Irregular Beats 3 weeks after Implant

I'm a little concerned. It has been 3 weeks and a 3 days since they implanted with a Saint Jude 2 lead pacemaker for my second degree heart block. Everything seemed fine up till about an hour ago when I sensed an irregular beat. A couple fast then a gap couple fast. It pretty much straightened out after a little while.

Can anyone give me advice about what is going on. Could it be a lead problem?

5 Comments

Irregular Heart Beatr

by SMITTY - 2009-09-13 04:09:28

Hello JMiller

My guess is greater than 90% of us with pacemakers have the irregular heart beat you are describing. Why, I don't know. But unless it is bad enough to cause you pain, or shortness of breath, I would say try to forget it. But to completely satisfy yourself you will probably have to talk to your doctor. But believe me, what you are experiencing is not uncommon.

My guess is that what you are feeling are called PVC, PAC or skip beats. I, like many other have had them for years, and there are times I'll have two or three of these things in a row. Now that will get your attention, but when my heart goes back to a steady rhythm, I don't worry about it.

You say you have had your pacemaker for three weeks. I was not thinking about how you mus be wondering why that pacemaker can't stop the skip beats. Below something I put together for a pacemaker newbie some months ago and it may help you understand why and what you are feeling.

Most people don't feel their pacemakers working. Whether or not you do will depend on your heart rhythm and how your pacemaker is programmed. Your doctor programs your pacemaker to work best for your condition. Talk to your doctor to find out how your pacemaker is programmed and what to expect.

The pacemaker is designed to give preference to the hearts natural pacemakers when making the heart beat. The PM does this by checking to see if the hearts natural PM is going to cause the heart to beat (it does this for both the atrium and the ventricle) before sending an electrical impulse to make the heart beat. The PM continues this checking and sending an impulse as necessary until the heart rate reaches the maximum setting. After that the heart is on its own and the PM will not come into the picture unless it senses that the heart rate is within the range in which it is set to help and needs help, again, in my case that would be 80 to 120.

In my case, my heart rate is never stable. I have PVC, or skip beats, going all time so my PM is constantly sending impulses to keep it at whatever rate my heart’s sensory system is needed for my activity at that particular time. The problem with those PVC and skip beats and this can happen to any of us with a PM, is that they are the result of a signal from my heart’s natural PM that are not good enough to cause a heart beat, but my PM thinks they are good signals and sends no impulse. The result is my heart's natural pacemaker is faking out my PM.

Good luck,

Smitty


Smitty's right...

by ecf2xtreme - 2009-09-13 04:09:51

it sounds like PVCs. When you go for your first interrogation ask if you're having PVCs, your pacemaker counts them.

Ellen

Irregular Heart Beat

by Jmiller - 2009-09-13 06:09:14

Smitty Ellen

Thanks for the comments they helped me greatly, I feel much better. Heart rate is normal now. Of course you start thinking the worst. I will call into my cardiologist to discuss this and also about him raising my upper limit.

Thanks
Jim

Strange beats

by ElectricFrank - 2009-09-13 10:09:27

Sounds very much like PVC's. You likely had them once in a while before the pacemaker, but didn't notice. Getting a pacer tends to make us a bit more sensitive to what our heart is doing.

I've gone though times when according to the checkup report I've had as many as 2500/day.

frank

Outcome of Doctor visit - Irregular Beat

by Jmiller - 2009-09-19 09:09:32

I visited my cardiologist this week and he checked me out for the irregular heart beats I was having for about 2 hrs a day. Of course during the time I was there he could not detect anything abnormal. He check the pacemaker recorder events and found basically nothing. No PVC's, he sad only that it had recorded a mode change on Sept 1 for a short time, he wasn't concerned. He said he made some small adjustment (not sure what) that he didn't think would help the problem I was describing.

Funny thing is I have not had a episode since, 4 days later. ???? I know they were real, my wife felt them. He also said to get up and move around if I start to have them, it might stop them. He also raised my upper limit to 160 so I can exersize as hard as I want.

He said if I started having them again he would hook me up with a halter monitor. The great thing is he gave permission to start swinging the golf clubs after 6 weeks instead of 2 months.

I think I need one of my own monitors. They should teach us how to adjust them and check them on our own.

Thanks for the help to all
Jim

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