Will PM relieve fatigue, etc? Disability, Midorine

On a recent Tilt Table Test when I fainted, my heart stopped for 17 seconds. The Cardio acted like he didn't want me to leave. He said I will very likely need a pacemaker, but we could try Medication (Midocrine 2.5 mg 2 x time).

Do you feel better after the PM is emplanted? Fatigue is killing me but I have heard the PM helps that tremendously.

Does the Midocrine help anyone?

Can we drive shortly after a PM?

I have read that you may not be able to drive for 6 months after PM implants. I have short term disability, but with Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue, Scoliosis, migraines and the PM I may need to file for permanent disability.

Any suggestions or comments about fatigue or other symptom relief; disability; driving/not driving for 6 mnths; Midodrine?
Thank you!

6 Comments

Will PM relieve fatigue

by chillks - 2008-12-01 04:12:24

Hi! Wish I could say that it does but I still get really tired...however, I also had a bad heart attack with significant heart muscle damage...they tell me the muscle damage coupled with all of the meds, esp. toprol (beta blocker) also adds to the fatigue. I have been on it all about 5 months and must say I am much better. It is just if I totally overdo that I get wiped out.

As for the driving...my cardiologist would not let me drive for three weeks. That was tough but I did it. I hated not being able to go where I wanted! My family all agrees they never want to have to take driving privileges away from me!

I have come to the realization that heart disease is different for all of us...we all react differently to meds, exercise, etc. The most important thing is to listen to your body...and do not overdo it! I was off work for 3 months as a result of the heart attack...did part-time for a month and am now back full time and doing fine! Hopefully, the PM will make you feel much better and you will not have to go on disability! Keep us posted on your progress.

Will A PM Help

by SMITTY - 2008-12-01 05:12:23


Hello Jade,

I'll add a little to what the others have said.

1 - "Do you feel better after the PM is implanted? Fatigue is killing me but I have heard the PM helps that tremendously." Some do and some don't. Many things can enter into the picture, such as why you got the PM, or did you have any complications? As for the fatigue, a lot depends on why you got the PM. If it was for a slow heart rate (say one less than 40 BPM) you could get relief from the fatigue, but that is not a given. If you get one to help stabilize an irregular heart beat, then relief from fatigue can happen but is not likely.

2 - "Does the Midocrine help anyone?" If you mean anyone with a PM, frankly I don't see how it can help, but then I'm not a doctor. However, I do know that this medicine is a vasoconstrictor used to treat dizziness which occurs when standing or sitting up. As a vasoconstrictor it reduces the size of the blood vessels thereby causing and increasing in the blood pressure which in turn keeps a person from having a sudden drop in blood pressure when changing from a sitting to standing position. I was plagued with this problem many years ago and mine was called positional hypotension. In other words when I stood up my blood pressure would drop and I would get dizzy for a few second. My treatment consisted of being told to always stand up slowly so that I wouldn't get dizzy. Then Mother Nature and old age provided a permanent cure.


3 - "Can we drive shortly after a PM?" I got my PM on a Tuesday and drove our car on Thursday albeit over the protests of my wife. However, I felt fine, no pain and very little soreness in the area of the PM. Maybe I add that from what I have seen said by others, I was one of the more fortunate ones, but I never had a minutes problem from the surgery. Of course starting three week late the PM started giving me hell by shocking me and that only took five years to get corrected.

Now, I know I have praised a PM and I have damned a PM in this. But to be as truthful as possible, some people find them to be life savers and some find them to be an instrument of the devil to the point they have them removed. So far as I know there is no way to predict what a person's experience will be. My only advice is that to give yourself the best possible chance of having a PM be a good experience is to be sure your doctor has lots of PM implanting experience.

Goode luck,

Smitty

PM & Midodrine

by scadnama - 2008-12-01 06:12:56

I had a pacemaker implanted a year ago for Neurocardiogenic Syncope and Sick Sinus Syndrome. I had fainting episodes regularly until the pm. After the pm, I continued to have dizzy spells due to my blood pressure. I take 10 mg of Midodrine 3x daily and Florinef to keep my blood pressure stable. The two drugs combined have really helped, but the side effects are not all that pleasant.
As for driving, it really depends on your doctor. I believe that according to some cardiology board, you are not supposed to drive until you are 6 months faint free. If your doctor is sure that the pm is going to cure your fainting, then they will probably allow you to drive shortly after the surgery. I had to wait 2 weeks.

Good Luck,
Amanda <><

Hello

by Angelie - 2008-12-01 10:12:45

I have tried Midodrine for my low blood pressure. It works, I guess, but it's designed to help you retain salt and fluids and I didn't like the extra puffiness I felt.
I'm not much of a pill taker anyways.
The PM-
You will be able to drive about two weeks after your PM implant, or sooner if your doctor allows. My doctor restricted my driving for 2 weeks. I don't know where you heard 6 months, but that's horribly wrong. The longest restriction after pacer implant is not lifting your arm above your heart for 6 weeks. That includes not lifting, pushing, pulling anything over 5 lbs with that arm as well for about 6 weeks. The restriction is in place to allow the lead(s) in your heart time to adhere to your heart tissue wall.
I've only had my pacer for 3 months. I'm 33, and my mother was concerned that I would have to be put on disability because of my pacer implant. I've had to instruct her, as well as many others I know, that pacemaker is quite the opposite of disabling. Pacemakers are implanted to give you more ability rather than disability. I should have been on disability, probably, BEFORE my pacemaker implant, but I've never heard of anyone being on disability strictly because of a pacemaker. Now that doesn't mean that people, including yourself, have other medical issues that warrant disability status.
Since my pacer implant, I've overall been better. I'm still confronted with heart related issues that I don't know where will lead me next, but for the most part things are alright. I know, I've definitely been more active since my pacer implant. Two weeks post implant, I started walking 2-3 miles a day. Now I run, and am signed up for a 3 mile run (5k) this Saturday. My pacemaker definitely has not be disabling, but rather has made me able to do a lot of things I wouldn't have normally been able to do.
I do wish for you improvement in your other ailments.
Best of luck,
Angelie

Fatigue

by janetinak - 2008-12-02 03:12:07

I could not do much of anything without sitting down after (wash my face, rest, walk across room, rest) so I had really had it after 2 yrs of very fast Afib despite meds & cardiversions. So when I woke up after AV node ablation & insertion of a singel lead ventricle PM I almost got up & danced in the aisles. I felt so much more like myself (pre-Afib) that I hardly could believe it. And that has been the same for the last 8 yrs (Oct 2000 was my 1st PM) so I have had a good outcome. Only med still on for the heart is Coumadin as I am still in Afib but paced & basically ignoring it. Also I wasn't told not to drive, so I took a short drive to the bank drive-thru window two days after I got home & then drove 10 miles each way to work a few days after PM in. Sling wearing is annoying but necessary. Good luck.

Janet

depends

by Tracey_E - 2008-12-02 07:12:42

As the others said, how much relief you get from fatigue depends on why you need the pm and your other conditions as well as medications your on. If your fatigue is the side effect of medications, a pm won't help that. If it's to stop the pauses, then you may feel better or you may feel the same.

Driving depends on your doctor. Definitely don't try it as long as you're still on pain meds. Some take them for a week or so, some of us don't take them at all and get by on tylenol. I drove short distances within a few days but my doctor is pretty liberal and didn't give me a lot of restrictions. You will not be allowed to raise your arm above your shoulder so keep in mind that your left arm won't be much use if you have to swerve to avoid an accident situation.

I'm not familiar with midodrine. It may help with the bp drops, but no medication is going to prevent your heart from pausing. You said the cardio acted like he didn't want you to leave- I am surprised he let you! 17 seconds is not insignificant!!! I would seriously consider getting the pm now rather than trying the medication first. Think of it as insurance, when your heart beats too slowly or pauses for too long, you'd have a state of the art computer keeping an eye on things and stepping in to force the beats and keep your rate up.

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