was on caused my low heart rate. Now that I am off those meds my new docs are discussing removing the pm. Just make sure you are covering all your bases. Either way, you will be fine! I am so glad you found the pacemaker club. The people on here are a great source of knowledge and support.
nothing to worry about
by dwelch - 2017-06-30 20:17:15
Yes, make sure it is what they think it is and make sure you trust your doc...After that a pacemaker is no big deal. AV block is pretty straight forward, my story is similar to TraceyE. Been paced since 1987, 30 years, just got pacer number five a couple months ago. Gets easier every time, was ready to drive 48 hours later, took a number of days to where I could sleep on that side for any length of time but that is all normal. You get a few week "vacation" from reality while you adjust to it.
As far as the surprise part of it, I had been watched for several years before we decided on the pacer so I knew it was coming, although this was pre-interenet and I was a teen ager so had nobody to talk to but my doc. And was mostly clueless...am not so anymore....about this topic...
AV block is pretty straight forward with a pacer they use two leads one listens the other drives the ventricals it basically replaces the AV electrical connection you had. as an added bonus the A lead will keep your rate within a limit, and now adays there is lots of monitoring and logging that happens in the device.
Your biggest worry...how soon can I get it...having/living with one is the last thing you need to worry about.
Tons of experience on this site, glad you found it...
New to pm
by TBrous&Chip - 2017-07-01 14:29:15
Be glad the problem was found quickly. It took 6 months of testing for me because results were not definitive.
Life is much better now.
This site is an excellent resource. Good luck.
You know you're wired when...
Your device makes you win at the slot machines.
Member Quotes
Life does not stop with a pacemaker, even though it caught me off guard.
av block
by Tracey_E - 2017-06-30 16:23:52
I'm going to echo your doctor, it's great that they were able to find the cause so quickly. Some people have it so intermittently that it can literally take years to diagnose. In that time, they can do things like fall down stairs and wreck cars. So the good news is you know what it is and the even better news is there is a fix. Try to focus on that, undiagnosed or incurable are much harder to deal with. It's a blow when we find out our hearts aren't what we thought they were and can be hard to wrap our heads around the need to be paced, but really, it's not that big a deal. I've been paced for av block since 1994. I'm healthy and active, there's nothing I want to do that I cannot. There are a lot of us here with av block.
Did they explain what av block is? High grade just means that it happens a lot. Electrical signals are blocked, not arteries, so it's completely unrelated to lifestyle choices and our overall health, and usually our hearts are structurally perfectly normal. Blocks can be all the time or they come and go, it can be all of the signal or some of the signal. It's common to throw around a lot of names for it, depending where the signal breaks down and how often it happens, but it all boils down to the same thing- a signal break down between the atria and the ventricles (av node). St Judes has some terrific animations that explain what av block is and how the pacer fixes it.
https://www.sjm.com/en/patients/arrhythmias/symptoms-causes-diagnosis
If you have questions about the surgery, recovery, or living with a pacer, or if you just want to chat with someone who's been around the block a few times, don't be shy.