I read on another post and posted on that post about PM settings and being tired
feeling better etc etc
I feel better then before I had the PM... but I still get tired
not as bad as before... but its still there.....and Smitty my hubby has noticed that I have a lot more energy then before
but I have a question about what you said about the settings
of the PM? how many settings are there?
I know that my upper level is set to 140 which use to be 130 and the lower is at 50
which seems to work for me... but are there other settings that could be changed to work better?
I am sorry if this is a dumb question... but my Dr has not really explained the settings to well for me to understand.so when I re...

 

Hey Everyone,

I'm putting this question out there to all of my pacemaker friends. Yesterday I went to my checkup for my PM and found out that the bottom half of my heart is using the PM 97%, where at my last visit 6 months ago it was only 32%. When I asked the Cardiologist why his reply was, "It doesn't matter why, since you have the PM it will handle it whether it's 32% or 97%." Am I wrong to want to know why my heart needs it more now than 6 months ago? I am a 46 year old woman, and the reason I have the PM is due to a botched ablation, where the main nerve in my heart got damaged, resulting in heart block so I had to get a PM. My EP said that the heart block might go away, yet I find that my heart is using it more? Anyw...

 

Hi all,

I haven't been here since I first got my pacemaker implant which was almost two years ago. Everyone here was so helpful during my first few (very difficult) months. I'm now 34 years old and back, hopeful for some more help.

At the time, I was having dizzy spells and before I knew it, I was in the hospital having a pacemaker implant. Long story short, my electrophysiologist said that he couldn't figure out why my heart was stopping. He said we might know one day why it happened.

Two years later, I get my pacey tested every three months and the doctor has never seen me. I pace approximately 6% of the time which makes me lucky, I think.

I don't think about it much of the time, but won...

 

hello my name is heather. i am 23 and had my first pm put in at 6 years old. i was diagnosed with 2nd and 3rd degree a.v. heart block. i had the pm replaced in 2001. that means as of jan. 29 my pacemaker is 9 years old. i am scared to death now because i have no health care (cant afford), i cant get any assistance because they say we make too much money, and i am not disabled enough. i have not seen a doctor in 5 years. when i was a kid everything was fine, i had medicaid. at that time i wasnt thinking about what was going to happen when i turned 18. i went to the er when i was having problems but was told to see a specialist that i cant afford. i was home alone with 3 children not knowing what was going to happen to me. i got through the ...

 

hello my name is heather. i am 23 and had my first pm put in at 6 years old. i was diagnosed with 2nd and 3rd degree a.v. heart block. i had the pm replaced in 2001. that means as of jan. 29 my pacemaker is 9 years old. i am scared to death now because i have no health care (cant afford), i cant get any assistance because they say we make too much money, and i am not disabled enough. i have not seen a doctor in 5 years. when i was a kid everything was fine, i had medicaid. at that time i wasnt thinking about what was going to happen when i turned 18. i went to the er when i was having problems but was told to see a specialist that i cant afford. i was home alone with 3 children not knowing what was going to happen to me. i got through the ...

 

Hi all

When we have our pace maker check, can they tell if we have missed any medications?

 

I was wearing a 24 halter last week and got the results today. It seems that I my heart races at 7:30 am and about 10:30 am. Both of which I can easily explain..morning rush to get out of the house and mid morning rush to get to a different class. Finally an answer!! LOL
The lady told me my heart rate was going down after that on it's own and so that was good too.
One thing she did notice that left me a little confused was when I pace it seems I am pacing at night. Right after I pace I get a PAC or a PVC. She said it could be a rebound from the pacing...like my own rhytem and the PM were competing. Does that sound right? I don't get it.
And secondly I still feel "the thumps" during the day too. The ones they said were PAC's ...

 

My new EP told me today that he does not do home cardiac monitoring. My old one did, but I have had many problems with my old EP. Is there anyone else that does not do home cardiac monitoring? He said that the pacemakers are so reliable that you do not need it between checkups. Anyway, I have been feeling so much better since they put in the 2 leads and a new pacemaker. I was so sick from the one I had placed last July. I got a copy of how my previous single lead pacemaker was dropping beats. It was very random, that is why it was making me so sick, and I would feel like I was hitting a brick wall when doing something, or totally get out of breath. He also said my pulse was dropping to 30 bpm when it was happening. But I am so gla...

 

Hi all.
Thanks to those who replied to my last, rather confused, mailing. Not seen cardiologist as yet but dr's recieved letter outlining plan to implant a dual lead pm asap. I am a little aprehensive about this as initial pm implantation( 2 years ago) was so distressing. Hey ho..... is'nt it great? Never mind i am grateful it can be sorted. Something always happens to shake things up a little. My husband lost his job shortly before christmas..Things have been hard ...he is working again at the moment. A lovely friend of mine was being really supportive and in trying to cheer me up said with a sigh.....at least youv'e got your health! We were in hysterics for ages...laugh! Bless her she is lovely....and i will be on the right track ...

 

I am 30. Ive had my PM since 2007 for SSS. I have IST and Syncope. Today I had a pacer check and they chainged the setting in my ventricle. They told me it was over sensing in the ventricle and made a minor tweak. My ventricle wasnt even on until about 3 weeks ago. Ever since they had to turn it on I have been having PVC's all over the place. Since they made the adjustment today Ive been having 2 or 3 every minute for the last 4 hours. When they were this frequent right after surgery they said I must have pulled a lead, they got me all prepped and ready for another PM surgery and then when they got me hooked up to the map thing in the ER it showed they hadnt moved at all. So my question is, what the heck should I do. Im so uncomfortable. I...

 

Went for mycheck up yesterday. Talk about trying to get blood out of a stone! New technician not seen before, ushered me in, hooked me up, wouldnt talk to me, wouldnt answer my questions and when I left treated me like a child, almost patted me on the head and told me all is well, so go away and come back in 6 months and dont worry your pretty little head.

Well................I drove home at 5.30 in horrendous traffic and was getting more and more angry on the way home. When I got home I telephoned the hospital and asked if, as a patient of their hospital, I was entitled to ask the odd question and be given an answer.

Anyways,....................cut a long story short they aplogised got out my notes and answered my...

 

Hi everyone,

I am a femal, 53 years old and got my pacemaker on December 8, 2009. For the last 5 weeks i have checked my blood pressure and my puls daily. The puls is always over 80. Is that normal or do i have to ask them to change my settings. I wake up several times during the night and have a hard time going back to sleep.

Any input is appreciated.

 

Thanks to everyone that commented on my post. I really appreciate it. My cardiologist and my EP are both in the same clinic so that is why I see both. My primary care doc is the one that usually monitors my bp. But after getting out of the hospital my cardiologist decided to start managing my bp or possibly co-managing it with my primary because he asked if I was still seeing the same primary. While I was in the cardio's office he had a medtronic tech come in to make sure that my pm was working correctly. It was. So I guess what I am asking is... do I really need to see my EP (he implanted the pm) as long as my pm is in good working order and I am not having any problems electrically? I was told in the past by my EP's nurse, which in my op...

 

I have had a dual chamber pacemaker/ defibrillator for 4 years with office and phone checks about every three months. I got my device primarily because of heart failure and for that it has been very good. My EF went from 30% to 50%. Yesterday when I saw my EP they detected some "dangerous rhythms" which my pacemaker is not detecting soon enough and so they are going to put me in the hospital to do something to the pacemaker to fix this. (Clearly I don't know much about this) It is an outpatient procedure and I will go home afterward. Has anyone else experienced this and this procedure?

 

I have not posted here for quite some time. But after a brief hospital stay last month for symptoms associated with some sort of cardiac event which turned out to be nothing. I had a follow up with my cardiologist 3 weeks later. While I was there he had a tech come in to check out my pm.
So my question is... If your pm is working like it should and your cardiologist is able to have a tech come in to interrogate it why does a person need to see the EP as long as nothing is wrong. I see my cardiologist again on Feb. 12th because he is concentrating on getting my BP under control but I have an appt. in March to see my EP. Do I need to see him if everything is in good working order. Should I keep my appt. with him?
Any advise would...

 

I had my first interrogation today (8 weeks post-placement). I have a secondary AV block. Low end is set at 60; high end is set at 140. Dual lead pacer. It is DDD ( I valildated that today). The tech said lowering the 60 setting wouldn't save any battery power and said that if my heart rate was over 140 (from exercise which I do a lot) it wouldn't matter. This doesn't sound right to me from some of the comments I have read here. Battery life right now is predicted to be about 6 years. And, when I am really working hard aerobically, I am feeling slightly light headed. Thoughts? If something wasn't working right would it have shown up in the data dump today? She said everything was working fine. And, overall, I feel really good...

 

Hi all in Pacer land, I am still on the slow learning curve, and have a few questions.

What is the difference between SafeR (AAI<=>DDD) and
DDDR

On basic Parameters under Smoothing I am set at Off now and it was at Slow

Under Rate response the current value is Learn it was at RRauto.

After being told that I had pauses they put in a Pacemaker, and things have not gone so good.

I finally convinced by Cardio to do more testing and more electrical problems have been found. I go to the EP in Feb.

I would be interested in any thoughts about the settings to educate myself.

Thanks Kat

 

I feel like I'm never get my next office check. I've been having monthly phone checks because my battery has about 1yr left.(according to the last office check) and am suppoused to go to the office every 6 months. I was supposed to go 1 1/2 weeks ago but had to change it because I got suponeaned to go to court the same day. (very upset, there until 1 and then the case was dismissed and it was something I had no real involvement in) I rescheduled for today at 1. The office called last week to change the time till 10. That was fine since I had the day off anyway. well, get up this morning electricity is out (happy it's back) because of heavy snow. No way I was going to be able to get out of my driveway by 9:30 (my road wasn't even plowed by ...

 

I've been to my first checkup after getting a PM 14th December. It turns out I have much more A-fib than expected, 28 of 31 days, I had fibrillation for more than 4 hours. Four incidents of A-fib lasted for 96 hours.

I'm really feeling much better. I read my pulse with a sports watch, and my pulse confirms my feeling of getting better each week. But the PM report doesn't confirm the improvement.

Except from the frequent Afib, my first checkup was OK. On my doctors advice, I have started training again, with quite a normal training pulse of 120-150 on the bike and rowing machine, but without strain, around 60% and with only 5 minutes laps. I've also started with strength training and it feels quite OK.

To...

 

I had my 6 month check up in the doctors office yesterday. I had the best technician (a lady) I have ever had in the 7 years of having my pacemaker. She took the time to go through all my settings, explained what the ment and why it was set the way it was. She also answered all my questions and explained them in language I could understand. Hope I get her again, I know I will request her. I though I was going to need my pacemaker replaced this year but found out that I still have about 24 months left which surprised me. Back in June at my last visit I was told or lead to believe I only had 12 months left. I also found out that my lower chamber was only using the pacemaker about 77% of the time now. My last 2 visits in was in the 90's. I ha...