PM check up

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 not responding fast enough to my walking before and then asked me to walk again. When I sat back down he said that was all the pacemaker while you were walking. How did it feel? I told him that I did not feel as out of breath as before. He said well hopefully this will also help your pauses and the ups and downs that your still having but said I could take an extra sotalol if I needed it when it was bad. He wanted me to come back in two months. I was hoping it would be six and not sure why I have to come back so soon. Since he changed things my heart rate has been a lot faster and now when I am resting it won't go below 79 which before it would sit at 69 which is my low setting. Why is it doing that? I am having some headaches but I do feel better when I am moving around so not sure if I should wait this out to see if the headaches go away. I really don't understand what is going on now. Any ideas??

3 Comments

Rate response settings

by ElectricFrank - 2010-06-07 02:06:22

The RR settings tell the pacer how to interpret your motion during activities like walking. Sensitivity sets the lower activity threshold where RR starts to increase your HR. Response time sets how quickly the effect starts when you reach the sensitivity setting. Rate incline set how quickly your HR increases with activity level.

Hope this makes sense. It can be difficult to visualize from a description like this.

Be glad he is having you back sooner than you expected. Getting the settings right is a trial and error process and the sooner you get it right the better you will feel.

Good luck,

frank

thanks guys

by nat36 - 2010-06-07 05:06:32

Well Frank that makes sense. Thanks for explaining it to me.
Bob, it was already on but too high to begin with so they turned it down. Now they changed it again. I did not realize that the RR had so many settings.
I just hope these headaches go away! Also do not understand why my heart rate is higher when resting now. That does not make sense, since he did not adjust my resting rate. I guess you guys are right better to go back quicker and get this right!!

Hi Nat36

by Bionic Man - 2010-06-07 08:06:36

I hope they have you feeling better soon. I'd be happy he's having you come back sooner also. At least you know he's on top of things. My rate response was turned on a while back and it has made all the difference to me. I just had an interrogation two weeks ago and they want me to go make in August to check again. I'm alright with it. So far they've done a good job.
Good luck with the appt and hope they work everything out,
Bob

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