72 hours into being paced

Hello everyone. I am Susan and have been through an interesting few days. Shortly before Christmas I went to the ER with what I was 99.9% sure was peri menopausal heart palpitations. Was sent home with a pat on the head being told all was OK. Celebrated the holiday with family, returned to work and worked out on my treadmill all without incident. At 4:15am on Dec 30 I awoke with shortness of breath and dizziness. I went to the restroom and when I rose from the toilet got so dizzy I hit the floor. Tool my BP while my husband dressed to take me to the ER ( 3 miles away) it was 163/97 which was alarming enough, but my BP monitor also detected an irregular heartbeat. At the ER my EKG was normal and they were making motions to send me home again when I began to feel funny again....I turned to watch my heart rate drop from 95 to 54 bpm in less than 4 seconds. I was admitted to hospital, given a stress test which was stopped after less than two minutes and the Dr. explained my heart block. I was moved to another hospital by ambulance, had a heart cath and ultrasound of my carotids and given a pacemaker on Jan 2. I am home now, but know I am going to have LOTS of questions!!!! So glad I found you!!!!

8 Comments

welcome

by rwagenblatt - 2013-01-05 04:01:44

My story is scary similar to yours and I know alot of what you've been thru. I've been a member for 8 months and found that I wasn't the only one to have the feelings and experiences I was having. We'll be here for you...don't hesitate to ask.
Rick

Welcome Susan

by skyepacer - 2013-01-05 04:01:58

You will find this site an amazing resource. I have had my PM for 6 months and read stories everyday that help me. Just knowing there are so many others living with devices has been assuaged so many of my fears. Loads of support available on so many levels. Best wishes to you.

Great people

by timyanb - 2013-01-05 06:01:26

I just found this site about a week ago, and have really enjoyed finding out that I am not alone in this ongoing battle with my heart problems. It makes you realize that other people are going through lots of things just like I have. I have learned a lot reading their posts, and was amazed when I got 9 responses to my post. Welcome to the club, these are great prople.

Tim

im glade your feeling better now

by my4turtles - 2013-01-06 01:01:34

wow you had a fun couple days there...But im glade the hospital found the problem before they sent you home again.. Your find a thew people on here like you. in 37 with a pm and have had problems since early 20"s it just took Dr's that long to figure it out for me and finally a DR to believe there was something wrong and to test me. Your start to fill better with every day

Wonder why around xmas

by ElectricFrank - 2013-01-06 02:01:12

I had a similar experience in 2004. After a great Christmas dinner and later in the evening I started feeling lousy. Like you I grabbed my trusty BP machine. BP wasn't all that bad, but my HR was 40. What was more disturbing is that I jumped up and down enough to increase my breathing, but my HR was still 40. Hmm, not right.

My wife drove me down to ER (about 4 miles in our small town) but they were full of people with vomiting kids with the flu. I quickly decided I wasn't interested in have both a heart problem and the flu so we came home. I set a timer to wake me up hourly and went to bed. During the night it went down to around 35, but I still was functional. Next day I saw my GP and then cardiologist. It was an AV block and he managed to get the Medtronics rep to bring a pacemaker to the local hospital for me. By the time we got it in my HR was down to 26.

Like magic I was home the next day and walking several miles with a normal HR. Been doing it every since. By the way I'm coming up on 83 yrs.

So welcome and enjoy your little friend,
frank

electricfrank

by my4turtles - 2013-01-06 05:01:59

That is a amazing story and keep up with the walking heck your doing better than me and im 37 haha...

7 day postop

by Surf123 - 2013-01-11 08:01:03


Hi Susan,

My name is Donna and I am also 37 yrs old. What I thought was just dehydration and near syncopal episode in the emergency room while working, turned out to be Complete heart block 30-40, and congenital heart disease (congenital corrected transposition of great vessels). i was eight days into the flu. My heart rate was always low 40-50 and Sbp always 90's which ultimately has saved me from getting a pacemaker sooner. So now I have a dual chamber pacemaker and look forward to tricuspid valve replacement in the future due to heart disease (hopefully 30-40 yrs from now). I am so glad that I found this site, it has truly helped me in this early postop stage.

Donna

sounds about right

by sicksinuslady - 2013-01-11 08:01:52

I don't know why providers are so set on telling anyone under 80 that they're too young or just plain dismiss symptoms that are cardiac in nature. At the very least, you should at least have been sent home with a holter monitor or observed overnight on a heart monitor. My BP used to do the same thing. It would feel like my neck was going to explode and I would get dizzy and short of breath. But, it never showed on the monitor, so for years, I just dealt with it. Even started on anti-anxiety meds after they convinced me I was just nuts. It took me years to get to the bottom of it all. I'm glad you were persistent and got your pacer. Unfortunately, most doctors make you PROVE your problem instead of believing us and helping us find the problem.

You know you're wired when...

Your favorite poem is “Ode to a Cardiac Node”.

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