CPAP and pacemaker

[KC8RXQ]

I have already sent a message to my electrophysiologist but wanted to post my experience to see if this has happened to anyone else.

I have had a pacemaker/defibrillator for a number of years. I started on my CPAP therapy on March 17 and noticed that I cannot sleep on my left side (same side as the pacemaker) without experiencing what I call "hiccups".  Cleveland Clinic had adjusted the pacemaker to eliminate this nuisance problem months ago - before I started using a CPAP (Resvent iBreeze 20A) - but now it's back and each "hiccup" corresponds to a heartbeat and only happens when I inhale with the CPAP.  It does not occur when I lay down without the mask so I'm thinking that when my lungs expand they do something to trigger this rhythmic convulsion which is annoying but is not a major health risk.

Life with this CPAP gets more interesting with each day?

[mesenteria]

It is very common for people with paroxysmal and persistent AF to find it difficult to sleep on their left sides, including for your reason.  When sleeping that way, all the thorax's organs to the right of the heart weigh on the heart, pressing it into the intercostal muscles and ribs, and the result is an unpleasant amplification of any ectopic beats.  It's fine when you're calm, rested, and your rate control medication is doing a good job.  When you're in sinus rhythm, you're okay on either side.  But when your heart gets in a snit and gets 'lumpy', good luck falling asleep that way.

I have been going through a particularly nasty patch the last month, mostly due to medical procedures and the medical system in British Columbia deciding I've probably suffered enough over the past 4.5 years and it's time to provide me with some relief.  I've had a second MIBI, echocardiogram, chest x-ray, cardio MRI, and and an angiogram, all to confirm that I am indeed an electrophysiological case after all, and that I really don't have ischemic heart disease bothering my heart (meaning no blockages, pipes are mostly showing benign deposition of plaque). Meanwhile, with all the poking and prodding, it has ramped up my central nervous system just enough that my heart has been fibrillating about 50% of the time, very unusual for me since being diagnosed 4.5 years ago.  So, I am acutely aware that sleeping on my left side is only possible when in sinus rhythm, usually well into sleep when I am calm and sleepy.

Sorry to see that you are experiencing the same thing, although perhaps worse due to the pacemaker.  I watched a video on YouTube where an electrophysiologist held up a large capsule that could easily be swallowed (to give you a size reference) that is a new pacemaker type coming out for widespread use.