-
Have You Experienced A Fast Heart Rate or Abnormal Rhythm?
According to the Mayo Clinic, “Heart rhythm problems (heart arrhythmias) occur when the electrical impulses that coordinate your heartbeats don’t work properly, causing your heart to beat too fast, too slow or irregularly.” (https://www.mayoclinic.org)
I have been managing arrhythmias since I was younger due to a type of heart block that I was born with. Five years ago, I was experiencing a very slow heart rate that was causing me to be extremely dizzy and pass out. I had a pacemaker implanted in 2013 and my heart’s electrical activity and usage of the pacemaker has been monitored ever since. With pulmonary hypertension, my use of oxygen, and the higher demand for oxygen to my heart and body, it is no surprise that my heart and the pacemaker have had to work harder.
Over the past four years I have went from my pacemaker being used only as needed to being almost completely dependent on it for electrical activity. I have had episodes of fast heart rate called SVT (where the top part of the heart beats very fast) that causes increased anxiety, shortness of breath, and a feeling of my heart racing (palpitations). These arrhythmias are managed with the help of the pacemaker trying to keep me paced at all times and with medications to control heart rate called beta blockers.
Have you been diagnosed with an arrhythmia or felt an increase in palpitations since diagnosis? What symptoms do you experience with this? How are you managing it?
Log in to reply.