Still feeling Sinus Node Pauses

No matter what you call it, you feel it

by Gotrhythm - 2021-12-30 16:26:19

I have no doubt that you do feel your heart doing bumpity, pause-like feelings. 

I believe that because you can feel those feelings, you fear your pacemaker is not reponding properly.

Whether those feelings really are "sinus pauses" is another question. they could be something else. Speaking as someone who has been diagnosed with several different arrythmias, I can tell you that they cannot be diagnosed by how they feel alone. After all, they are all occuring in the same heart so it's not surprising that they can have some of the same symptoms. They can only be definitively diagnosed by EKG--loop recorder, Holter monitor, or, if they are very frequent, doctor's office.

That said, you should be able to live with confidence that your pacemaker will work the way it's supposed to. The problem needs to be identified and it's possible some adjustments to your pacemaker can help you feel more comfortable.

In my experience good pacemaker techs are often more useful than doctors in helping you to correlate what you feel with what the EKG tracing reports. They are more willing to take time to answer questions and listen when you tell them what you feel when they do this or that adjustment. It was a revelation to me the first time a tech let me watch the screen as he identified certain tracings so that I could see what I was feeling.

Pauses - I know them well

by Gemita - 2022-01-01 06:27:11

Michael, as Gotrhythm says, “you feel what you feel”.  I certainly feel the pausing too but I cannot always say with certainty where it is coming from, ?upper, lower chambers of my heart, gastric, diaphragm area?  I have a lot of referred sensations and whether this is being triggered by pacing or by my many arrhythmias is still a work in progress for me!   When my arrhythmias start, my chest sensations feel truly chaotic so it would be impossible for me to accurately describe what I feel, or to tell you from where my symptoms originate.  

The pausing for me is most definitely a part of my arrhythmia routine which unfortunately cannot be controlled by my pacemaker.  However I do feel my pacemaker kick in as “mode switching” occurs to prevent tracking of my fast atrial fibrillation, returning the mode to my former setting at the cessation of the episode.  I can feel this happen and also experience a worsening of my rhythm disturbances for a time.  You are learning fast Michael and trying to understand what is set up in your pacemaker settings by “observing how you feel”.  Sounds like an excellent plan.  You are really getting to the heart of the matter.  I would diary your symptoms, so that your technicians may identify any potential areas for settings adjustments.

I had the benefit of a Reveal Linq loop implant monitor for 3+ years with good symptom/arrhythmia correlation.  I feel I have got to know my rhythm disturbances well.  Indeed my doctors are surprised that I can pinpoint with some accuracy what my heart is doing during a symptomatic event.  Even short in and out runs of arrhythmia are felt and I will know immediately when my heart returns to blissful normal sinus rhythm.  

I wish both you and Gotrhythm a very happy New Year and hope that our rhythm disturbances, either pacemaker or arrhythmia related can be tamed in 2022

Sinus pauses

by AgentX86 - 2022-01-01 16:13:35

I didn't know if I was going to post this because your mind is already made up but facts are facts, and not on your side.

You're undoubtadly feeling something but they are not sinus pauses. Your pacemaker wouldn't allow them (its whole purpose).  There are may sorts of arrhythmias that may feel like skipped beats or perhaps a string of skipped beats, but with a pacemaker a "pause" isn't one of them.  Your pacemaker wouldn't let that happen and if it did, somehow, it would be reported in its log, clearly visible to your doctors.  Would be reported much as you loop recorder did.

100% paced feeling

by Stache - 2022-01-01 23:06:42

I am 100% paced, when it was first implanted I felt every heartbeat shock. for the first few months.  Now my body is used to it, but when I am still or just laying in bed I can still feel them, they are real and not made up.

Since I am 100% paced and know the feeling I can't imagine what it would be like to have the pacer turn on and off and feel it.  For someone who has no life experience as we have been implanted, they have no idea what we feel with our pacers or can I explain the feeling to someone.

A few months back in the hospital my pacer was disconnected and a temp pacer connected.  My heart will totally stop if not paced and it is the strangest feeling when I am turned off and hurt when turned back on.  Hang in there brother this is real.

100% paced

by AgentX86 - 2022-01-02 01:12:20

Many of us here are 100% paced.  I'm dependent on my pacemaker.  No pacemaker, no heartbeats.  There is no excape rhythm.  I had pauses as well, which is the reason I have a pacemaker and without it now, the pause may be forever. But the pacemaker resolves this problem.  That's it's job, its only job really. I did have bigeminal PVCs shortly after my PM implant but they are not pauses.

I'm sure you're feeling something but it is not a sinus pause. I could be a number of arrythmias, many won't be picked up in a pacemaker's record. PVC, for instance, can be ugly and may feel like a pause because a beat, or two feels like it's lost.  It's not but it can feel that way and unless you have a long string of them and your pacemaker is programmed to record them, there won't be a record of them.  There are a number of other completly benign arrhythmias that could be taken for a pause but they are not.  Your pacemaker guarantees that.  That's its job.