accelerometer issues

I'm still in the position of having my St Jude 5816 accelerometer
pace me at my max heart rate (close to 160) with any running,
even very slow. I have asked many people, including my
cardiologist, why I'm not feeling better in my running and why
I'm not improving in my ability to run (pace, distance, comfort).
Nobody seems to have an answer, and my cardiologist says
that he doesn't see a downside to my heart rate going up to the
max so quickly and staying there, even on a very slow run.

I traded e-mails with a friend of mine who is also a runner and he said something that may be the key. He said that, although
he doesn't see any physical danger with the heart rate being at
the max for a long time, a max heart rate is not SUSTAINABLE for a long period of time. In one way, it is sustainable, in that it stays there as long as I am running, which could be 30 min or more. But I feel uncomfortably out of air the whole time and
would be happy to quit after 10 min. I'm hoping to get the
pacemaker adjusted soon.

Does anybody have any thoughts on this issue or have similar
problems? I've heard of cases where a runner had a similar
problem, had the pacemaker adjusted, and then were able to
run better and more comfortably, but I've never been given a
good explanation as to why this is so. I would love to be able
to explain to my cardiologist why the pacemaker is the main
issue with my lack of running progress.

Regards, Chris Hair

1 Comments

Something Not Right

by J.B. - 2010-05-31 06:05:04



Hi Chris Hair,

Are you sure it is the pacemaker that is sending your heart rate to 160. According to the DOB in your bio and the formula St. Jude uses (200-age X .9) the maxim setting on your rate response would be about 120. If it is higher than that and it is not your heart's native pacemaker driving up your heart rate, you might ask your doctor why it is set that high.

As for the SOB, that may have nothing to do with your heart rate. While I am in no way saying this is your problem, but I had a problem with SOB after I got my pacemaker. I had no other symptoms and several different settings adjustments on my PM were tried and none helped. Then one day my cardiologist said let's do a heart cath and see if it will tell us what is going on? He did and turned out I had a partially blocked artery and all it took was an angioplasty and a stent. The difference these made was unbelievable.

Again, I don't say that is your problem but I give it as an example of when it comes to solving problems of the heart, tunnel vision can be bad..

J.B.

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