Hi Pacer friends. I have just arrived here at my office and was all ready to post my news when a client walked in so I had to logout and take care of him. Yippee for Clients! I like those people. :-)

Anyway, looks like I had a couple of "Remarkable Events" recorded on my Pacemaker since November. Those holidays can trigger some emotions! Yikes. My EJ (Ejection Fraction) is at 55%. Yay!

My Pacemaker is in EOL. Yikes. I still have a few weeks left so we decided that March 5 is the new Pacemaker implant day. I'm excited! I'm getting the new "Accent" with a "Merlin" remote monitoring system. I think this is going to be a new adventure. At least that is what I am telling myself. I did request a pink one with a bunny on...

 

Well, I have come to a realization that I don't like knowing that I have a surgery coming up. I would much rather have it happen as a surprise. I don't enjoy the "waiting period". I'm not used to having these things planned out. All my surgeries/hospital stays have been emergencies. Trust me there have been plenty of those.

I seem to have an overactive imagination and I now know a lot more about pacemakers than I ever thought I would. I know what questions to ask, when to worry, when to call my girlfriends and when to say to my hubby that I need to get some help because I don't feel so good.

Tomorrow is my pacemaker checkup. Tomorrow my cardiologist will probably tell me when he wants to replace my pacemaker. Right no...

 

Pacemaker in Aug. sat had intermittent chest pain for about 3 hrs, intensity coming and going for few seconds at a time. we were out of town so no one to call. yesterday and today the prevalance has been a lot less. some pressure, shortness of breath, and feeling faint (the latter of which is somewhat common.)

looking on internet this seems to be nothing. still i wonder. should i at least call the pm clinic and ask if they can read me? I have a portable machine here in office but have never used it.

thanks.

 

My pacemaker was implanted in June 2009 so I've had it just long enough to become real frustrated with the pacemaker clinic at my cardiologist office. I've had 2 remote pacemaker checks and have no idea what kind of information they get from these checks. I called the nurse at the pacemaker clinic and she told me "if we didn't call you then everything is fine". Well I am a dialysis nurse and we teach and encourage our patients to ask lots of questions, so since this is new to me I asked questions. The pacemaker nurse put me on hold and then came back on the line and said "everything is fine and your next pacemaker check will be in May, have a nice day." I know she didn't look anything up, and oh boy when I see the doctor I intend to l...

 

Hi Everyone! I am 2 and a half weeks post op for pacer insertion. I went for my follow up appt with EP and had my pacer interrogated. As I have read on here I got a printout of the settings and everything. Now I need help deciphering them. I have looked online and at Boston Scientific website but am still confused...I have a DDDR , my lower rate is 75 (which I know is high but before all this my intrinsic rate was in the 80's always and I feel pretty good w/75) and then my "Max tracking rate" is 130. I am 99% atrially paced and 0% ventricular. Does this upper limit mean my heart can't go above that rate? I go back in 10 weeks. I feel pretty good except for a few funky beats now and again. The interrogation showed some PAC's and PVC's but n...

 

My PM was implanted in October, 2009. Everything is going well except I have a bit of burning/stinging often around the area where the PM was placed. It does not last long. What do you think this means?

Also, is there a general time frame for the doctor to monitor
the PM? Should it be checked more often? I went back in November, 2009 for my first check-up, everything was ok, however I did not know the questions to ask and the nurse told me they would monitor it again in six months. Since I joined the PM Club, I am learning more about what to ask when I go to the doctor.

ECB

 

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I read that if the lead to the ventricular is turned back on quite often people feel the benefit of it with my condition. I read this in October I have been thinking about it and going to ring Tech at my hospital but lack of courage and fear of being laughed at stopped me from doing it then all of a sudden I thought what an idiot I am they can only say yeah or nay.

So sorry if that was boring but I was trying to get the sympathy vote because I need your help. I girded my loins not lions this morning and rang I spoke to a lovely man and he said he would see me at my local hospital next Friday 19th and to bring with me the print out of the letters I had read......... with me so far..................

 

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...