Post pregnancy with pacing increased

Hi everyone, 

I am currently 5 days post birth of my daughter and am having some issues with my heart rate staying up. I had my pacemaker put in last year on halloween. I have cardio inhibited vasovegal syncope with frequent spells. After implant of  pace maker I have has no episodes and it was pacing 22% of the time. I got pregnant in January and the pacing continued to go down from there with no complications in my heart or pregnancy. Two weeks prior to birth it was pacing 4% of the time. During labor everything was alright and no problems. 

I felt great and was released from the hospital a day earlier then expected and again everything was fine. But over the next few days I started losing my energy, head started to hurt more, light headed and dizzy episodes plus pacemaker was kicking on a lot more. I called device services and was notified that over the past 4 days it is now pacing 47 % of the time l. My question is this; has anyone else experienced giving birth and recovering with a pacemaker? If so was there something you did to help while your levels were returning to normal that helped energy levels and your heart rate stay up? Was there tests you would recommend getting that could point to the cause of the low heart rate after everything was fine throughout the pregnancy? 

3 Comments

my guess

by Tracey_E - 2019-10-16 13:35:52

Vasovagal is part heart rate, part blood pressure. My guess is being pregnant affected your blood pressure and temporarily helped things. 

I pace every beat so didn't notice a difference either when pregnant or postpartum. Staying hydrated is crucial if you are nursing, getting dehydrated can cause dizziness. Tired is the new normal for the next, oh, 18 years or so.  Make sure your doctor knows about the change but I would give it a few weeks before getting too concerned about anything, JMHO. Your body has been through a whole lot of changes, give it some time to settle down then see where you are. 

Congrats on the birth of your baby! 

Big changes around delivery

by crustyg - 2019-10-17 05:35:56

Hi: there are big physiological changes at the end of pregnancy - circulating volume drops a lot (perhaps 1000ml), but I don't think that this would explain your symptoms which sound a lot as though your cardiac output isn't sufficient for your needs.

If it were me I would making a bee-line for my cardiac team for a checkup.  Having a report saying 'PM working well' doesn't begin to reassure me!

I would talk to the doctor too

by PacedNRunning - 2019-10-19 03:29:12

Postpartum your blood volume shifts and less vascular resistance. It could just be temporary as your body adjusts from being pregnant. Less volume circulating. Get your blood levels checked to see if your anemic post part. You could also develop postpartum cardiomyopathy. With your dx, you shouldn't pace much at all. 

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