It is difficult to draw the portrait of the "typical pacemaker patient." Pacemaker patients include infants and children, athletes and scholars, the aged and infirm. Despite the fact that pacemakers have been standard treatment in medicine for cardiac arrhythmias for over 50 years, most people do not know much about them. In fact, sometimes people get symptoms, see their doctor, and are surprised to find out that a pacemaker is the prescription.
People get pacemakers to correct a problem with the heart known as a cardiac arrhythmia. In layman's terms, it means the heart's natural rhythm is getting out-of-whack.
While just about everyone probably experiences occasional but very short bouts of out-of-rhythm cardiac activity, some people have stubborn arrhythmias that cause symptoms, impair their ability to lead a normal life, and are largely unpredictable. These people need pacemakers. Symptoms that may mean you need a pacemaker include fatigue, dizziness, lightheadedness, even fainting, as well as inability to exercise without getting overly out of breath.
These are pretty vague symptoms and a person could easily have all of those conditions and not need a pacemaker. But let's talk about what's really going on.
The healthy heart beats in a specific rhythm that coordinates the heart's upper chambers (atria) and lower chambers (ventricles) in such a way that the heart beat is quite efficient at moving a very large quantity of blood throughout the body. This blood is called cardiac output. If cardiac output drops to zero, the person dies in a matter of minutes.
But in many cases, the electrical system of the heart (not the pumping ability) starts to falter. This is an electrical problem of the heart-not a problem with the heart's ability to pump blood. Yet many people do not even realize the heart as an electrical system.
Electrical impulses produced by the heart guide the heart's rhythm. If the heart stops producing electricity in a regular manner or the electricity no longer travels properly through the heart muscle, the result can be an arrhythmia.
There are two main types of arrhythmia that can lead to a person's getting a pacemaker. The first is called "sinus node dysfunction," which sounds very complicated. It really means that the heart no longer produces electrical energy at the right rate.
The heart has the amazing ability to produce electricity. This is accomplished by a small area of tissue called the sinoatrial node (nicknamed "sinus node" or just "sinus") in the upper right hand side of the heart. If the sinus node gets sluggish or produces electricity erratically or produces electricity fine at low rates but can't keep up when you exercise and need a faster heart rate ... that is sinus node dysfunction.
About half of all people with pacemakers have this condition. The resulting arrhythmia for a person with sinus node dysfunction is a heart rate that is too slow to support normal activity. The medical term for this is "sinus bradycardia." Because you don't get enough cardiac output to do normal things, you can find yourself getting winded, tired, dizzy, or even passing out doing things you used to do.
The second kind of arrhythmia that can lead to a pacemaker sounds a lot simpler, but the name is a bit of a misnomer. It's called "heart block." Heart block isn't really a blockage at all. Instead, it means that the electrical impulses produced by the heart no longer travel efficiently through the heart muscle. The electrical energy gets delayed or even blocked in some areas.
People get pacemakers to correct a problem with the heart known as a cardiac arrhythmia. In layman's terms, it means the heart's natural rhythm is getting out-of-whack.
While just about everyone probably experiences occasional but very short bouts of out-of-rhythm cardiac activity, some people have stubborn arrhythmias that cause symptoms, impair their ability to lead a normal life, and are largely unpredictable. These people need pacemakers. Symptoms that may mean you need a pacemaker include fatigue, dizziness, lightheadedness, even fainting, as well as inability to exercise without getting overly out of breath.
These are pretty vague symptoms and a person could easily have all of those conditions and not need a pacemaker. But let's talk about what's really going on.
The healthy heart beats in a specific rhythm that coordinates the heart's upper chambers (atria) and lower chambers (ventricles) in such a way that the heart beat is quite efficient at moving a very large quantity of blood throughout the body. This blood is called cardiac output. If cardiac output drops to zero, the person dies in a matter of minutes.
But in many cases, the electrical system of the heart (not the pumping ability) starts to falter. This is an electrical problem of the heart-not a problem with the heart's ability to pump blood. Yet many people do not even realize the heart as an electrical system.
Electrical impulses produced by the heart guide the heart's rhythm. If the heart stops producing electricity in a regular manner or the electricity no longer travels properly through the heart muscle, the result can be an arrhythmia.
There are two main types of arrhythmia that can lead to a person's getting a pacemaker. The first is called "sinus node dysfunction," which sounds very complicated. It really means that the heart no longer produces electrical energy at the right rate.
The heart has the amazing ability to produce electricity. This is accomplished by a small area of tissue called the sinoatrial node (nicknamed "sinus node" or just "sinus") in the upper right hand side of the heart. If the sinus node gets sluggish or produces electricity erratically or produces electricity fine at low rates but can't keep up when you exercise and need a faster heart rate ... that is sinus node dysfunction.
About half of all people with pacemakers have this condition. The resulting arrhythmia for a person with sinus node dysfunction is a heart rate that is too slow to support normal activity. The medical term for this is "sinus bradycardia." Because you don't get enough cardiac output to do normal things, you can find yourself getting winded, tired, dizzy, or even passing out doing things you used to do.
The second kind of arrhythmia that can lead to a pacemaker sounds a lot simpler, but the name is a bit of a misnomer. It's called "heart block." Heart block isn't really a blockage at all. Instead, it means that the electrical impulses produced by the heart no longer travel efficiently through the heart muscle. The electrical energy gets delayed or even blocked in some areas.
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