Loss of consciousness: Pinched Nerve in Back, Migraines, Pacemaker Malfunction?

I have been losing consciousness about once every 4 months for the last year. I thought this would end in August when I had an emergency pacemaker implanted for heart pauses up to 11 seconds long. However, today I passed out again. This was followed by my body getting very warm and than a headache. Later in the day I had significant lower back pain. Then, I had a migraine this evening. I am wondering if something other than bradycardia is responsible for my loss of consciousness episodes--maybe migraines or a pitched nerve in my back. I have had AFIB once as well as a rapid heardbeat that showed up on the heart monitor I had before the pacemaker. Or is the problem more likely to be a bad pacemaker? The device checked out just fine last week.

2 Comments

call your doctor

by Tracey_E - 2018-11-18 08:52:44

Many things can cause us to pass out so it's unlikely to be pacer malfunction. Afib can cause it, sudden racing , drop in blood pressure. Migraines wreak havoc on our brains. One of my daughters has been seeing a neurologist that specializes in migraines and it's been interesting learning all the crazy things that can trigger it.

If they interrogate the pacer, they can tell if it was pacing at the time, it may have possibly recorded if you were racing or in afib. If you have a home monitor, hit the button to initiate a download then call them tomorrow.

Have you ever had a tilt test? Look up NCS, neurocardiogenic syncope (don't trust me on the spelling). It's passing out from a combination of heart pauses and drop in blood pressure. The pacer can only fix the heart rate half of the problem. A tilt test is the way to diagnose. 

Thank you. More info.

by Tumbleweed - 2018-11-18 13:23:25

Since it's the weekend, there's only the PA on call and he cannot access my pacer records, so I have to wait until Monday. I have had a tilt table test and they didn't find any abnormalities. However, after the test, I had my first episode of afib, which was picked up on my pacer record.

Thank you for helping me by responding.

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