Pacemaker Types

I have had 3 pacemakers so far, with the first Medtronic Dual Chamber being implanted in 2001 after septicemia caused total heart block when I was 40.  Prior to that, I had zero 'medical' history other than 3 normal pregnancies.

The second pacemaker (also dual chamber Medtronic) was implanted 2006.

The third pacemaker, this time a Sorin single chamber was implanted in 2015.  One of the leads from the Medtronic pacemakers never did work, but since I have never had any symptoms, they just capped the non-working lead off.

Since having the Sorin pacemaker implanted, I have developed and take meds for high blood pressure, a beta blocker for an abnormal heart beat and now a blood thinner!  I am only 56!!!

I have taken myself off the blood thinner as of today (my cardiologist is aware) as my energy level plummeted to less than zero and every bone in my body aches.  As well, I can't walk more than 100 yards without getting tired.  Normally, I am pretty active and in decent shape physically!

My question is this:  Could it be possible that I am not reacting very well to the Sorin pacemaker?  I had absolutely no problems when I had both of the Medtronic pacemakers, but have had no end of health problems since having the Sorin implanted.

Feedback would be greatly appreciated!

2 Comments

What does the PM do?

by BillH - 2017-05-16 21:23:29

If you have a complete heart block that means that the trigger signal is not getting from the upper chamber to the lower chamber.

Typically a 2 chamber PM is used with the atria lead (upper chamber) only used to monitor when the sinus node fires.

Then the ventrial lead (bottome chamber) is used to monitor if it fires and if it does not fire then the PM triggers the ventrial.

Basically the PM just acts as a bridge.

But if one lead is not working then it must be the atrial lead. In that case the PM has to figure out when and how to fire the bottom. And since it can tell when the sinus mode speeds up during activity then Rate Response feature of the PM needs to be used.

I believe that the Rate Response in the Sorin is very different than the Medtronics. And with both units there are a number of different settings that control this.

Ask your doctor about this. Might needs some adjustments.

confused

by dwelch - 2017-05-17 00:44:20

If you have complete heart block then I dont understand why 1) if the leads were not working that they didnt immediately go back in and fix that 2) gave up on dual chamber.   Something here is not making sense (to me, could just be my confusion).

 

 

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