Looming questions about my device

Hello .......

by MartyP - 2017-08-24 21:31:06

I'm a newby here only 14 weeks in but in the past few weeks I too have had anxiety, a panic attack and hyperventilate to the point that I went to the ER on Tuesday....

But I'm so sorry to read how you feel.

If you haven't, and I do now, seen a psychiatrist who may be able to help you with the right meds, please find a good one.  They can help.

Also, if you haven't  and I do now, seen a psychologist who may be able help with coping with the feelings, please find one you like.  They can help too.

Please don't give up.... I can feel your pain.... please seek help ......

Oy

by PacemakerGal89 - 2017-08-24 21:37:20

Oh believe me I have actively been seeking out help for 13 years only to be told it's just my anxiety. The closest meds that helped me were effexor but the side effects were absolutely horrendous like yawning all the time and stretched out muscle tickling. Hahaha it sounds weird but it was very unpleasant. I'm seeing a therapist now but I don't know what to do when the panic sets in. What about my alcohol consumption. Should I be worried?

Alcohol is brutal for a compromised heart

by MartyP - 2017-08-24 21:59:08

I've known people who have suffered with that and some have found that Alchohol Anonymous "AA" has helped them.

For one of my friends, he had a gene that pre-disposed him to alcohol addiction...

Maybe they can help you cope with that.

Thinking of you.  Hope you heal soon.

Wow man

by PacemakerGal89 - 2017-08-24 22:15:39

I come onto this forum and all I want is some help but some If you are so unbelievably rude to somebody you've never met before.. like Robin1, I got my first pacemaker when I was 14 so I was in fact a teenager growing into this and it never got better. How dare you speak to me like you're above me because other people have found a way to cope and I haven't. That is so not cool and I actually regret even asking these questions at all thinking that I wouldn't get such negative responses. I thought this website was full of compassionate people and in many cases it is but your response was so uncalled for. Thanks for making me feel a million times worse!!

And one more thing

by PacemakerGal89 - 2017-08-24 22:18:39

If my pacemaker fails I WILL die. Get your facts straight next time.

.

by PacemakerGal89 - 2017-08-24 22:20:13

Thank you to those of you who's comments were sweet and helpful. I hope nobody else gets spoken to like this in the future.

A couple of thoughts

by Grateful Heart - 2017-08-24 23:19:36

You have a lot going on, so I will try and take it a step at a time.

Learning about your condition and device will help with SOME of your problems.  Knowledge is power!  What you are probably feeling when it feels like your heart stops is PVC's...Premature Ventricular Contractions.  You notice the hard beats (like a HARD THUMP)  I feel them all the time.

Many of us are 100% paced, myself included.  Honestly, if I thought my device would just stop and let me die......I would be in a panic like you too!!  That is just not how it works.....I think we'd all be freaking out.

There are many safety measures in the pacemaker and it's settings.  Your device will not just stop on you.  You will have a few months notice before it would need replacing (one of the many reasons for being monitored) and even then your heart would not just stop.  

Many of us need more than 1 adjustment, especially if we are active.  That is very common.  I sometimes feel hard, painful, quick jolts deep inside my heart.  It does feel like a shock but I know it isn't.....and I DO have a defibrillator!   

My best lifelong friend of 50+ years is a recovering alcoholic.  She has been sober for 30+ years and has a beautiful family.  

You don't want to go from one dependency to another with anxiety meds.  It appears you feel you have a drinking problem since you are questioning it and that is good.  Now you need to do something about it.  Talk to a family member or friend.  Find and go to an AA meeting.  They can help you but YOU have to take that first step.  You have to seek and want the help.  There is a very good chance that if you stop drinking it will help with some of the other medical issues you mentioned.  

You can do this.  Dig down deep. 

Grateful Heart       

Thank you Grateful Heart

by PacemakerGal89 - 2017-08-25 02:05:46

That is exactly the response that I needed. Thank you so much for that. I have taken screenshots of your comment so I can read this everyday until the intense fear that my pacemaker will crap out on me no longer is a factor in my brain. Truthfully if my heart did stop it would be a pretty fast death so if anything if that's how I'm meant to go it's far less brutal than anything I imagined. I am going to talk to them about increasing my pacemaker so it doesn't go below 60bpm and hopefully that helps somewhat. I notice when my sinuses are acting up that I get worse heart issues. It could also be because of dehydration; summertime is the worst for heart patients. Autumn is the best. I really appreciate your comment.

Also Robin1

by PacemakerGal89 - 2017-08-25 02:07:16

I didn't see the rest of your comment until now. I think it got cut off but the last of the information you gave me is pretty solid. Thank you for editing that. 

Will your PM suddenly stop?

by donr - 2017-08-28 00:51:07

Probably NOT.  PM's are far more reliable than your native heart was.  At least in the short run - call that 10 years. Your PM contains the same technoplogy as space craft sent to operate under far more horrible conditions than those found inside your body. Like the Mars rover sent there several years ago & it is still operating after all the abuse it took just getting there.  And - yours can be replaced simply!  I have yet to hear of a PM/ICD just quitting on its host w/o giving some warning.  As GH said, there are a myriad of backup systems in your PM just waiting to take over if something goes wrong. 

So, on the technical front, relax - you have a device that "Has your back!".  Further - you have not mentioned if your heart has an "Escape Rhythm."  Every heart is born with one - it's a bit slower than your native rhythm to keep it from interfering with your daily heart functioning.  It comes from somewhere in the Ventricular node area and does NOT necessarily die if you are 100% reliable on your PM.  You did not mentiion that issue, but it may still be there - ask your Cardio if you have one.  It is VERY unusual that a person does not.  If that's the case, (The escape rhythm still exists) were your PM to suddenly go belly up & die, the escape rhythm would kick in & keep you going till you could reach aid.  You'd feel like crap warmed over, but you would be able to reach help.

BTW:  It is NOT unusual at all to fixate on what would happen were your PM to die suddenly. A lot of people have that problem & just do not talk about it.  A bunch of years ago, my #2 daughter was working as an ER Doc & called me over one night to talk to a  new PM Host who came in to see her.  She asked him if he would talk to me, as an experienced PM host.  (Her hospital had ZERO cardiac capabily & the closest was 50 miles away, as was PM support.)  So I sat & talked to the man & his wife.  He was agitated as all get out, so I just chatted w/ him - actually aiming most of it at the wife since he was in no condition to absorb anything.  Finally, it came out in a rapid fire burst "Will I die if my PM suddenly quits?"  This from a man who had nothing more than simple Bradycardia.  This was preying on his mind since the day he got the PM!  His wife attested to it.  So I lapsed into what I know best - the story of PM technology in space & its reliability - I'm an electrical engineer, so can talk about those issues endlessly.  Eventually he calmed down & relaxed - apparently deciding that his PM was now his best buddy!

Let's lapse into something else I know on a deep personal level - PTSD.  Brought it home from Viet Nam in 1968, snuggled away in the bottom of my luggage.  It did not jump up & bite me for several years, but I've been host to it ever since.  MOF, right now I am having a flash back of symptoms ( but not of the causes).  Guess what - they are all exactly the same as heart attack symptoms & many of the symptoms I had leading up to my PM implant.  GH mentioned PVC's - boy, am I ever the king of PVC's.  Stress CAN bring them on, as can a myriad of other events - like stress.  Find yourself a GOOD shrink, most likely in the psychologist class, & give them a memory dump.  Spill your guts.  If most of their sentences don't end in question marks find another one.  PTSD does NOT go away easily, but it can be beaten.  Lessee, now, March 1977- March 2017 is 40 years, now, that I've hosted that 750 lb gorilla.  You are lucky - you at least know what caused yours.  It took me till about 2007 to find that out.

One thing about all your many ills - they feed on one another - so to break the chain, you pick out one or two & get a handle on them.  Pick PTSD & knowledge about your condition.  They are easiest to attack because they are easily understood and can be attacked directly.  Whoops - there's the bottle - throw in AA.  Booze is self medication to escape the PTSD in many cases.  Its treatment complements that for PTSD.  As long as the bottle is your friend & crutch, nothing else will yield.

Good luck

Donr