fast and slow heart beat

I have had several minor strokes and a stint put in last year. I am a female, 60 years old, and have been relatively healthy all my life until the past few years. My cardiologist had me wear a heart monitor and tells me that my heart will beat very slowly and then start beating very fast. I am having trouble sleeping because of the heavy heartbeat. It thumps extremely hard and I get so dizzy that I feel as though I'm going to pass out. He is wanting to install a pacemaker and tells me that this should take care of the problem. Medication has not worked to correct this problem. Do you feel that a pacemaker is the next step?

[Michael J. McWilliams, M.D.]

It is possible that it might help but I would need to see the monitor to really comment on this.