Hi everyone. Today I felt what can only be described as a pause in the heart, which I don't really feel often, but have noticed it in the past. Does anyone else experience pauses in the heart beat, and have any of your specialists' suggested a reason for them? I'm due to see my specialist in mid-July (already been waiting 6 weeks).
Best, Micwal.
Hi - I would suggest you need to see your GP as soon as possible, especially if you have any symptoms such as a sense of things blacking, dizziness or fainting. Hubbie was diagnosed with sick sinus syndrome, heart paused for up to 9 seconds causing above symptoms, after holter ECG for 7 days.
The heart can pause and this happened to my husband, who has experienced very occasional AF. He was treated by inserting pacemaker - no further difficulties and it helped the AF, episodes and intensity decreased.
He is 82, extremely fit and still playing 18 holes of golf. Pacemaker was fitted 2 years ago.
cdreamer is right ,m at the stage when I take my blood pressure I hear the pulse tone missing it goes for four beats then misses three goes ten misses four. they say I have paroxysimal atrial fibrillation ,go and see your doctor and get the ball rolling good luck
SSS is not AF and carries higher risks. AF is an irregular beat so it may go 1.2.3....4 beats but the heart does not pause. In SSS the heart does pause, sometimes for 3-4 seconds but sometimes for longer only a Holter monitor will pick this up and only a doctor could distinguish between arrythmias and diagnose.
When taking my pulse manually I can feel changes in its beat, two or three regular beats then four or five rapid beats then misses one or two beats, but all this in no particular pattern. Very erratic and I would be interested to see it on a monitor. All heart rate apps give up trying to give an accurate heart rate.
Are you taking flecenaide or other medication that might account for these pauses?
I think it all depends on what you mean by pause. Lets be honest we all get ectopics when the heart "misses " a beat and these can come singly or or at regular or irregular intervals They are not AF which is an irregular and irregular rhythm. i e no rhythm at all just random chaotic beats. They are benign.
If on the other hand you get measurable pauses for example several seconds then you MUST get checked out as soon as possible. Likewise if these pauses make you feel dizzy or faint.
When I felt it I was sat down at a train station and was really annoyed because I had gotten on the wrong train (I am an idiot). It is possible I just didn't feel my pulse properly, or I had a skipped beat, although there really is no way of telling.
However, when I went to the GP last, she said there was nothing to worry about on my ECG, but did tell me I had slight sinus arrhythmia, as in when I breathe in, my heart rate increases, then on exhalation it slows down again. Sometimes its more noticeable than others. I've literally lost count of how many ECGs I've had. I had a 24 hour monitor last year and an event monitor a few months ago. Nothing like sick sinus syndrome has ever been recorded. Would something like that have been recorded by now?
Still, doesn't mean I don't have it, of course. I do feel a little spacey a lot of the time, but I am a very anxious person and whenever I've checked my pulse when I feel this way, its normal, so I don't know whether the two are related.
I was diagnosed with sick sinus syndrome last year and the 24 hour monitor did not reveal it however a 7 day monitor did and consequently had pacemaker inserted last September my advice is ask for a longer monitor apparently they can even put one on for 3 months or more sometimes these things are difficult to capture as they may only happen once in a while but if you are aware go back and ask for longer monitor particularly if you feel faint when it happens. I still have irregular heart beat as I have af but if my heart rate drops or misses pacemaker kicks in . Good luck
Its great that you have now been given treatment, don't have to worry about that now! In my case however, everything seems to move extremely slowly. As I've said I'm due to see my specialist in mid-July (waited over 6 weeks already). I might ring up his secretary and kindly ask to speed things along a little bit.
By the way, I'm very young (23), so I'm not sure whether doctors will want to implant a pacemaker because of my age. However, if I do end up having sick sinus syndrome, I don't think there'd be any other options.
May I ask, what symptoms did you have prior to diagnosis? Did you ever feel any of the pauses you were experiencing?
Thanks,
Micwal.
granddadbren1, can you please explain what are the symptoms you feel with SSS, and for how long you had it before being diagnosed, appreciate feedback.
I was aware of fuzzy head and my pulse very irregular with missed beats but these can be eptopics sometimes I also passed large amounts of urine usually this points to af I was diagnosed with sss until I had 7 day Monitor and this was Feb until June before diagnosed .hopefully you just have eptopics which are benign but I would request 7 day monitor at least in particular if you feel faint as you could have bradycardia which is slow heart rate or pauses.
Have you been diagnosed with sleep apnea? If so, do you use a CPAP Machine when sleeping? Reason I ask, grandadbren1, is because you stated you still have AF/Atrial Fibrillation, which is believed to be connected to Sleep apnea...
The theory was that as I had a triple heart bypass 18 month prior my sinus node was damaged and consequently a fib developed I now have a pacemaker which if you read my posts took a lot of adjusting but I now live life to the full again just have to take warfarin because of af but I hardly ever notice af attacks now. Af does not usually disappear completely I do not drink alcohol at all nor caffeine and think that helps. Don't use a CPAP machine but my wife tells me she nudges me if I snore lol. Good luck in your future health .
grandadbren, snoring lol was my first problem, my wife will no longer share the same bed with me. I now have a CPAP and no more snoring, my Afib is near gone, only 5 sec flutters and rare now. My sleep study showed my breathing stopped 81 times per hour, during sleep. Unfortunately, my heart pauses continue and can pause day and night, rested and during activity, some pauses are 6 to 9 seconds, pauses happen everyday now, in fact typing this message, my heart has paused during typing. I feel the pauses up my throat, with every pause. When the pauses happen for a 3 hour episode, I feel very nausea, weak and dizzy. I go to see my heart surgeon in a weeks time, he wants to give me a pace maker, even 5 months ago, he was ready to do the pace maker, but I asked if we could postpone it, to give the CPAP a chance. The CPAP has all but cured Afib, as the flutter syndrome is rare now, but the heart pauses are getting worse and more frequent. Guess it will be a pace maker!!
I would say to you the sooner you have the pacemaker the better my pauses were infrequent and only 2 to 3 seconds and were identified after wearing heart monitor for a week and heart rate dropping below 40 bpm at times I am not surprised you feel bad and feel for sure you will feel so much better after pacemaker hope you get it sorted very soon
Well the time has come, meeting with the specialists tomorrow, will let you know the outcome asap.
Good luck hope he is an electrophysiologist as your problem is more likely to be sinus problem which is the electrical impulse systemof the heart. Gut feeling is that you will be gettingpacemaker but that will be a good result for you I'm sure .
The visit to the electrician lol, has been confirmed, I am booked for a double chamber pace maker, not sure date and time, public system lol, will let you know.
Well I was booked to get double chamber pacemaker in may 29th, but funny how it turned out!! I ended up getting my double chamber pacemaker 11 days ago, lol. I had a 9 second heart pause followed by 200 beats/minute-A-Fib, my pulse dropped below 32 along with a number of 4 to 6 second pauses, all caught on holster at the hospital. My A-Fib continued for 20 hours but ended by the help of magnesium iv and 2 litres of sodium/h2o. It will be 2 weeks ago this Tuesday since I was given my permanent pacemaker, all is going very well, no infections and the wound is healing wonderfully, thanks be to God.
I'm so glad it all ended well sounds like you had a scary ride I'm sure you will be a different person and a lot more active now of if not yet in the coming weeks. If you do not feel fully up and running go back as they can do adjustments.
Brendan
Hi Micwal,I had several pauses 1 was 4.9seconds that's when my Dr. arranged for me to get a duel chamber pacemaker.It will be a yr I Sept. & I have been doing quite well.Thanks be to God! Elaine in Penna.
As previously stated ,Sick Sinus Syndrome can be very challenging for both patient and Doctor. There are a few measuring devices that can be applied to record and capture events and confirm a diagnosis. Some can record up to 3 years. Sinus pauses occur when the SA node fails to function properly (SSS). Anything over 3 seconds is considered for further investigation. There are many variables that can influence the SA node to malfunction. Unfortunately, SSS can present itself, then stop for quite a time, actually capturing it on ECG rhythm strip is key to diagnosis. Although this can be quite frightening, the heart has three built in mechanisms to take over from the SA node (escape rhythms). The sinus pause is the period between SA node malfunction and the escape rhythm kicking in to sustain further beats. The ratio of beats is decided by which escape rhythm will continue the pacing? The heart is designed to protect itself and is very efficient at this. The Consulting Cardiologist or EP will weigh up all the evidence before deciding on a Pacemaker implant. But it can sometimes take a long time collating the evidence-this where good recording devices are essential.
I was in hospital last week mid AFib episode with chest pains and tightness (hence the admittance) and my monitors recorded my heart as it trys to come out of AFib, dropping to 20bpm then pausing for 6-8 seconds. Things got moved along very quickly after that, initially given atropine intravenously to pull the heart rate back up. Stopped all heart meds (nebivolol). Then had an angiogram and I have been fast tracked for Ablation. Having pre assessment today (TOE scan as in AFib again!) and ablation scheduled for Tuesday.
They took the pauses very seriously. At 3am a team of doctors around my bed discussing if they needed to move me to high dependency coronary unit or fit pacemaker asap. Said it was an indication the AFib was progressing very fast. I would contact doctor/Cardio to see if you should be going in for moniotoring. I have an alivecor, but hadn't recorded any pauses and had described 'my funny turns' to them without realising it was the heart pausing that gave the symptoms (nor had they from my description).
I am quite lightheaded all the time now, resting heart rate is bit higher (still only early 60's) as off the heart meds, but don't have the dramatic drops when coming out of AFib now. The danger is falling, passing out and injuring yourself I think. I'd contact your GP and see if they can talk to cardio team and get some advice if you need to be seen sooner than your July appointment. Good Luck. Oh they did ask if I was a driver and advised if I was they would be telling me not to until after ablation.
Thank Jo, i am quite anxious about the ablation, but more about the being awake than what they are actually doing. I am having to do some serious head talks to myself not to end up in the corner rocking and crying. My AFib has been very symptomatic, and progressed rapidly since diagnosis in March. I have had at least 5hrs of AFib a day since the pauses started. It's exhausting. I am thankful to be having the ablation so early, and trying to visualise myself beyond the procedure, being well, able to walk, exercise and get back to work without any AFib or drugs. Thank you for your kind words of encouragement. It does help, and forums like these have been a lifeline for me.
Hi Jo, thanks for your reply. I don't even know whether it was a pause or not. I agree completely that I need to have another monitor fitted to catch these episodes.
As I say however, everything is moving very slowly in my case, and its very hard to get in touch with anyone in the medical profession to talk about it with. I called the doctor yesterday and she supposedly called me back, yet I didn't receive a missed call notification. I'll try and call her again later.
I've researched sick sinus syndrome in young people, and I haven't come across a single case in anyone in their twenties. Then again, I suppose its possible that I'm extremely unlucky to have it.
My wife has experienced this same thing. After 24 holter done, the cardio doc said that some people just have this condition and its nothing to worry about, but do monitor your heart rate. In MOST cases afib causes an accelerated heart rate. My wife also had an echo done with normal results. A holter and echo are a good starting point. Those 2 tests will eliminate a lot of potential causes.
Okay I have been told that my abnormal pause of my heart beat shown on a cardiac strip that I see is possible a congenital heart malfunction but he says that as I have been a Opiod Addiction person since 1970 and ya still alive! But I have been on a worse synthetic Opiod Methadone and look what synthetic Opiod Addiction dose KILL! However he staited my methadone maintenance increased my heart problem, I say 30mils. won't kill me??
I know this is a really old post but did the OP ever figure out what was wrong? I'm 35 and have recently startes having these 5-6 second h heart pauses..
Bradycardia with Pauses
Heart rates in Afib and NSR
