Pacemaker

I had my Pacemaker installed in Feb 17' regular check up every 6 months. Unit has been working flawlessly. I live in the Philippines and have a good cardiologist in Manila. Today I received a reality slap I will never forget: I was driving my stepson to school this morning, with my wife & Mother in law in the car.... suddenly I started geting dizzy, a sensation I feel is normal given the Xeralto, Lasinipril, carvidol, etc I am on. Dizzy turned  intense, I felt blood loss to brain,I cried  out: I'm passing out and I feel unconscious within 1 second. I didnt have time to pull over. I slumped over in seat and pulled the wheel hard to right. My 17 year old son tried to pull the e-brake and get control from the back seat,but it all happened so fast.  I hit a man on a motor scooter with his 14 year old daughter. I destroyed our car, lightly fractured her leg. I regained consciousness 5 seconds later. I woke up and quickly realized everything had changed. I couldn't  understand why the front tire was flat or where the rear view mirror was, or why my wife was hysterical crying:  wake up, wake up, then stay with me honey stay with me, I asked what happened?  Dozens of unemployed  Philippine people were pointing at my car and running over. I asked if I hit anyone and was told I did. At a youthful 69 I now will never dare drive again, I had no driving  restrictions but get nauscious at the thought..... what if I had been on the interstate? I do not believe my defrbrillator fired, I will have to make my way back to Manila to find out. Has anyone else passed out suddenly and with no indication anything was wrong. I am 100% depedent on battery operation, so heart stoppage only happens if the unit shuts down.... I have an Abbott Labs unit. Any feedback is welcome

 

1 Comments

Not really true

by AgentX86 - 2020-01-13 23:14:39

You may have had an arrhythmia that caused your loss of consiouness.  A PM can't do a thing for most arrhythmias.  That's only one possibility. 

I'm PM dependent also (100% paced is not the same thin), so it paces every beat in both ventricles.  Nothing wrong with the pacemaker or my heart but I felt lightheaded, turned around to tell my wife and down I went.  Not the heart at all (we don't think), rather a seizure.  No clue what caused the seizure but I've been getting a cluster of these lightheaded spells once  a month for a couple of years but no one seemed interested. Fortunately, we were eating lunch at a restaurant, not driving.  I still can't drive for six months (three to go).

The bottom line is that there are many reasons behind syncope episodes.  The heart pausing is just one.

 

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