You've got to be kidding...

Hi all! Happy Memorial Day! So I had my pacemaker put in March 19th and since then have made nothing but bigger issues then I had before. Pre-pacer I would get dizzy and pass out monthly, nightly I'd feel a bit of a flutter, and occasionally I'd have blurry vision. Now I have all of those more often along with chest pain, feeling like my heart is beating out of control, and sudden naseua. So after multiple visits to my cardiologist, multiple ER trips, and countless pacemaker check ups they decided to do a holter monitor (hmm... you think maybe this would've crossed thier mind a bit earlier...) What they found is I'm having pacemaker mediated tachycardia, which as best as I can understand means that my pacemaker is working over-time and actually causing my heart to beat rapidly (180+ bpm) even though it's not needed at the time. Has anyone else experienced this and how did you deal with it? They said they changed some settings and it should go away but it hasn't. They also have me at 80 bpm currently, which seems a bit high. Thoughts on that? Thanks and have a great evening!

3 Comments

yikes

by Tracey_E - 2009-05-25 09:05:23

80 is definitely high for a minimum, but you're going so fast it sounds like the minimum might be irrelevant. Maybe Frank or Smitty will know, but I don't understand how a pm could work overtime and cause tachycardia, it only goes as fast or work as often as it's programmed to work. Have you considered a second opinion?

pacemaker mediated tachycardia

by ElectricFrank - 2009-05-26 12:05:50

Pacemaker mediated tachycardia is caused by a ventricular signal conducting back to the atrium which senses it and initiates another pace to the ventricles. This starts a circular loop that can result in high HR. Modern pacemaker have PMT sensing and inhibit available as an option.

Another not so well known cause is when the ventricular pacing voltage is set too high. The high pacing pulse can find its way back to the atrial sensing lead causing the same fast loop.

If a doctor or cardiologist is doing the adjustments try to have a consult with the pacemaker manufacturers rep or an EP. You need someone who understands the pacer and can tailor your settings.

good luck,

frank

Thank you

by itsameg - 2009-06-01 05:06:03

Thanks for the feedback. After 3 more visits and a consult with the Medtronic rep (thanks Frank for the suggestion) I believe it's taken care of. Still having other issues but one down is always a bonus. :)

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