10 Hours Later Post PM Inplant

Wwll finally got my PM don't know what to think yet, was a Brady pt who lived in the 30's was at 33 when I went it they sey me HR at 50 - 139.with rate response on Well did a few trips down the hall and felt this kind of tightness in my chest towards the end of the hall do I need to give it time to adjust the rep is coming tonorrow tocheck me b4 they send me off... Like to hear others 1 st dsys experience.

Sittin in the Philly VA cardio ward but they didn't put a monitor on so I can track things

John

2 Comments

Early feelings

by ElectricFrank - 2011-07-23 01:07:42

Your observations are common, but depend on several things.

Depending what you had in the way of anesthesia you could be experiencing some of the after effects. The procedure can be done with anything from being totally out, through having one of the amnesia sedatives, to staying totally awake with a local numbing drug. Each has it's advantages and disadvantages, and rarely do they volunteer to give you the choice.

Another issue is the one you mentioned. The pacemaker comes from the factory with settings that will work for most anyone, but rarely are optimum. I'm glad you are having a rep check it out as they tend to be much more knowledgeable than the cardiologist. A question to clear up is whether your brady is caused by a sinus dysfunction or an AV block. The first requires Rate Response, while the second does not. In fact RR just gets in the way since your own natural sinus pacer is pacing the atrium in a natural way, and the RR can conflict with it. This can give the funny feeling in the chest you mention.

The default settings nearly always have RR on. So this is something to discuss with the rep. The key is whether you have Sick Sinus Syndrome (req RR on) or one of the AV type blocks (RR should be off).

As for myself, I have AV Block. In my case my HR suddenly dropped to 40 and then slowly worked its way down to around 26 before the implant. I chose to be awake with no sedatives so felt it when they turned the pacer on in OR. What a great feeling! I was out walking at home the next day. Then as I picked up I started noticing the effects of the RR. They also had my upper limit set to 120 which was very limiting. At the time I was 74 yrs and had a bit of flap over having the RR turned off and the upper limit set to 150. I was pretty assertive about it and again what a different. I'm now 81 yrs and just got back from camping and hiking in the Sierra's at 8,500'. I've also Jeeped into the Rockies at 13,000' so the setting must be working pretty good.

By the way, ask the rep for a copy of the printed report, both pre and post programming. Get it established that you want these at every checkup. It tells a lot about how your heart is responding to the pacer and what the current settings are. Their are several of us who can help you understand the important numbers.

Keep us posted,

frank

Thanks Frank

by themixer - 2011-07-23 08:07:49

Thanks Feank just got up took a walk really hard to tell in this confined place bit ill tell ya hope at 81 I'm as fit as you are I'm 57 and was diagnosed w Svt in 91 had 2 ablation attemps whick kinda worked in 2001 I got Afib and 3 ablation and 200 burns later got Sick Sinus Syn dur to being ablated a bit close to the SN I opted for no pacemaker and lived in the 30-40 heighborhood for a wjile last year we had to move to. New home asnd the stress kicked my afib in my Cardio told me I had wsited long enough and it was time ..I did start to suffer shortness of breat and light headedness so here I am.. They did sedate me but I was awatk had one hell of a headache today on top of the surgery paid ..but I wll prob go home todats and see how it goes once I'm home in my own wnviorment. I got a medtronics adapta pm ...

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

John

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Member Quotes

The pacer systems are really very reliable. The main problem is the incompetent programming of them. If yours is working well for you, get on with life and enjoy it. You probably are more at risk of problems with a valve job than the pacer.