HEART PAUSES DURING THE NIGHT

[cardinal177]

Pacemakers and ventricular pauses

[beardy_chris]

If your medical team recommends it, get a pacemaker. I had some heart pauses for up to 19 seconds. My pacemaker stopped all that rubbish - but it actually does very little - I'm less than 1% paced - but no further problems.

[cardinal177 in reply to beardy_chris]

Hello...this is actually my husband who is due to get the pacemaker on 23 Aug. Thanks so much for your reply..his pauses on the holter were 6 and 8 secs plus a few smaller pauses..only recorded during the night..he hasnt had any black out symptoms but the cardiologists had a meeting and decided he should have a pm. what do you mean by...paced? Do you mean..the number of times the pm has gone into action?

[beardy_chris in reply to cardinal177]

You wouldn't necessarily know if your heart paused at night. I had some pauses at night but it was very similar to falling asleep. It was only afterward that I was able to tell the difference.

The amount you are paced is a measure of how much work your pacemaker does - how often it helps your heart out. You probably wouldn't be aware it has done anything.

[cardinal177 in reply to beardy_chris]

thanks..the pauses were recorded on the holter monitor

[Beejaysee]

Hi CardinalLike beardy Chris, I was having pauses up to 20 seconds (some overnight) which caused blackouts but the causes were never picked up until I had a loop recorder implanted. Shortly after I went into complete heart blocks of 30 seconds and had PM implanted as emergency. The reassurance of the PM is great and I’ve not had any recurrence of the pauses/blocks - also like Chris, I’m rarely paced (1/2% of the time).

Hope your procedure went well and you’re recovering well.

[cardinal177 in reply to Beejaysee]

tHANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR REPLY

[cardinal177 in reply to Beejaysee]

Hi. Hope you are well. Are you able to exercise with the pacemaker eg running, aerobics etc

[Beejaysee in reply to cardinal177]

Running’s fine, CV exercising fine but not aerobics yet (only been two months) and strength work also needs to wait a few weeks. You should be able to get back to what you enjoy over time. Good luck

[cardinal177 in reply to Beejaysee]

Thank you…hope you are getting used to it now after two months. How were you after two weeks? We have a concert booked for two weeks after..and I’m not sure what my husband will be feeling like by then

[Beejaysee in reply to cardinal177]

Hi - everyone has a different recovery rate so he might be fine after two weeks, however at that stage my wound was very sore, I couldn’t lift my arm above my head (no-one should), I was sleeping poorly (couldn’t sleep on my side) and I was exhausted and napping during the day and in bed by 9pm. Don’t think I could have gone to a night time concert.I’m 67 and not on any medication so the PM is the only contributing factor.

On the positive side, every day shows a bit of physical progress and, apart from an afternoon nap, none of the above issues still apply - I’m out and about and, mentally, reassured that my complete heart blocks are a thing of the past.

Recovery from any op/procedure takes time - the surgeon has cut into your body, implanted a pacemaker and attached leads to your heart so rest is important❤️‍🩹, good luck.

(Ps - this is a great site but there are some pacemaker-specific support sites online eg Google the pacemaker club (mainly American) or you can join Pacemaker UK on Facebook, both of which have loads of support and advice pre and post PM).

[cardinal177 in reply to Beejaysee]

Hi. Thanks a lot for your kind advice. I kind of thought he may not be well enough. He’s 70. I will show him your reply!Hope your doing good yourself!

[cardinal177 in reply to Beejaysee]

Can I ask something else? What symptoms did you have from the heart block? My husband doesn’t have any symptoms apart from he had slight. Few seconds dizziness.. after being at the pub for a pint and after standing up and starting to walk he had a few seconds of feeling dizzy..hasn’t had any fainting or near fainting tho

[Beejaysee]

Hi - I did quite a lengthy reply but can’t see it on here, did you get it or did I mess up the reply button 🙄

[cardinal177]

Hi.. I got the long reply from you where you said that you were still sore two weeks after and couldn’t imagine going to a nighttime concert..is that the one you mean?

[Beejaysee in reply to cardinal177]

No, you had asked about symptoms: -

I had a blackout about 18 months ago and knocked myself out on the bedroom door, taken to A&E by ambulance and spent 3 days in hospital undergoing brain and heart tests - all inconclusive so sent home and told “probably a one off”.

Then 11 months later, blacked out again and knocked myself out on the kitchen floor - back to A&E and lots of basic tests, then the consultant sent me home (told me not to drive) then I had weeks and weeks of test after test with a very thorough cardiologist including 7 day Holter and Angiogram - he deemed my heart “plumbing” (arteries, muscle etc ) all good.

He then wanted to further check my heart “electrics”so he inserted an implantable loop recorder beside my heart and a few weeks later I blacked out again and the recorder alerted the pacing clinic that I had had a 20 second pause - followed by three more episodes over 36 hours where the recorder alerted them to 30 second complete heart blocks so I was taken in immediately for a PM implant that day.

My blackouts over that 18 month period (6 in total with 4 of those in the 2 days pre-implant) were not like faints or feeling woozy - they were instantaneous black out with no warning, dropping like a sack.

It sounds like your husband has been diagnosed early and his PM is precautionary - I wish I had had that as the blackouts were terrifying and, as I had still been driving up and down the motorway for the 11 months between my first and second blackouts, the consequences could have been catastrophic.

Post-PM I feel much more confident and reassured - good luck to you both. 🙂

[cardinal177 in reply to Beejaysee]

Omg…what a story! I take it you have had no further fainting episodes since, after the pacemaker..two months ago? My husband had a holter monitor on in July for 3 days. The readings showed pauses of 6 secs (once). And 8.9 secs another time. With a few shorter (2 secs) pauses. All these happened during sleep. Apart from the few secs dizzy spells in standing up suddenly.. which have only occurred very Infrequently…. There have been no blackouts.

So he is right now very conflicted about getting this done(denial?). I don’t know…. He feels perfectly fine, goes to exercise classes and rides his bike. And so isn’t convinced he needs a pm…. The cardiologist was just going to monitor him but says he slept on it.. and after consulting with a colleague, they decided the pm was the best thing.

[cardinal177 in reply to Beejaysee]

Wonder if you had any momentary dizzy spells. At some stage before the first blackout happened?

[Beejaysee]

I was never dizzy in my life! These blackouts came from nowhere - I was doing all the things your OH was doing and didn’t feel anything was wrong - until sudden blackouts caused by heart pauses and complete heart blocks…everyone is different of course and he may be experiencing something with completely different symptoms and causes to me.I’d suggest advice from a good cardiologist, but that sounds like what you have already. Good luck with your decision-making, fingers crossed you get it right 🤞

[cardinal177 in reply to Beejaysee]

Thank you.