Brain fog, fatigue, dizziness, exercise intolerance, Depression 4 months post PM

Its been a great support reading other peoples experiences post PM. I am 53 years old and had a PM fitted 16th Nov 17. I had a loop recorder fitted in March 17 after experiencing palpitations and fatigue during exercise ( I was a runner) all was good until I woke early one morning with intense headache and vomited. I felt sick all day and literally could not get out of bed, I just slept for 24 hours. The next day I was able to get up but I was very confused and I felt like my brain had been fried!!! I had no heart symptoms at all and was shoocked when the hospital called that morning to say the loop recorder had showed my heart had stopped several times for >6 sec at a time and that I nearly didn't wake up and that they needed to fit a Pacemaker asap -- it was fitted the next day.

I was ok with that and I thought it would fix everything. BUT 4 months post PM I am still fatigued and cannot work full shifts, have brain fog, dizziness, can't do my ususal activities as I am trying to keep my job but if I do too much I crash and have to sleep.I was not like this before this episode.  I also have this wierd thing when my heart rate gets above 80 I get a fullness in my chest and feel like I could be sick. I also feel when I am walking as directed by the cardiologist that my heart rate isnt going high enough and I feel faint and weak. I used to run regularly but that is out of the questoin. I am now seeing a Psychologist for depression as I have become very teary lately and having thoughts that I wish I hadn't woken up.

All my blood test are ok and as yet they don't know why this has happened-- guess I may never know. I have been told to lose weight as I have put on about 4kg since March 17 and then my cardiologist will check my PM settings -- at the moment its set to kick in if my HR drops below 50bpm.

Would love to hear from anyone else who may have had  similiar brain function issues ... starting to be very distressing!!!!

many thanks Nannydeb


6 Comments

Two Separate Issues

by Grateful Heart - 2018-03-10 21:44:34

Losing weight and PM settings.  If your doctor is telling you he will not adjust your PM settings until you lose weight.....find another doctor. 

It sounds like you need a setting adjust or two....very common after a few months of your heart getting used to being paced.  The voltage probably needs to be lowered at this point....for starters.  If your HR isn't increasing with exercise then you need Rate Response turned on.

Don't let them change more than 2 settings at a time, this way if it doesn't help they will know which setting didn't work and they can reset that one and try something else.  It can take a few tries to get the settings right for YOU.  We are all different and require different settings.

Grateful Heart 

Adjusting settings

by Gotrhythm - 2018-03-12 15:33:03

A pacemaker is for more than barely keeping you alive. All other factors being equal, a pacemaker that has been adjusted to the settings that are right for you can restore you feeling good. Tiny changes can make a big difference.

Unfortunately, a lot of cardiologists and pacemaker technicians have little knowledge of the fine points of setting adjustment. They settle for what keeps the patient alive, because they don't know how to help the patient with something as subjective as "feeling good." For instance, at a base setting of 50, like you have, some people will feel fine. But for someone like me, I didn't feel really good until the rate was changed to 70. It's really individual.

I don't get the part about needing to lose weight before your cardiologist will change your settings. It seems absurd to me. Surely losing weight would be easier if you felt like moving. At the very least, you need an explanation of why. 

Sometimes, we expect our doctors to see what's wrong and fix it with no input from us. If we're lucky that works.  But sometimes you have to advocate for yourself. If your cardiologist isn't an electrophysiologist, a cardiologist who specializes in rhythm problems, you might need to find one. They are more knowledgeable about the fine points of pacemaker setting adjustment.

Pacemaker setting and doctor who lustens

by Rosalie - 2018-03-12 18:36:23

thank you.

Rosalie

Brain fog

by Gotrhythm - 2018-03-13 13:00:22

In rereading I saw that I didn't address the brain fog problem. I have a lot of experience with brain fog. Indeed, with hindsight, I believe it was my first symptom that my heart wasn't beating fast enough. I went to the doctor complaining of brain fog, knowing that something was wrong at least 8 years before the bradycardia was discovered. I was diagnosed with depression and  possible early onset non-specific dementia. Seriously.

I know now that brain fog is a common symptom of arrythmia issues, and when you're having arrythmia is a really bad time to have brain fog! You have a bunch of new, complex information about hearts and pacemakers that you're trying to grasp with a brain that seems to absorb next to nothing.  The brain fog makes it next to impossible to communicate what is going on and have a really satisfying Q and A with our doctors. The brain fog adds feeling horribly frustrated to every other problem because you're trying to commincate and you can't.

There are lots of causes of brain fog, which might be why doctors don't seem to find it significant, but one cause is that the brain isn't getting enough oxygen, or a steady enough supply. Finding the right settings for you pacemaker can alleviate brain fog. 

Several adjustments helped somewhat, but my brain fog finally lifted completely when my base rate was raised to what my normal heart rate had always been before the rhythm problems started.

many thanks

by Nanny Deb - 2018-03-14 04:15:42

I will definately push my Cardiologist to get my rates reviewed on my next visit in 3 weeks. I have lost 1 kg so far and I feel no diffferent, I have to say I am well within the BMI normal range and also around a size Australian 10 so I am not a big lady!!!I

Since my early 20s I have actually had periods of brain fog and dizziness  which eventually corrected itself too after a few months -- I guess this may have been issues wth my heart. Six years ago I actually fell flat on my face whist running, the cardiologist thinks that was  probably a syncope.

Thank you for all your supportive comments, I am learning to take things abit easier and not do too much on my good days which is helping.

I still have brain Fog almost 3 years later

by groovytune - 2019-10-04 19:41:28

I have suffered from depression my whole life and I guess you can say a bit of a brain fog. but not like I have had since my symptoms for bradycardia started. I do not feel much better in the aspect that I can concentrate and coordinate things like I use to. I find is hard to even preplan anything, like my brain cannot simply think that far ahead.

Since all of this, I have lacked in physical activity afraid of what it would do to my heart. I get short of breath so easily. I am a former smoker, quit a month after the pacemaker was put in and have been vaping ever since. I felt my lungs get better, but never felt like I can run and breath. Maybe that is vaping I don’t know. But a big possibility. Where vaping is still young, and not enough long-term diagnosis to give.

I get a headache if I think to hard or long, I just do my job at work and my chores at home, anything more and it like I am doing to much and over exerting myself. My doctor put me on Abilify and did seem to help, but didn’t clear my head to the point that I could plan a event or activity. It’s like all the knowledge I had before is locked inside my head and I cannot access it. Like I am brain dead.

I talked to my Cardiologist about it and he said that the bradycardia would not have caused any brain damage, especially since I never fainted or passed out. But I came close, lots of times during the months prior to by knowledge of Bradycardia. Once I was diagnosed, my pacemaker was installed 2 days later.

I do remember in my past, not sure how long ago, that I felt like I could have vertigo, but blew it off as it was not very often that I would get the faint feeling.  Attributed to poor diet and lack of exercise, as prior to my married life I use to work out all of the time, even after having children, visited the gym actively.  But since I was about 36 I quit the gym due to personal reasons.

From 18-20 I drank a lot and did a lot of drugs, while on and off mental health medication for my depression. I feel this could be a contributing factor as to why I developed bradycardia, as no one in my family history, near or distant on either side of the family, have had a pacemaker, let alone heart problems. Maybe Blood pressure issues, but not heart issues.

I quit and got clean in 1995, and never looked back on drugs and started a family in 96. I was living life and very happy for the most part. I struggled with depression and started medication for my bipolar disorder somewhere around 2005. It was not until 9/2019 my fall that broke my foot and required surgery that I started to develop, what I call Brain Fog. I was on and off pain meds during this time, so I attributed it to that. But when I got off the pain meds, and didn’t feel better I started to kinds wonder, but didn’t think about it so much, as I really have just felt brain dead since and just don’t have complete thought processes anymore without complete concentration. It was not until I started doing physical therapy and the cortisone shots for nerve pain that I noticed my low pulse. I scheduled an appointment with my regular doctor and he did a EKG and sent me to a cardiologist and two days later I have a pacemaker.

The only other attributing factor that I can think of for my brain fog is my mental health meds are just not working like the were. I do have made contact with a pharmaceutical doctor that knows about meds of all kinds, as I’d like to try taking a more natural approach to my mental health. 

I am a big believe that god gave us everything we need to cure ourselves of our ailments. A pacemaker not being one of them, but felt I had no other choice. I guess in this case it is God gave the brains to the maker of the pacemaker to be developed. lol

 

So I am curious @Nanny Deb, did you talk to your doctor and what happened?

 

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