Still out of breath

I have had a pacemaker for about 18 months. I am 67 years old and had never had a heart problem and had led a very active and healthy life. Then I experienced a very low heart rate, was getting out of breath going from my car to my office, and ended up in the hospital having pacemaker surgery I. still get out of breath when climbing stairs, walking uphill, or walking at more than a slow pace. My doctors are at a loss and tell me to just keep exercising. A change in the beta blocker I was on to another didn't seem to help. I swim and use an exercise bike without problems. Has anyone else had this experience and did it get better?

3 Comments

diagnosis?

by Tracey_E - 2009-12-27 01:12:36

Did you have anything other than a very low heart rate or tell you what caused the low rate, like sick sinus or av block? Because if bradycardia all you have you shouldn't need a beta blocker, they slow down a fast heart rate. A beta blocker will keep your heart from going faster so that could be your problem. If you have sick sinus, you may need rate response adjusted. If you have av block, you may need your upper limit raised. Have they put you on a treadmill and watched what your heart does on exertion? That will tell you pretty quickly if it's the upper limit or rate response.

What kind of doctor are you seeing and who does your pm checks? A electrophysiologist may be a better choice than a cardiologist if you've never seen one.

Out Of Breath

by J.B. - 2009-12-27 02:12:38

I'm 78 and have had my pacemaker for 2 years. I was having problems similar to your before I got a pacemaker. The pacemaker did nothing for me but a stent a couple of months later worked wonders. After the getting the stent I started to have an irregular heart beat and the doctor was put me on a beta blocker. I just thought I had problems before they put me on that mistake. I got to the point where any physical activity would bring me to almost a complete halt. So far I have tried 3 different beta blockers ones and got the same result for each.

Now I can say the beta blocker slowed my natural heart rate to the point the pacemaker had to work all time, which it did as I had a nice even heart rate of 60 BPM, but the price I was paying from the side effects of the beta blocker was too high. I finally had to change doctors who made some changes in my pacemaker settings and while I'm not running any marathons now, I am able to do much more than before I got the pacemaker or the stent. The arrhythmia took care of it self after the changes in the pacemaker settings, which I have no idea what they were, except my heart rate is now 70.

re: diagnosis

by jolo - 2009-12-28 03:12:11

After the insertion of my pacemaker I experienced a number of post-surgical problems, among them atrial fib. That's why I am on a beta blocker. The atrial fib continues to happen though I am mostly unaware. It shows up on the every six month pacemaker readout. No one has diagnosed Sick Sinus. My doctor tells me that although my pacemaker is set at 60, it is rate responsive. Thanks for your comments, TraceyE and J.B.

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