paced beats vs pvc

Of course.

by donr - 2018-07-11 09:50:51

They look dramaticallt different.  No way to describe it w/ words, however.BUT:  1) the PVC comes earlier than it should by a noticable amount. 2) The PVC looks considerably different than a normal QRS Ventricular wave form, w/ the Q & S parts badly deformed.  3)  There is NO P Wave preceding the PVC.  4) There is a noticably longer time interval between the PVC & the next normal beat.

As for a pacxed ventricular beat:  1) It looks normal in every way.  2)  There is an itty, bitty, teeny, weeny "Pacer Spike" preceding the QRS complex.  Yiu have to look very hard to find it sometimes, but it wil be there.  3)  The paced QRS has a very slight delay - a couple milliseconds - that you probably cannot see.

Donr

Strange Things

by dean20 - 2018-07-11 10:53:35

Thank you DonR

The reason for my question.....long story short....i believe my pacemaker to be faulty. i have had a trouble free 4 years until last year i fell ill suddenly. i have had a series of unexplained events where voltage and settings change magically. my Dr doesnt beleive this and believe someone must have tampered with the pacemaker. I had a series of holters and ecgs and the only thing he keeps saying is that i suffer from pvc's. Not only have i never suffered from them, 6 months ago he did an ep study to investigate why i am ill. found nothing and turns out my ventricular lead turned on magically. apparently sometimes pacemakers go into test mode and dont come out. so he changes auto capture from adaptive to monitor only. every 1 am i would still get sick until he switched it off.

He changes my mode to atrium paced only (because i keep insisting ventricle lead is pacing me somehow) and suddenly i get the sensation in the throat like vt lead is being tested when i exert myself. he says its pvc's

my last effort was to turn the unit off by setting the pacemaker way low....i feel way better off. no symptoms other than those assosiated with 36-40bpm.

Because the dr cant find any proof other than my own...he will not change the pacemaker. im now stuck with a pacemaker i cant turn on and now suffer from the same condition which caused me to have it in the first place.

what should i do?

really

by The real Patch - 2018-07-11 12:15:35

get a new doctor

2nd question

by Gotrhythm - 2018-07-11 13:05:16

PVCs happen. Sometimes you feel them, sometimes you don't. There's a chance you've been having them for years and never knew it, because you didn't feel them and since doctors consider them normal, you were never told. Or you may have only developed them lately. Our hearts and heart conditions change over time. The settings seem perfect for a while and then we develop new arrythmias and require adjustments.

The occasional PVC ususally isn't a problem, but having a lot of them in a row, or one every other beat can make you feel bad, because although a PVC is "normal" it's an inefficient way for your heart to beat.

Regardless of when you developed PVCs, it sounds like you are having them now. How can you know for sure? Well, it isn't something you have to take on faith. Even to the untrained eye, a PVC is actually easy to see on an ECG. Ask to be shown your ECG and have the PVCs pointed out. You'll be able to see how the PVCs are different from other heartbeats. Alternatively, there are a number of electronic smart phone apps that will give you a real time ECG of your heart beat. You'll be able to see what happens to the wiggly line when you feel what you feel.

A PVC is something your heart is doing by itself. Sometimes the pacemaker is interacting with the PVCs in a way that makes the PVCs worse, but unfortunately, even with the ventricle lead turned off, you can still have PVCs.

I don't know what to make of your assertion that the ventricular lead "magically turned on" or "someone tampered" with your settings. And I don't know what you mean by "a pacemaker I can't turn on."

It sounds like you and your doctor are not communicating well. A pacemaker that's not pacing fast enough to actually do any good seems like a huge waste to me. Maybe you need to go to someone else--with an open mind to the possibility that he too might tell you you are having PVCs.