Thank you for your time. I am 35, female, with a pacemaker for sinus node dysfunction. I am currently being treated for a pacemaker infection. I am taking amiodarone 600, cartia 360, coumadin, zaroxalyn, and lasix for heart. Two months ago I had an ablation, which resulted in a problem with one of the leads. I then had a lead revision, but that wasn't working due to scar tissue. The new lead was moved, and the infection started about 2 wks. later. I am currently on antibiotics and see my ep doc. every week.
Yesterday I noticed that my heart was skipping alot. Skipped beats are not at all unusual for me, except I was feeling very light-headed and weak, like I was going to pass out. When I took my pulse I realized that the skips were more like pauses, not lasting too long maybe 2-3 seconds, but sometimes I would only have one normal beat in between, so I felt lousy. When my heart would return to normal it would go back up to where the pacemaker is set to pace, so I figured the pacemaker was working ok.
My questions
Can an increase in heart meds. cause the pacemaker not to work as well? My amiodarone and cardizem were increased a couple of weeks ago. Could that be the problem with the pauses?
Could the pacemaker be working sometimes but not others?
Is this something that can wait til I see my doctor next week?
My dr. is afraid my whole pacemaker system needs removal. What are the chances of this infection going away with oral antibiotics? At this point it has been 6 weeks of antibiotics and no improvement.
Any info. would be helpful.