Things went pretty cool today and all parts are firing.
Since my heart loves to beat fast even when not looking at a pretty lady they put me on Bystolic.
First BP med that did not make me feel goofy or funny.
Took in my BP log that I just keep for myself which was fine.
The Bystolic is to keep my rate down which is now doing about 70 when resting at age 60.
I only take 10mg so I guess I am very lucky and being in good shape I guess helps.
My problem was a high rate of 198 per minute and out of sync. Then when they got my rate down my heart wanted to take time off. Since getting my PM it has never went off, go figure.
For the record I have a Biotronik Cylos DR-T with 2 leads.
Really enjoy coming here.

 

 

Just one little comment: 10mg of Bystolic is a quite high dosage that's usually for patients with congestive heart failure. The normal dosage for high blood pressure or arrhythmia patients is 5mg. I was a bit surprised because you wrote you take "only" 10mg, it's not "only", it's the highest dosage! I have been on it several times for arrhythmia, but never more than 5mg/day.

Just out of curiosity: Did you have an ablation for the tachycardia (198bpm)? And by saying that ever since you got your PM it never "went off" do you mean you are not being paced at all? Not even while being on 10mg Bystolic? Well, maybe the "time out" after they slowed the rate down was just one incident, and it'll never happen again. Did you get the pacer right after the ablation?

Best wishes
Inga

 

Bystolic comes in 20mg also and my BP waking up was 130/74 with a pulse of 63 this morning.
I know a week before I got the PM I fell off a ladder and could not figure out why till hindsight. Dizzy spells for years. In 2001 I was found in a parking lot passed out so maybe this has been going on for years.
My night nurse told me my heart kept stopping during the night before the PM was put in.
I question the dosage of 10mg myself and from your input will be making a call this am.
Lets say I have never felt it go off. I was told yesterday I had some events in the upper area of my heart.
Thank-you for your great input!

 

Hey,

in Germany it comes in 5mg pills, no lower or higher dosage; and when you read the drug information that's in the package, you learn what I wrote in my first post. I wonder why it's so different in the U.S. I just read the information at http://www.rxlist.com/bystolic-tablets-drug.htm and it says the max is 40mg! And then I checked a German website again, and it said the max is 10mg/day.

A pacemaker won't "go off", it paces or it just watches. You should not feel the pacing, it's really a very low voltage. But some patients can tell when they are paced, and when not - I can. The device that goes off, that shocks you, is an ICD but the model you have is just a pacer.

Best wishes
Inga

 

Snitch, 10 mg may be your limit for Bystolic, but the literature says:

The usual starting dose for Bystolic is 5 mg. The maximum dose for Bystolic is 40 mg.

 

When they test it I feel a shock?
Now I am confused.
So what does a pacer do?
Mine is set to do what at either 50 or 60 I do not recall.
Thanks for the input.

 

To answer your question of "what does a pacemaker do?" let’s start with “what is pacemaker do?”

A pacemaker is an electronic device that provides an electrical signal to make the heart beat when it’s own, built-in pacemaker fails. The built-in pacemaker should provide a steady heart rhythm, but that can be disrupted by various conditions.

How exactly do pacemakers work on the heart? The pacemaker does two things: it senses the patient’s own heart beat using a “sensing circuit”, and it sends out electrical signals using an “output circuit” when it cannot detect a heart beat being generated by the heart‘s built in pacemaker. If the patient’s intrinsic rhythm becomes too slow or goes away completely, the electronic pacemaker senses that, and starts sending out signals along the wires leading from the implanted pacemaker to the heart muscle. The impulses from the electronic are supposed to work in sync with heart’s natural pacemaker to provide a regular heart beat.

To know when to help your heart the pacemaker has a low and a high setting. The exact setting is determined by what the doctor thinks will serve you best. The low setting is the setting at which the pacemaker will not let your heart beat go below. If your low setting is say 60 then when your heart beat goes below that number the pacemaker will come on line and work full time, or whatever is necessary, to keep it at 60 or above. The upper setting, (usually at least twice the low setting) it the point at which the pacemaker will quit helping maintain a steady heart beat. However it will continue to monitor your heart function in case help is needed.

Of course things do not always work as designed. For starters your pacemaker has various settings that are adjustable by the doctor or his appointed personnel. My guess is that there must be a 1,000, or more possible settings combinations. While the majority of the settings are made when the pacemaker is manufactured, and never need to be changed, some are easily changed and must be changed to accommodate a patient individual needs. Sometimes it takes more than one attempt together best setting for a particular person.

Another possibility that can occur to make changes in settings necessary is the heart’s natural pacemaker may be sending impulses that the pacemaker can detect which means it will not send an impulse. But weak signals are not strong enough to make a normal heartbeat so you may have premature beats (PVC or PAC or skip beats. The premature beats are something you may notice, but they very seldom create a problem. If you do start having these to the point they are uncomfortable or annoying, check with your doctor as he is the one that can tell you if your’s are something too be concerned about.

If I could give one piece of advice it would be to remember that your pacemaker is there to help your heart maintain a uniform rhythm. It is not supposed to take over making your heart beat to the point you can not live without it. Some people are dependant on their pacemaker and are known as “pacemaker dependant.” If you are a member of that group your doctor would have told you that you are now pacemaker dependant.

As time goes by you will no doubt have many questions about your pacemaker. Never hesitate to post those questions here. We have members that can answer most PM related questions.

Good luck,

Smitty

 

Very good input and I thank-you verymuch!!!!!

 

J.B., the German literature and the German package insert tells you something different; it says max dosage is 10mg, most patients will do fine with 5mg. And there really are no 10 or 20mg pills on sale in Germany, only 5mg. This is why I am so confused. I just asked a cardiologist in a German online heart forum, and she also said she has never ever heard of a max of 40mg. But I also read some U.S. drug infos online, and read exactly what you posted. I have no idea why there is such a huge difference between bystolic dosages in Germany and the U.S.