Mild shortness of breath

Had my ICD put in 3 weeks ago. Heart rate prior was around 53, pacer set at 70. When I hike up hill, gte winded much quicker than prior to pacer. Any one else notice this when pacer set higher than their normal heart rate?

6 Comments

Mild SOB

by J.B. - 2009-08-31 06:08:34

Hello Clark,

I take it you may be new to the Pacemaker Club, so let me say welcome. We hope you find the site helpful.

I haven't had that particular item happen to me, but I'm not surprised you have found it, not that there is anything wrong with your pacemaker. It is often times a case of a new pacemaker not coming with all the settings we need them and it sometimes takes a few times of tweaking the pacemaker to get its full benefit.

Also, there are many other things that could case of the shortness breath so don't hang all the blame on the new pacemaker until you can get things checked out.

You will need to talk to your doctor and while you are at it ask if the rate response is on. In case you are not familiar with the rate response, it is a pacemaker feature that senses physical activity and increases the heart rate accordingly. If it is already on it may need some tweaking itself.

If I can give some advice it would be to tell you to remember that the doctor may think everything is fine unless you tell him differently. That goes for when the pacemaker is new or several years old.

Good luck,

J.B

Upper limit or RR

by ElectricFrank - 2009-08-31 11:08:37

The most likely cause of the symptoms you are having is the Upper Ventricular Pacing Limit setting of the pacer. This is HR at which the pacemaker starts limiting pacing to hold your HR down.

Most pacemakers come from the factory with the upper limit set to 120 and the lower limit to 70. This gives a good starting point while the surgery is healing and most people aren't very active. It sounds like you are more like me and ready to become active again. My suggestion is to call the doc and ask for a programming session. Ask to have the limits set to more like 55-150bpm. They may be reluctant, but unless you have some serious cardiac condition these should be fine. I had a bit of a flap with them over it, but sure made a difference.

frank

SOB

by ppt - 2009-09-01 03:09:34

I had SOB on exertion for months until they got the settings right ! Persevere for setting changes. They checked my lungs out too to make sure lungs were ok (they were). I am very active so they have reset my upper limit to 140 and the slope has been painstakingly changed from low, to medium, to medium high, to high over a period of 8 weeks. It is now set on high and that made a HUGE difference. Am back at the gym. Sure am not perfectly "fixed" but sure am functional !! Hope this helps.

Thanks to all

by clarkpar4 - 2009-09-01 07:09:43

I owe all you guys. Thanks a million. Called the Doc, he got me in today.To make a story short, they conferred with the P.A. and the Medtronic rep and decided to take my lower from 70 down to 50 and remove the top end all together. Didn't need it at 140 cause it was limiting the top end for no reason. Good going and thanks we have a Doc who listens.

Heart Block

by Katelyn - 2009-09-01 10:09:04

I had a single chamber ICD for 4 years and later developed shortness of breath which was a side effect of heart block that I never use to have. After upgrading my device to a dual chamber device, the problem was fixed! Hopefully that isn't your problem, but keep it in mind. Good luck, hang in there!

J.B.and Frank

by clarkpar4 - 2009-09-01 12:09:12

Thanks you guys. Both comments very helpful. Going in next week to get it reset. Either one of you play golf? How long did you wait to start pplaying??

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