visual disturbances and pacemaker

Hi, I am a 32 yr. old woman with an atrial pacemaker placed for a sinus node ablation gone bad.  I've had my pacemaker for about 4 years now.  I have no other health problems aside from the pacer.  For the past few years I have been having these episodes with my vision.  Out of nowhere I'll have these weird visual disturbances.  The best way to describe it is like when someone take your picture with a flash and then you see those dots afterward.  I'm not sure if theses episodes are happening in one eye or in both.  Not a lot of things scare me, but these episodes kind of freak me out.  They last in duration about 20-30minutes and then they go away and I can see normally.  This only happens about every 4-6months.  The most recent one happened this month.  I have no headach associated with it and no other symptoms with it.  Just the trouble seeing.  I had my eyes checked recently with no problems reported.  No glaucoma.  I guess I'm concerned that I'm having TIA's or something?  Do you think the pacemaker has anything to do with this?  This is fairly disabling when it happens.  I would hate to be driving when it happens also.  Is this something I should bring to the attention of my EP doctor?

[Cleveland Clinic]

I think you should tell your EP doctor about it.  I am not sure what this is related to.  It sounds like something we call scotomata.  This could be caused by a myriad of conditions.  Clots could cause this.  The only way that a pacemaker could cause you to throw clots into your eye would be if it were accidently placed on the left side of the heart.  This could be easily picked up with an xray.  Of course, if these symptoms predate the pacer implantation I would not worry about it as a possible cause.  On the other hand, other conditions usually neurologic are well known to cause it and I think you should probably see an ophthalmologist.