Polio

I had my pacemaker put in about 8 months ago and very happy with it. My query is I was wondering if anyone has heard of a connection between having had polio and arythmia.  I had non paralytic polio as child which has left me with muscle fatigue. 

2 Comments

Polio

by The real Patch - 2018-03-12 13:40:44

Arrhythmias are an electrical problem of the heart. Polio is a viral infection. There is no correlation

Who knows?

by Gotrhythm - 2018-03-12 14:38:16

TR Patch left out a step. Viruses can damage nerves and nerves transmit electrical signals. 

Viral infections, like polio, Epstien Barre, and herpes, but also common flu, can cause nerve damage. What kind of effect we see depends on which nerves were effected and how widespread the damage is. Lots of times the nerve damage is subtle and heals spontaneously, and we don't notice it or connect it to the viral infection we had. But sometimes the damage is severe as we see in polio, and encephalitis.

Could polio damage nerve pathways in the heart? Maybe. But so could dozens of other infections you've had over a lifetime. 

Sometimes the origen of electrical problemis obvious--like damage from a heart attack, but exactly why we wind up needing a pacemaker is often impossible to say. Which can be really frustrating.

Glad to know you are happy with your pacemaker. That's what really matters.

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