problems post pacemaker

I am a 38 yr old female who got a pacemaker about a year ago for sick sinus syndrome. Since then I still have not felt very good. I still have atrial tachy and pauses. My EP raised my pacemaker rate to 80 to try and avoid the long pauses. It has helped some but still have runs of fast followed by pauses until pacer kicks in. This goes on all day some days. I am taking sotalol 80mg twice a day and have been for about a year but still doing it. Now for about the last month I have noticed that my blood pressure is high which normally mine is around 100/60 always but now it is staying around 145/95 (at home and at the doctor) What could be causing the rise in blood pressure? My EP does not know and says we are out of options as far as the irregular heart beat goes. I seem to be getting worse. Can you help?

[Mom2four85]

so sorry you're going through this; while many who get pm's or icd's get better; there are some of us who don't.  I thought it would cure me along with ablation and meds, but I still have problems and more symptoms that I did before.

Can you get another opinion or find another doctor who will keep on until they find out what's wrong or has changed? maybe there's something new going on also.  I went through this and had to go through 2 more Ep's and 4 cardiologists to find one who would figure out what's going on.

Also, not sure if your question was meant for the expert forum? I think it may have gotten kicked over from there to here.  If so, keep trying in the expert forum until it shows there's an open post =)

[underinformed35]

thanks for replying. I have tried the expert forum but with little success here. This is my 2nd EP doctor but I am starting to feel like I may need to look for another one. My last appt he said maybe I have autonomic nerovus system dysfunction but I have no symptoms of that other than heart and blood pressure so I felt like he was just grasping at straws! It is very frustrating! Did you ever find out what was wrong with you??

[Mom2four85]

maybe he wasn't, ANS issues can be exactly what you've described - they need to do a tilt table test to see though =) or you can go to a dr who specializes in ANS issues to rule it out http://www.medhelp.org/health_pages/Neurological-Disorders/Dysautonomia-Specialists/show/717?cid=196
it could be a combination of things...SSS with ans dysfunction and meds; sounds like its mixed

say you have SSS, which I don't know much about except for my own research, could it mimic something in the ANS umbrella or vice versa? POTS, NCS, OI, etc

I have quite a few possible things wrong - one is ANS dysfunction; NCS and OI with low bp but the past few months my normally low bp has raised into the 145/115 range and stayed there; for me that's fine so I don't faint. What has caused all of my problems, they still have no clue but we're working on it.

hopefully you'll get someone to find out soon what's going on and get you some relief, I know what a pain it can be.

[underinformed35]

Maybe you are right. He wants me to start taking an antidepressant. He said it helps with the symptoms but it just made me feel like he thought I was just crazy! Is this a normal treatment for ANS?

[Mom2four85]

SSRI's really can help sometimes with the symptoms, some ans patients systems are in overdrive so we feel things more than other patients may - like our nerves are on pins and needles...does that make sense? [sorry I don't know how else to describe it] ssri's help calm the nervous system in a sense; but the one I tried didn't work for me - you may want to ask in the dysautonomia forum and see what others have to say

If you're uncertain, you could always ask for a 2nd opinion from another dr and see what they have to say

the ANS is a very difficult thing to understand and even some dr's do not fully understand it; I would get a referral to one of the clinics like Cleveland, Mayo or Vanderbilt to get everything tested and see what is going on inside (I'm going to Vanderbilt soon)