Breathing difficulties+shaking

[Jenna]

Dear all,

My grandmother has had a pacemaker for the last 12 years. She has recently
been suffering from shortness of breathing and shaking. A few months ago,
when she went for her pacemaker checkup they apparantly made some kind of
mistake and raised the power consumption of the pacemaker. During this
period she felt great. After another checkup they realised the high power,
and they decided to reduce the power to what they say was the 'ordinary'
level. The technicians said that this was what the level should stay at.
Otherwise if they raise it, then the pacemaker will have to replaced again
far too soon due to its high power consumption. And now, my grandmother
keeps suffering from shaking and breathing difficulties. These occur
irregularly. Sometimes they occur once every three days, or every five or
six days. Sometimes, this occurs consecutively. Now, the hospital has
recorded her heart rate, by attaching a tape to her for 24 hours and they
saw nothing wrong with the beats.

Can anyone help? Has anybody out there experienced similar problems? Please
could you help.

Thank you to all of you reading this.

Jenna.

 

[Dr. Andrew B. Chung, MD/PhD]

Jenna wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> My grandmother has had a pacemaker for the last 12 years. She has recently
> been suffering from shortness of breathing and shaking. A few months ago,
> when she went for her pacemaker checkup they apparantly made some kind of
> mistake and raised the power consumption of the pacemaker. During this
> period she felt great. After another checkup they realised the high power,
> and they decided to reduce the power to what they say was the 'ordinary'
> level. The technicians said that this was what the level should stay at.
> Otherwise if they raise it, then the pacemaker will have to replaced again
> far too soon due to its high power consumption. And now, my grandmother
> keeps suffering from shaking and breathing difficulties. These occur
> irregularly. Sometimes they occur once every three days, or every five or
> six days. Sometimes, this occurs consecutively. Now, the hospital has
> recorded her heart rate, by attaching a tape to her for 24 hours and they
> saw nothing wrong with the beats.
>
> Can anyone help? Has anybody out there experienced similar problems? Please
> could you help.
>

It does sound like an intermittent pacemaker (most likely failure to capture)
problem. Your grandmother should ask to be referred to an electrophysiologist
for further evaluation.

--
Dr. Andrew B. Chung, MD/PhD
Board-Certified Cardiologist
http://www.heartmdphd.com/