help

My mother has a pace maker and the doctor said it is running off the backup battery. She is very tired and has trouble breathing. Her surgery is in two weeks.
I dont know if she can wait that long.
Should I just take her to the hospital or wait it out.
She cannot hardly do anything. Little things tire her out!!
I am so nervous and afraid.
She has to have a electrocardigram next week then the week after she goes for surgery.
I am so afraid for her.

4 Comments

battery

by thomast - 2010-07-22 01:07:13

If the ERI (elective replacment indicator) is on the insurance will usually pay for replacement. I have medicare and it did, If ERI is on it should be beeping her every day at the programed time.

EOL

by Tracey_E - 2010-07-22 09:07:44

It sounds like her battery is in EOL, or end of life mode. She is perfectly safe in EOL mode, but as you are finding out it doesn't always feel too good. What has happened is the pm has cut back functionality to conserve power. This mode usually lasts for three months so she should be fine for two weeks. In this mode, it will make sure her hr never drops to a dangerously low level. What it's not doing now is going up and down as needed with activity, that's why she's feeling so tired.

Is the dr aware how bad she's feeling, and have you asked to move the date up and do it sooner? I'd definitely call, esp since she's having trouble breathing.

Should be okay

by The Fish - 2010-07-22 10:07:13

My Mom is 97 and we went through the same thing with her about 3 months ago. Her battery was on EOL. She waited about 1 month before they could get her new one. I too was quite concerned for her as she was extremely tired. Anyway, I agree with Tracey. Call your Dr. and ask if he can move it to a date sooner. All should be well. Kind thoughts and positive vibes to you and your Mom.
Howard

Need New Pacemaker

by SMITTY - 2010-07-22 12:07:27

Hello Smily,

I agree with what Tracey has told you about the EOL mode as a pacemaker has no backup battery. There is just one battery and when its voltage ranches a certain level the pacemaker will shift to what I call a self preservation mode to make its battery last as long as possible. But if she has a Medtronic pacemaker that was implanted more couple of years ago there is more to the story. At least there was for me.

A Medtronic pacemaker goes into what is called a VVI (EOL) mode when the battery reaches a certain level. What this meant for me is that before the battery got low my pacemaker was set to keep my heart beat at 80 BPM. It did this by pacing the atrial about 90% of the time and the ventricle about 3% of the time.

When it went into VVI (EOL) mode it quit pacing the atrial any and went to pacing the ventricle 100% of the time and keeping my heart rate at a fixed rate of 65 BPM. When this happened I went from feeling pretty good for an 80 year old with a 28 year history of heart problems to being an 80 year old that doubted he would make 81. To say I felt bad is an understatement. Lucky for me was able to get my pacemaker checked out and get a replacement within a week. With the replacement I returned to feeling as well as I had before.

So if your mother says she feels bad I say believe her. As for her needing to go to the hospital, I can't say, but I do know why she may think that. My suggestion is see if the doctor will replace her PM sooner than the current schedule.

For what it is worth, they did tell me I didn't have to worry because in the VVI mode my pacemaker woud last at least three months. What I didn't bother to tell them was as bad as I felt I wasn't sure I wanted to last three months like that.

I wish your mother the best,

Smitty

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