No Afib Until Pacemaker

How severe was your bradycardia? What was your cardiac history?

It sounds like they may have put in a pacemaker prematurely? I’m obviously not medically trained so it’s purely just my personal thoughts.

The only time I felt any effects from the bradycardia was when I exerted myself when it was 80 degrees or higher outside. I never fainted, but did feel lightheaded. Had a 14 day monitor and it reported that my heart rate dropped as low as 30 when I was sleeping.

As for my history. I have never had a "normal" EKG as I remember the doctor who gave me my first one asking me if I had ever been diagnosed with a heart murmur. The answer to that was no. Since then all of my doctors have said that I had an "abnormal normal" EKG. I have had PVC's for years, but I never had any of the symptoms that accompany that. I had been on Metorprolol a couple of times, but every time my blood pressure would drop so low that the doctor took me off of that med.

My husband is new to Afib, possibly caused by Keytruda immunotherapy.

He was terribly fatigued & weak and had zero appetite prior to ablation (2 afib areas and 2 flutters, and irregular heartbeats). Although he is not yet heartbeat stable, his fatigue was gone and his appetite returned immediately after the procedure!

We could not understand why he felt so much better bc he is still not heartbreak stable during this “blanking period”. After sone research, we see that this is not uncommon.

So based on my husband’s result, I’d recommend ablation.

I wish you the best. Pls let us know how you do.

Definitely sounds like they did the pacemaker too early perhaps. My hr also used to drop to the low 30s when sleeping, and sometimes at rest during the day. My Apple Watch was forever sending me alerts when it dropped below 45 for 10 minutes or more. This was mostly due to the drugs I was on. The weird thing is I’m still on those drugs and now have more added, but I haven’t had brady for a while. Anyway, my doctor said unless I was passing out, it was ok so although I did sometimes get lightheaded or dizzy, I never fainted so I just carried on.

What do you mean by not a normal ekg? Is that Bruce’s of your PVCs. What did they actually diagnose you with?

I was just told that I was having an extra heartbeat about 33% of the time and I was asymptomatic. I wore a Halter monitor several times and had stress tests and echocardiograms on multiple occasions. Nothing else was diagnosed and I was told that my heart was structurally sound. Nobody ever used the term PVC until after the pacemaker.

As for the bradycardia, that had been going on for quite a while. The original reason I saw a cardiologist was that I had an extremely low heart rate in 2006 while in the hospital for gallbladder surgery. The lightheadedness started occurring more frequently about a year ago. In September I attended a football game in 90 degree weather and spent half the game in the first aid center as I almost passed out. My heart rate was 28 and my blood pressure was 90 over something. After being iced down my numbers returned to normal.

Wow, that must have been frightening. The extra beat would have been a PVC I’m guessing. They’re usually referred to as extra beats. Maybe you had a high number of them which also may have contributed to a low hr as they’re really more of a half beat.

My husband has had an ablation for AF and hasn’t had an episode since. That was 2.5 years ago.

I have AF but low rate. I’m also on eliquis. It wouldn’t be causing any fatigue unless you have a bleed somewhere. Your doctor should be doing regular iron tests on you to make sure your iron levels are ok as internal bleeding is often masked and hard to see (such as bowel cancer).

My advice is to stick with the eliquis if you’re having AF as you’re at a much higher risk of a stroke. Because the atria is not pumping properly, blood can pool in the appendage which comes off the atria. When it pools, it clots. Then the clot has a chance of going to the brain causing a stroke. The incidence of strokes which are caused by AF is quite high relatively speaking. Many people don’t know they have AF until the stroke.

My blood is tested regularly. No iron issues.

Thanks for your replies. I am not concerned about staying on Eliquis if I have to, but want to get off the Amnioderone because of the blurred vision. Most important is getting rid of the extreme fatigue so I can get my life back.

I’m with you on the fatigue but I’ve now resigned myself to accepting the fact it is my life. It’s been 6 years now of changing meds and doses and then new issues coming in to play. I miss the old me. I miss playing hockey and being energetic.

I shouldn’t complain - there are so many people in worse positions than me and I’m looking like I will beat the family lifespan with those who have had this condition (it’s genetic). The oldest so far was my mum at 65. Im looking to smash that so I can’t complain!

Please update us on how you go with the ablation. I hope it all goes well.