Pacemaker settings and blood pressure

Hello Everyone;
I was referred to the EP by my cardiologist due to Ventricular tachycardia. I had a dual chamber PM placed x 6 yrs ago. The EP said that the VT was non-sustained and nothing to worry about. Also my BP was always Low normal and at times very low. He changed some settings while I was visitng and gave me a lot of information on low BP. Well, my BP suddenly became really high!! He said that he didn't do anything to my settings that would effect my BP. He said he just changed a setting that would extend the life of my batteries. Now he thinks that I am overly anxious and that is why my BP is very high!! I suppose my question to others is: Has anyone experience a dramatic rise in BP after their pacemaker settings have been changed?

1 Comments

Hmm....

by Heidiglassmeyer - 2011-07-09 02:07:05

The only time I can remember that my BP went through the roof after a setting change was with exercise. Do you know what your settings are? If you do, maybe you can tell us what they were before and after? Here is what happened to me and maybe it may help?

I also have a dual lead PM after my AV node was completely ablated. So, my EP changed my settings to 50-130. Since my SA (hearts natural pacemaker) works fine, my HR will increase on it's own based on physical activity (sometimes it does it without activity...another topic). Anyway, since my upper setting was 130, that means the PM will only pace my ventricles to 130. So as an example if I were exercising my HR might be 160 but my ventricles could only go to 130. If you could imagine the heart was not beating in sequence and caused my BP to go out of control. Although my EP said that shouldn't happen it did and others on this site confirmed it happened to them.

I'm not sure how my experience would relate to your situation but thought I would share it anyway.

Good luck to you!
Heidi

You know you're wired when...

You have a maintenance schedule just like your car.

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