Sick sinus syndrome

My husband Stu has SSS he received a pacer in Jan 06 for bradycardia and now requires ablation for atrail flutter. He has been expereincing breathlessness and chest pain. The balation is set to take place on Wednesday. Are there others who have had similar expereience. Would love to know if and how they doing.
Regards Donna

3 Comments

Sick sinus syndrome

by Vai - 2007-03-20 05:03:45

I am no doctor and am just sharing experiences and some knowledge acquired along the way. The pacer is never meant to "cure" atrial flutters or fibrillation. It merely helps in managing the bradycardia. Getting the av node ablation isolates the atrial flutters from the ventricles. Once ablated the ventricles are totally dependent on the pacer. The chest pains are another thing. I had persistent AF and pacer implanted to manage bradycardia but never had any chest pains. Whenever it flutters badly, I still get breathless but I no longer get the dizziness, fainting spells and near-blackouts. The flutters and breathlessness has decreased both in intensity and frequency and don't bother me so much nowadays With the ablation and pacer, it is likely the doc may increase the medications to manage the flutters better. One thing though - I am on a strict no smoking, no alcohol and no caffeine diet. No coffee, no wine, no beer, no smoking, no colas, no fizzy drinks, no chocolates. All the best things in life, so they say. It has helped in managing my flutters and fibrillation. My doctor and nutritionist says its a matter of personal choice of life style, and I can consume any of the above in moderation (except no smoking). Sounds like no fun but its a trade-off with the persistent suffering of a bad flutter/fib episode. Good luck.

sss

by toffee - 2007-03-20 10:03:19

I have sss due to surgerys when i was little , had a duel chamber pacemaker put in what a night mare one of the wires have come out and now after two ablations my pacemakers acting up , yeserday i went to my heart hospital for pacing check and they have re programed it from 2.5 volts to 5 , i feel like my head wants to explode and i havnt slept all night i now have to wait three months for a new one the eps are saying that they have made it safe but im not so sure they think there could be a problem with wire at the box can any one help ?

Hi

by PattiAnn237 - 2007-03-29 06:03:24

I have SSS, it was discovered when I was 9. It caused fast slow and irregular heart beats. When I was 11 I had pacemaker inserted for the low beats. For 6 years we tried meds to help with the fast rate. I had an ablation in 1997 that failed. But after the rates got so high that my heart was enlarged, the doc tried again. That was in 1998. Since then I have has no symptoms of the SSS. My pacemaker is barely in use, Im on no meds, have no restriction, and sufferend no long term damage. Theres always a risk it could come back, but i feel very lucky. Good luck!!

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A properly implanted and adjusted pacemaker will not even be noticeable after you get over the surgery.