Pacemaker recipients: Looking for support from others

Hi @regeanna,

I moved your message to this discussion in the Heart & Blood Health group so that you can meet Connect members who may share similar experiences.

I'd like to introduce you to a few members who've posted about various forms of tachycardia; @jigglejaws94 @vdouglas @lelorrain @jimana @jhoffmanj @nadine66 @martishka @jennybell1 @sotiredofit @topaz do you have any suggestions for @regeanna?

I hope @balubeje @ronbee @marke92 and others in this group will return to share their insights, too.

@regeanna, has your doctor given you an explanation for this occurrence? How often and when do you notice that these bouts occur?

Your heart problems are not insurmountable, however they are a bit complicated. Has your doctor ever spoken about an ablation for the ventricle area? I know Mayo clinic has done research on ventricle problems, i.e. PVCs, and I am positive they have done the same for ventricular tachycardia. I can sum up what I understand about the ventricle area....the left side is the one that sends the blood out to the rest of the body and if it does not fill up enough the blood is being sent out in small amounts. Not sure if that is what is happening...the smaller amounts being sent in your case, but it might be.

I wish you the best and know that tMayo clinic is probably on this problem like they are on PVCs.

I was wondering if anyone has any heart issues such as conduction problems. I had to have a pacemaker for complete heart block and bradycardia , now I am having bouts of ventricular tachycardia. I would appreciate any information . I hope and pray for everyone. BEST WISHES.

Persistance pays...I suppose....I am laughing but not at you I promise just the situation. The Almighty was wanting someone to listen-you think? I wore an event monitor for a month while on a road trip with my dad who I didn't want to know what was happening as there wasn't anything definite yet and I didn't want to spoil his trip. My monitor found long pauses in my heart beat-don't know how frequent they were but 6 second pauses raised eyebrows and more testing and then the PM. I haven't had any events that have concerned me enough to make an ER trip whether that has been good choices on my part or not I can't say. What I have noticed most about having the PM is the sharp definite pain I was feeling is almost non existent. No where near persistent and they don't think it is heart related but then there are doc's who think teething has nothing to do with changes in diapers and I say hog wash to that. I firmly believe it was a related issue. Each day God gives me I will take and am thankful and when he decides to change my address permanently I'm not going to say no. I might ask for a continuance but he is the grand master planner.

I was on some medicine that was supposed to keep my heart on a regular heart beat, but was in the hospital to change my medicine and when it didn't work the way doc wanted it to he said the only thing left was a pacemaker. I've not had any problems with it at all. So see the doc in couple weeks and maybe/will see what happens. (shortshot80)

I'm sure the pacemaker is working, but when it does happen it really gets my attention, and I feel it in my chest. I won't see my cardiologist until next Friday.

When I first started having heart problems, I wore a 30 day holter monitor. Did not have one issue at all during that time. About three week later, same thing happened and I saw my regular Dr who said I had a very low heartrate. Back to the cardiologist, then a 2 week hotter monitor. The day after that test ended, I was at the emergency room for my heart. Go figure.

To hear your description I think I would have to say I do. Not all the time but when it occurs I'm thinking you can cut that out anytime now and I may not experience it for eons and then other times it seems to last for eons. I feel like my PM and heart beat cause a traffic jam.

It comforts me to know that your PM has served you well for 10 years. You have 20 years on me and there are times I dread the thought of replacing the battery and being under restrictions once again. Just a little whine there. I am coming on two years with mine. I am encouraged with the different articles that have caught my eye about pacemakers. I am very thankful having a PM was an option. Happy belated birthday. Thank you for making a difference.

Of course each or our cases is a little different, but I thought for years my heart was skipping beats. I learned later that what was happening was actually a premature beat - either a premature atrial contraction (PAC) or a premature ventricular contraction (PVC). Seeing them on an EKG strip plainly showed that. After the premature (early) beat, the time to the next beat is often a little longer, making it seem like a skipped beat, but the number of beats was the same, at least in my case. Even with a pacemaker I will occasionally have them although there may not be as many or they are harder to detect.

@shortshot80

I hope and pray that everything works out the best for you. I hope that I'll be still talking with you on here for many years to come. Life is so precious, and sometimes we just take it for granted! I know I have.

Before I went through all of this, I never really gave it much of a thought. Figured I would live to be an old man, much older than I am now. Both of my parents lived to be close to 90.

Today was the best day I've had in the last two months! I am still sore from having surgery twice in exactly the same place within 16 days, but I can finally tell that I'm feeling bette.

I do have a question for everyone, "how many of you have had skipped heart beats with your pacemaker".

My heart will be beating fine, then just skip a beat, and when it happens I get a pain in the center of my chest. It's happened a few days, and it domething to get use to.