oh one more thing....what does pacing mean? i think at my check up they said I was pacing at 20% .....is this referring to my natural heartbeat or the beats the pacemaker is causing? Can someone explain this to me too?

 

OMG! I am so scared. I haave had my PM for just over a week. First time ever and I just happen to find this website. The more I read others posts the more questions I have. I know my PM is rate responsive and dual chamber. I don't know what all this setting stuff means. All I was told was its rate responsive and it won't go above a certain amount or ever drop below 60. Does this mean that if my high is 150 then my pulse will not go above that? I want to try to get back into my workout routine and my target heart rate is around 160-170. Which I usually had no problem reaching before the PM I could get my heart rate up to between 160-180. How will this affect me. I am so confused. My drs main concern was my resting HR staying at 40 or belo...

 

Hi all :)
I have a question about the PM settings and ones BP
this confuses me and so I thought I would ask :)
my top setting on my PM is 120 bottom is 50...my BP usually is 120/78 pulse is usually 62 or so... okay so yesterday I was outside with hubby doing yardwork and weed wacking,mowing etc etc.... I sometimes feel sob so yesterday when I did I came in and took my BP oh and throw in some PVC's too anyways, my BP was 130/83 pulse 78... so would the low setting of 120 on my PM cause the sob that sometimes I experience? this happens when I walk hills too? should it be set higher the PM settings - I am fine with the lower part at 50..
So can someone please explain to me about these settings
and the BP ? o...

 

I had written last week about wanting my upper limit raised as it was set very low. I thought it was 120 BUT it is only at 100! No wonder I would try to exercise and be huffing and puffing!

After meeting with my Cardio he actually listened to me and said that the upper limit is the highest the PM tracks. I said - remember my hr drops during exercise so it is not going to go up on its own....

He agreed and tried to reach the EP to discuss. of course they weren't available. So he scheduled me for a treadmill test to see what was going on. That should have been today. BUT he called me yesterday after talking to the EP. The good news is they agree to just change my settings so I can exerise and get into a fat burn...

 

I am about 8 weeks post PM surgery. I feel like I got my life back - getting more energy everyday and feeling great. I had my appointment and asked about the % of pacing my PM is doing because I always see that number on this site. I was told that my atrium is doing the pacing and my problem was with the conection between the atrium and the ventricles. My ventricles would only beat about once for every 3 or 4 beats of the atrium. My doc told me I was paced at 100% even though I am not being paced at 100%. I thought I understood and now I am not sure. She told me that with a ventricular block they can't wait for the heart to decide to beat so they always set the PM at 100% for a clean bump, bump beat. But sometimes my heart will bea...

 

Hi everyone! I have an appointment Friday with my Cardio to discuss changing my PM settings. I have thought long and hard about this as everything is going ‘OK’ and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to mess with them. BUT I think the time has come. I have AV Block 2nd Degree Mobitz 1. My hr mostly drops during exercise. I have only had the PM for about 1 ½ years so this is all still new to me. They had turned on my rate response to a low setting early on as I was still having sob going upstairs. That helped a lot.
I had been limited to exercising in a pool as I had a torn Achilles tendon. Now I am finally on land. I have a lot of weight to lose and have been trying to increase my routines. I started walking – which is fine on the...

 

someone suggested a biventricular pacer....this is what I wear
its called a 3 lead pacemaker, crt is another name....this is my pacer and its for heart failure......but still had to go to emergency as my lungs were filled with fluid.....and I dont have to tell you that awful feeling...this is the 2nd new pacer...put in jan.this year and they said it was working fine.......but still had to get rid of the fluids in the E.R........they also tolds me it is a strong bigger one they put in this time.....was also told although the pacer pulses the heart and squeezes it, your own natural heart does it's own function and it was not working hard enough to get rid of all the fluids.....so they upped the lasix to 60 mg's a day and the potassium ...

 

I had my first pacemaker implanted in 2000 following a failed ablation for atypical atrial flutter - had a few events thereafter then was free of events for 8 years (taking 5mg Bisoprolol & Warfarin therapy daily).

2nd pacemaker implanted July 2008 and all went well until January 2010 when the pacing check was failing to pick up 'p' waves - nothing done other then monitor in 6 months (June 2010). Just two days before the check up AF returned - confirmed at the check up, again the 'p' waves were not being picked up. My pacemaker is programmed to shut down when I am in AF. The technicians seemed baffled for a solution and said they would contact the Cardiologist for advice and contact me further later that week - basically "Go ...

 

That's right after the year I have had I am so happy to share that I just had an excellent doctor visit!

I have had a stress test and a heart echo. Had my new pacemaker interrogated and everything is clicking and humming along as it should!

I asked about my medications, (no change) I asked about my old pacemaker... as in "Where is it?" (they seemed to have lost it). The EP asked me if I knew the serial number and I said "sure" and said that I could email it to him if he needed it. He said no that was ok. It has just occurred to me that he probably asked me that question because he was going to send me one he had instead of the one that I actually used! He was very curious as to why I wanted it in the first place.

click to read more...

 

I have had my pm for about 6 months and had a check up, the st jude rep checked my settings,90% pacing upper, lower was 2% which was a surprise since that leed was put in for insurance. Mine is set at 70bpm. Not sure if rate response is set. My problem was bradycardia, in 30'sbpm, fainting episodes. was able to go up.

Anyway my question is does anybodies cardiologist turn their pm off during their check up to see how your heart is naturally. To see if our hearts are the same or have gotten worse.

 

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....

 

Hey all

Just had my yearly check up (7 yrs this year) & extremely happy to report Dr doesn't want to see me for another year & reckons he would look at replacing pacey within 9 months after that. I am so happy that my first pacey is lasting the distance (have met a few people who only got 5 yrs). So I just wanted to share how happy I was with the only people in the world who really do understand the highs & lows of being wired for life!
Cheers everyone :-)

 

At my last appointment they changed my low setting from 50 down to 45. They did this because while laying in bed my RHR would get down and very close to 50 if not hit 50 and I could feel the pacing here and there.

But then over this weekend I had dizziness-something I haven't had in a very long time. It could have been the warm weather and working in the yard-not totally sure. My blood pressure was good so I don't think it was anything serious. Other than a flashback to when the block was discovered in the first place. OYE!

I guess I'm a little confused at how the 45 really works. I guess it goes back to the pausing/timing question. If my heart pauses for a period of time does the PM kick in? Or does it wait for my RH...

 

I went in for my three month check up and the doctor changed some settings. First when I was getting checked by the tech he asked me to walk up and down the hall so I did and then when I sat back down my heart was skipping beats and going up and down. He said your still having sinus node problems but he said that the pacemaker only came on when the pause was too long while I was walking and when I sat down. He said I was pacing 41% overall. That is all he said and left. Then the doctor came in and he said he was going to adjust some things. He turned up the rate response time. He said there are three settings for the rate response. The rate sensitivity, rate response time and rate incline. I am not sure what he meant??? He said that it was...

 

NO CT scan for me! That is my good news for the day. That and I have now lost 5 pounds!

As I understand it when the nurse asked the Dr. about my questions he asked to see my record. He looked it over and said "Susan is right she should not have a CT scan nor does she need one"! My CT has been cancelled!

AWESOME! hee hee... I can't believe how HAPPY I am. He went on to say that I would need a Stress Test, a Heart Echo and something else. Non-invasive procedures. hee hee. I really am very happy. He can do as he medically wishes with me as long as he isn't injecting iodine into my veins!

I would also like to add: That I received the BEST ADVICE EVER here at this site and that was to ASK WHY DO I NEED THIS ...

 

My CT scan was scheduled for today. I called and had it rescheduled for later this month. While I had the nurse on the phone I asked her why the Dr. had ordered this test for me? I went on to explain that I am very allergic to the contrast iodine used in the CT scan and if I am expected to place myself in such a precarious position I need to know why. She had no answers. She was evasive, said she didn't know why and that she would ask the Dr. and call me back. That was at 8:30 this morning. I have yet to receive a reply.

There is one thing for sure, and that is, that I will not being having ANY CT scans without an explanation of what he is checking for and why he feels this is necessary.

I am no longer intimidated by...

 

So I visited with the fine EP today. Started out kind of weird because the physicians assistant came in and interrogated my pacemaker. Usually I have a nurse do it, so that was a bit odd, she was very nice though. My EP walked in the door and no joke he said "hey, how is my problem patient". Really? Dang, I guess I am his problem patient but I hadnt seen nor talked to his office for 3 month which for me is a record, but apparently he knew what was going on with all of my other health issues. I told him I have come to like my pacemaker now because it has "sank" so it is now flat with my chest.. and now on the other side I have this retarded Port A Cath that sticks out like a ball in my chest. I sure hope it sinks like my pacemaker di...

 

Well, today in the snail mail a very interesting letter arrived. it appears that the dear cardiologist has determined that I (the patient) needs a CT scan. What in the world I thought!

My appt. was set for Wed. There is the holiday on Monday, they're out of the office on Tuesday and the appt. is for Wednesday at 9am. I called them and just caught one of the staff in the office.

You see I suffered a very bad reaction to the contrast iodine that is used in the test. So I have to take a lot of benedryl before the test. I can't drive when I take benedryl because I can't stay awake. I never take the stuff because I can't function. There is no one to drive me and when I mentioned this to the staff she asked me why I neede...

 

My pacemaker is now checked via home monitoring. I send readings from my pacemaker to the hospital every three months. But I am never told what the results are and when I called and asked was told "no news is good news" I have not seen a doctor or indeed a nurse or technician for two years. Is my experience normal? Am I worrying too much?

Thanks

 

I went in today for my first 3 month check after having the pacemaker installed. The tech checked everything but didn't tell me any of the readings. Why do they make you ask the questions like; how much is it pacing? How long does it say the batteries have left etc. Anyway I asked about the transtelephonic transmitter and how do I get one. Mine should be coming in a couple of weeks. Does anyone know if that method of monitoring is as effective as actually going to the clinic? Also, is it possible in an electrical storm if lightning could go through the phone into the transmitter and then into my pacemaker. Maybe my questions sound kind of stupid, but I am new to all this.