Pacemaker problems - HELP!

Father in the hospital with SOB. He had a Boston Scientific pacemaker put in about 2 years ago. Leads broke in fall of 2010 through no fault of his. Replaced the leads and the Dr. left the pacemaker at 35%. He was going to the hospital every couple of weeks because of SOB. Went back over Christmas.....pacemaker was turned up to 70 some percent. He still can't breath!

Now they are saying he (suddenly) has COPD. Heart Dr. came in today....did not do ANYTHING and left! I've read some of these postings that say SOB can be caused by a pacemaker that is not properly set. Please someone help! I'm worried that he is going to get worse! Thank you all!

2 Comments

SOB & CAUSE

by SMITTY - 2011-02-03 11:02:09

Hello,

Yes an improperly adjusted pacemaker can as well a about a thousand other things cause SOB. For example, I have been plagued with this problem several times since my heart disease made its presence known in 1982. At the beginning I had 3 partially blocked and one totally blocked artery that caused me to have quadruple bypass surgery which really solved my problem then. Then since I got my PM in 2000 it has been partially blocked arteries and stents solved the SOB problem each (3) time. Another time or two, or three it was a PM that badly needed some settings adjustments. Then recently (I'm having another problem with SOB now) my doctor said it was most likely due to my age (I'm almost 82) and lack of exercise. My reply was how in the hell can I exercise if I can't breathe? (I'll get more tests in a couple of weeks)

Now please don't jump to the conclusion that your father's SOB is caused by one or more of the things that have caused my SOB.

I have tried to give some examples of the many things that can cause SOB. We have to leave the diagnosis to our doctor and unfortunately your father seems to have one that does not see the importance of his problem, or the need to help him.

My suggestion is try to have a talk with his Dr and if you can't get satisfaction, it is time to get another opinion. SOB can be helped 99% of the time and all it takes is a Dr. that really cares.

One last word, to answer your question, of course it can get worse, but my experience is that it gets worse very slowly.

I wish your father the best,

Smitty

Settings

by ElectricFrank - 2011-02-04 02:02:41

Either the doc is misleading you or possibly you don't understand what he is saying. There are no 35% or 70% settings in the pacemaker. There are readings that show what percent of the time each chamber of the heart is being paced, but that amount can't be adjusted,

So I agree that you may want to get a second opinion. Smitty is right on with his suggestions.

good luck,

frank

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