what does it mean?

ive had a pm 2wire fitted for 2yrs and just had my pm check up at a differant hospital than usual.
when the technicians were taking the information from the pm, they said ive had 3 heart ocurrances this year 2 in march and one in april (the latter lasted 16 hrs), but not to be concerned because its nothing to worry about unless i start to get them regular then i may need some treatment.

The problem is i cannot recall having them

note - i have tyhroid problems as well

3 Comments

PM Check

by BABlocker - 2008-05-16 05:05:57

Paul,
It's quite possible that you may not have felt the episodes, as you may have had "silent" atrial fibrillation, atrial flutter, ventricular tachycardia.

If the next check shows an increase in episodes, your doctor may discuss medications that can help prevent the arrythmias, or offer other alternatives for intervention.

Also, if the episodes increase, you may need to be on a blood thinner to safeguard against developing blood clots, a common treatment when someone is having more frequent episodes and they have risk factors for developing a stroke (high blood pressure, diabetes, over 65, previous stroke or TIA). Only your doctor would be able to discuss this with you and in fact, calling him and requesting to see or speak to him might be good for you, so that you can feel assured that you are safe. That of course is your call.

This information is shared with the intent of helping to provide information and is no way intended to alarm you, just inform you. Knowledge is power...

By the way, I have been in treatment for such arrythmias for the past 3 1/2 years, and it is my PM interrogation that is proof and a guide for the EP in determining what the next intervention will be.

unaware if episodes

by aldeer - 2008-05-16 06:05:37

When i recently had my pm check, it showed three episodes of ventricular high rates. My EP and cardiologist both think it may be ventricular tachycardia and are running both the echocardiogram and Myosight Persantine tests to check for the cause. They occurred briefly at a time that I would normally be resting after lunch and I was completely unaware. So now it is a wait and see for the test results. I, also, have Afib all the time but rarely feel it because of my pacemaker. I have been taken off Coumadin because of past subdural hemotomas. We can be so thankful for this new technology of our little pm recording what we cannot even feel! ...wishing you lots of luck aldeer

Episodes

by richan - 2008-05-17 05:05:54

Hi Paul,

I have had my Guidant PM since March 2005. So far, I have had only one "event" recorded in my PM - back in summer of 2006. It was a 6 second burst of A-fib.

My cardio put me on anticoagulant therapy (Coumadin) since they found out I had A-fib (Nov 04). I'm still taking Coumadin and am on a regulating med.

I don't remember "feeling" the "event". I did not know I had A-fib in the first place. It was discovered because I was going to have shoulder surgery. If you are over 40 they won't touch you until they do an EKG. The anesthesiologist told me that they would not do the shoulder surgery because I had A-fib.

Anyhow, these little gizmos keep us in the world of the living.

I hope things go well with/for you. Please keep us posted.

Richan

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