Pacemaker fitted after periods of dizziness and blackouts

[Johnw]

Pacemaker fitted after periods of dizziness and blackouts, I have being feeling unwell for the last eight to ten weeks with periods of AF meds increased bisoprosol 5mg and Flecanide to 100 mg this caused more problems and my dose dropped to 2.5 and 50 still haveing problems. Then started to get very dizzy and blood pressure low heart rate sometimes as low 30 to 45 bpm symptoms increased in frequency and then blacked out several times last being at work ( engineer in hospital) cardiology managed to capture event which showed I was haveing extra beats followed by pauses of three to five seconds put on r test over bank holiday weekend which confirmed findings. Booked in for pacemaker and fitted on the 1st September now my heart rate can't drop below 60 bpm still experiencing palpatations but feel a lot better. Found out medics move quite quickly when you start to black out. Drs think I might have sick sinus syndrome.

[jennydog]

I assume that this isn't pace and ablate. Does the pacemaker just kick in when your rate drops to 60?

[Johnw in reply to jennydog]

Yes pacemaker kicks in when heart rate drops below 60 bpm. I have had an ablation last year but palpatations started to again a few months ago.

[jennydog]

Thank you for replying. I was interested because I will have to have a pacemaker if my ablation isn't successful, long term. It's good to know that you're feeling better. Hopefully things will further improve as your body adjusts to the pacemaker.

Very best wishes.

[realdon]

My experience has been very similar to yours. I was experiencing dizziness and had two faints. The 7 day monitor revealed that when I was coming out of an episode of AF my heart was pausing for between 3 and 10 minutes. I got a call on a Friday and a pacemaker was installed on Monday. That was 18 months ago and I have had no faints or dizziness since. I still get fairly frequent episodes of AF and am on 2.5 bisoprol and 200 flecainide per diem, and have just switched from aspirin to rivaroxaban (xarelto). Neither the AF or the medicines give me great trouble yet apart from constipation and a bit of tinnitus. Some of the specialists at the NHS arrythmia clinic I attend think that I will eventually need an ablation (note, not pace and ablate) but I don't relish the procedure unless it becomes really necessary. My BP is now fixed at 60 when before it varied around 50. I don't feel any different with the higher heart rate. One good thing about the pacemaker is that it records the episodes of AF and their duration so that when I have a pacemaker checkup it reveals for how many hours I have been in AF since the last checkup and the maximum duration of a single episode. Apparently, the pacemaker technicians will notify the EPs at the arrythmia clinic if these stats rise above a certain level.

[Buffafly in reply to realdon]

Realdon, did you really mean minutes?

[realdon in reply to Buffafly]

No seconds, silly me.

[Buffafly in reply to realdon]

That's a relief, thought we had a superman or alien in our midst! Shows how much I know doesn't it?

[Buffafly]

I am finding this very interesting as I am soon to see my doctor with similar symptoms, what I have nicknamed the Death March - sudden feeling of fear and very very slow heartbeats mixed with quicker ones and a feeling I might blackout, combined with hot flushing and sweating. I was blaming my high dose of diltiazem, but maybe not? The diltiazem is to prevent tachycardia when I have afib but my heart still goes up to 110 if I try to do anything so I seem to be stuck between too bad results. The heartbeat pauses worry me more than the fast hr.

[BobD Volunteer]

Pacemakers will not stop AF and you will always feel the fibrillation but the instrument keeps your ventricular rate at a pre-set level. I often wonder about way people are put an rate control drugs which then slows their heart too much and are then paced. Why not change the drugs? Strangely I would rather have ablation than a PM.

Bob

[Johnw]

Hi bob

The drug regime has been changed over the past few months yes the higher dose 7. 5 Mg bisoprosol was causing problems but was changed gradually down to 1.25 but issue of dizziness and the blackout didn't stop. The blackouts were very random and I could never predict when it would happen, my anxiety levels were high and perhaps this didn't help. Non the less they verified this by rtest and all off these problems which showed up on the reports. Slow heart rate worst at night used to wake me up which I thought was the onset of palpations but In reality was extra beats followed by pauses. Yes I know the pace maker won't stop the AF but I won't be expeircing blackout which had got to the point of affecting daily life and a danger at work to myself and colleagues. I will say I have been feeling a lot better since pacemaker fitted and strangely have been sleeping a lot better.