Pacemaker Club: Newby to the Club. -- Syncope Episodes and 14 Second Ventrical Standstill while Sleeping

Newby to the Club. -- Syncope Episodes and 14 Second Ventrical Standstill while Sleeping

by ptcflyer
2018-12-12 20:26:55
General Posting
851 views
3 comments

I am new to the Pacemaker world. 52 Year Male.

5 years Ago: -- 1 second feeling -- Syncope -- fell to floor and cracked my head. Lucky, as I just finished climbing 15 feet up on a cargo truck. Rush to hospital with complete cardiac workups and tests without any firm diagnosis. Wore heart montor for 30 days without recording significant event. Experienced signifant anxiety over syncope reoccurrence. (Kind of like PTSD)

1 Month Ago -- Second Syncope event. Very similar experience but was not rushed to hospital. Cardiologist recommended another 30 day heart monitor. This time I got lucky?? Last Friday while in deep sleep, my dream seemed to end. And without provocation I worke up from the deepest sleep with an agonizing swooshing awakening. I thought at that moment... if that wasn't the feeling of waking up from the dead, I do not know what it would feel like. A moment later, the phone rang and the heart monitoring company told me to call the Doctor in the a.m. Initial doctor on weekend call suggested it was just Sleep Apnea and not to worry. On Monday, I got a call from the Cardiologist Nurse to head to the hospital. That Friday night event recorded a 14 second pause in my heart beat. My initial node would ping with no corresponding heart beat. Long story short. 1 day later, I have my new Boston Scientific Pacemaker.

I am conflicted at how I should feel, but I feel mostly blessed. As I beleive I came very close to not waking up last Friday, I now know what is probably causing my Syncope and have a fix installed. It is amazing to wonder why after the 22nd pulse, my heart decided to work again without any external movement or motivation. I am thankful that my heart decided to continue to work. I am thankful that I have a device that will prevent this from happening again. I feel like I have just achieved "extended play" on my favorite video game with a new life and attitude "reboot".

Look forward to learning more about Pace Makers and reading about others' experiences. Curious if anyone else has experienced a Pause in their sleep or experienced similar situation. I am currently pulsing a lot of PVCs.... My next step is a Cardio MRI to see if we can learn more about what is causing my electical blocks.

3 Comments

Welcome to the club

by Shaun - 2018-12-13 04:25:24

Similar thing happened to me, without warning lost consciousness in my sleep. It happened over 12 times during a 24 hour period including 3 times in hospital. Passing out in the sleep is the easy bit, waking up again is the traumatic bit.

The pacemaker fixed the issue immediately, so give yourself time to adjust and trust in the pacemaker to do its job.

welcome

by Tracey_E - 2018-12-13 10:37:10

So glad you got a diagnosis and got it fixed! You absolutely hit the jackpot on the video game of life, cool way of looking at it.

Personally, now that it's fixed I would not bother with any more diagnostic tests. They almost never find a reason for these types of problems, and it's already fixed. People spend a lot of money and stress on tests and rarely learn anything new.

I'm 52 also, but on my 5th pacer so been around this block a few times. Life is good.

Thanks for the reply.

by ptcflyer - 2018-12-13 13:15:46

Shaun and Tracey_E. Thanks for the replies. I appreciate your comments. Could not imagine having to come back and reboot 12 times. You are so right, going down was easy, it was coming back to life that was totally jolting.

Tracey_E... I think you are right... the ANSWER is the Pace Maker under these circumstances. Now what was the QUESTION? Who Cares!

God Bless you both and best wishes to you.