Endurance

Hi everyone, I hope you all are in good spirits. I am a 19-year-old with 7 month old PM. Pre PM life I ran moderate distance races, ½ triathlons, played soccer year round, and competed in bodybuilding. I took roughly 4-6 months off working out regularly due to illness and my PM surgery. As I go back into my exercise routine I find my endurance to be at is ABSOLUTE WORST.  Just curious if anybody else has had this related issue or it’s just me being out of shape haha. Let me know what you think, thanks!


9 Comments

Endurance

by Juliedawn - 2017-06-27 14:21:00

I am following.  It is my fear.  My goal this yr was a half a month and 100 mile before the end of the yr.  I delayed my pm surgery a week to get my june race in.  Doc said i cant run july which means i am looking at doing one on the 29th anyway so i can cover the month.  However, it will be a half w zero training.  

endurance

by Tracey_E - 2017-06-27 15:49:49

Some of it is being a bit out of shape, your body has had a hard year. But it's also likely some of it is your settings. Why did you get it? The settings they send us home with are often for the average pacer patient, who is a lot older and more sedentary than you.  Talk to them and tell them what's happening. It's common to take a few tries to get it fine tuned to our needs. 

Worked Out At Home While I Was Recovering

by Shaun - 2017-06-27 16:58:11

While I was recovering I took the winter months off from cycling and instead I worked out indoors on a Turbo Trainer. When I eventually got back out on the road again my endurance had suffered somewhat but it soon bounced back. My pacemaker is not needed though while I'm cycling because it only clicks in when my HR drops below 60 bpm.

Response

by miranda_pucc - 2017-06-27 17:44:39

I was born with a full AV heart block, beat all odds until a year or so ago. I got the settings changed onc. While I was doing cardio I would feel dizzy, so we bumpped them up. 

av block

by Tracey_E - 2017-06-27 18:22:43

Upper limit is usually the culprit with av block. They start it at 120-130. Our sinus nodes work normally, we just need the pacer to help the ventricles keep up but it can only go as high as the upper limit. Something else that can happen is there is a setting to help with afib. If it detects a fast rate, it can automatically put us in an artificial 2:1 block which means it paces 1 ventricular beat to each 2 atrial. That's great if we're in afib, it's like hitting a wall if we're just working out and hit the upper limit. That can be turned off. 

I, too, have congenital av block. I should have been paced at your age but they waited until i was older (27). It's great that you could do so much! I was never able to do any sports before I was paced. I'm 50 now, have 2 kids your age, am on my 5th pacer, am healthy and active. Once the settings are fine tuned, you should find that you feel a lot better now when you work out, and it doesn't slow you down or affect your life much at all.

endurance

by cath19 - 2017-06-28 05:16:01

Hi I have had a pacemaker for a great deal of my adult life as with any operation you need at least 6 weeks to recover, build it up slowly then see where your are at, I never did have the same stamina since having once however I have enjoyed a better quality of life and got to see my children grow up. I am not quite as active as I would like however that is due to other health matters.

ditto

by dwelch - 2017-06-29 22:22:17

As with yourself and TraceyE I also was born with complete AV block.  Like yourself I got pacer number one at 19.  Very athletic (at the time) BMX, Skate (this was the 1980s, vert ramps), other.  the pacer didnt slow me down.  again this was the 1980s the tech was much simpler, it took a good part of that first year to get the settings right.  Dont wait for your next appointment, get on the phone see if you can get your EP to call you back and or have a visit.  The pacer should have logs of your activity and show if you are banging into the upper limit a lot for example or if you are having other events.  they can go from that or perhaps give you a halter (and while on it for that 24 hours or whatever, go do the things that make you feel this way) and then see how you are pacing.

You should be able to get back to normal, some of it is you have had a bad year and maybe are catching back up, some of it is probably just settings.

 

Endurance

by Sarbear - 2017-06-30 11:42:37

I'm 26 and have been paced for about a year and a half.  I think once you get back into your routine a bit, you will get back your endurance.  Like others have said, they may need to fine tune your settings, but there is a good chance its also just the lost time working out that is affecting you.  From a fellow paced triathlete -good luck with everything! 

running soon after receiving a PM

by dobrojim - 2017-07-20 15:30:00

60 yo man treated with PM for bradycardia (I think), slow pulse which would pause 4 sec and be insufficiently responsive to exertion. I got a PM, BioTronik in late March in an in and out in one day procedure at Hosp in Fairfax VA. 2 weeks later I got it tweaked by the company rep who said I was a challenging case to optimize. 2 days later I ran a half marathon in 1:51 on a challenging course winning an age-group award in the process. My EP was totally informed of my intended actions and did not disapprove. The CLS model biotronik has completely revitalized me. I just attempted a 100 mile ultramarathon in VT last week but feel short of finishing getting to 73 miles before dropping. I may be an unusual case so don't take anything I say as a recommendation for what you can do. I'd run 44 marathons and over 30 ultramarathons before ever getting a PM.

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