New to the club

it's possible :)

by Tracey_E - 2017-11-08 22:28:01

Cut yourself some slack, you've had a hell of a week and it's perfectly NORMAL to feel blindsided and afraid. Most of us find that as we heal and get back to normal activities, as we continue to feel good and be without symptoms, that it gets easier and easier to trust the pacer, and yes, to eventually forget about it most of the time. I rarely give mine a thought now, other than to be grateful it's there and enables me to have a healthy, active life. 

Heart block is an electrical short circuit. It often happens in otherwise perfectly normal, ,healthy hearts, young and healthy patients. For some reason, the electrical system broke down. Most of us don't have other health problems, so you can expect this to be isolated. We get it fixed and go on with our  lives. It's not the beginning of the end, it's not the start of a lifetime of limitations. 

It's normal to be afraid of passing out again. That's emotions. Intellectually, remind yourself that you have a high tech computer now that will step in every single time your heart goes a second without a beat. It will take time to believe it, but you can trust it. 

If you have a history of anxiety and it's already that much worse, it may be worth having a talk with a professional to get some tools for coping. Nip it in the bud before it can snowball. 

Above all, keep telling yourself that it will get better. I've been around here a long time, been paced even longer. I know it may seem hard to believe now but it really will get better. 

Safety

by Selwyn - 2017-11-09 06:48:02

Welcome to the club. The larger the terror, the longer it takes to get back to normal. Be reassured- that is why you have a pacemaker- to make sure the same thing doesn't happen again!  

  There is some safety in numbers. There must be hundreds and thousands of us with the same past of our hearts stopping and then having a pacemaker inserted.

 It is nice to know that you can be trusted to drive your automobiles with a pacemaker,  and do just about anything without the same blackout experience from happening. 

Everyone after a pacemaker insertion has increased awareness of their heart, pulse, and pacemaker site. There is always a time of anxiety. Can life get back to normal?  In fact, the majority of us forget about having a little box in us and have a normal life, and life span. You will find some folk have had pacemakers since they were babies, and are now adults. The technology is improving all the time.  

After all the worry, give yourself chance to get your body back in balance. You will feel tired once the stress hormones/chemicals diminish. That is normal.

It is reassuring that many of us are doing sports ( trying using the upper right search facility on this site), and are of all ages. Some even skydive. 

This club itself is huge. The number of people in the world with pacemakers is even greater. ( in the UK about 600 new pacemakers per milliion of the population are fitted per year). It makes us part of an even larger select club. 

Welcome.

Selwyn

It takes a while but you can get there.

by Theknotguy - 2017-11-11 18:45:43

It's really hard to recover from passing out and having a heart rate of 19.  Fortunately it sounds like they didn't give you CPR and break ribs.  Not fun.

My experience was similar to yours.  I was out with the dogs in a park on the pet trail.  Passed out on the trail with only the dogs to help.  Dakota, the bigger female stuck her nose under my arm and tried to lift me.  (Took me a year to get that memory back.) She couldn't do it.  Fortunately there was another hiker on the trail about 100 yards back who was able to call the EMT's and the park rangers.  Woke up six days later in the hospital.  

First, cut yourself some slack.  You've been through a major trauma with life altering events.  Your life, as you knew it, has changed.  Your mind hasn't  had a chance to come to terms with what is going on.  How long it will take to get back to "normal" depends upon a lot of things.  But it can be done.  

Did it take me a long time to get my mind wrapped around the new reality, yep, sure did.  I think it was 9 months before I got out of the car and walked across the parking lot without thinking about my pacemaker.  Due to the broken ribs it was 2 years before I physically got back to "normal". I can't tell you how many times I'd have a twinge and think, "It's the big one!"  But it wasn't.  I think after the first year I finally figured out the  pacemaker was going to do its job and I didn't need to worry.  As I said before, it takes a while for things to get back to normal but it can be done.  

I read somewhere that people with pacemakers get depression.  So I found a local psychologist and we had sessions lasting over several months.  Helped me put things in perspective.  Helped me get over the anxiety and move on with my life.   I also had a supportive family, a supportive religious organization, an outside non-religious, non-family support group, and the Pacemaker Club.  All helped.  I would suggest you find the same kind of help.  It also helps if you say to yourself, "I'll only concentrate in getting through just this day and worry about the rest later."

I made two marks on the calendar.  First was one year after my pacemaker implant.  Second was two years after my pacemaker implant.  If things didn't go right or I had a setback, I'd look at the calendar and say, "It hasn't been a year yet."  After the first year I was about 90%.  For the second year if things didn't go right or I had a setback, I'd look at the calendar and say,"It hasn't been two years yet." The number of times I looked at the calendar the second year was a lot less than the first.  Your body heals at its own rate and you can't look at a calendar and think you should be 100%.  Doesn't work that way.  

Can you have a pity party?  Yep, sure can.  After the five or ten minutes of the pity party you can stop sniffling and get on with your life.  Do you have to  like the situation, no you don't.  But life with a pacemaker is a lot better than being dead.  

I just passed four years with my pacemaker.  Learned as much as I could about it, but I have a technical background and like learning that kind of stuff.   Life is good and I rarely think about my pacemaker.  In fact I can do more now with my pacemaker than I could before I had it because I have a good heartbeat now.  

Hope you can get some help and can start getting rid of your anxiety.  There's a lot of living to do.

Passing out

by Lilleah217 - 2017-11-16 21:40:22

I’m so sorry you went through that! It is very scary and there is nothing wrong with you .  

After my worst episode ever a few months ago I’m extremely terrified and fearing it will happen again . I have a lot of anxiety I try to deal with alone .