I thought I was all done with arrhythmias

Sorry to hear of your new issue....

by BOBTHOM - 2018-10-04 23:54:00

Sorry to hear your having a new issue.  I would wonder if it was a lead issue, if one has come lose.  Not sure and it's hard when we rely on these devices and they still don't do what we expect.  Good luck tomorrow calling the clinic, hope it works out for you and it's a simple setting!

New issue

by AgentX86 - 2018-10-05 00:01:08

Thanks.  I sure hope it's not a lead, though I suppose it could be even worse.  I had some settings changed about a month ago but they just increased the "normal living rate" (or something like that) from 105bpm to 110bpm, and increased the rate of increase on notch (#4 to #5, IIRC).

Hopefully they'll have something useful to say tomorrow.

Lead Voltage

by Beattie - 2018-10-05 01:43:44

Hi AgentX86.....I had an issue like this and it was a lead oversensing issue. They reduced the voltage a bit on one of my leads and has helped the feeling i was getting of constant  PVC's. 

They still have more tweaking to do on my next visit to get it right. 

Hope they can get it sorted for you. 

Over sensing

by AgentX86 - 2018-10-05 08:21:29

That sounds like the most reasonable explanation yet. I'll l let you know what they say, later this morning. Thank you!

Device clinic

by AgentX86 - 2018-10-05 11:54:38

I just got off the phone with the device clinic. They didn't see anything unusual that could explain what I was feeling (figures). I made an appointment for Monday for them to turn on some more diagnostics. It continues...

pvc's

by Tracey_E - 2018-10-05 12:30:11

It's possible your heart is trying to heal itself from the ablation. It's really rare to not have some type of escape rhythm come back after a few months, so that's my best guess. Or it could be the settings, but if nothing has changed there then that's less likely and I go back to my first theory, you no longer can say you have no escape rhythm. 

Escape

by AgentX86 - 2018-10-06 00:24:25

I didn't have one (at least above 30bpm)  as of three weeks ago but I hope you're right. It would answer the question and make me feel a lot better.  We'll see what the device clinic has in store for me Monday.  I'll ask about it then. 

Just wondering how you made out.....

by BOBTHOM - 2018-10-08 19:38:29

Hoping everything went well at the device clinic!

Device clinic

by AgentX86 - 2018-10-08 22:33:31

Well, it went.  The technician is very good but didn't have a lot to go on.  The remote interrogation didn't show anything in the EKG portion and when she looked at the diagnstic records, there were only a few short strings of PVCs that showed up in August (and were noted in a previous interrogation). There were some single PVCs indicated too, but they didn't coincide with what I was feeling.  She changed some diagnostic settings but they weren't much more than dropping the number of PVCs from 10 to 6 in a row, before the string is recorded.  I don't expect it to be any better because the arrhythmia on for some time (it's been happening tonight for at least an hour).

She mentioned two possibilities (I'll take door number-3, Alex).  One was the beginnings of V-tach and the other the AFL poking through the AV node.  They're going to have to see it first.  I sent another interrogation record tonight but It may not have caught it either.  I'll call her again tomorrow.  This officially sucks.

One thing she did do was to set the nightime rate, so it'll drop to 50bpm from 11:50PM to 6:00AM.  I'll see how that goes tonight. It wasn't that big of a deal but I prefer it slower than the daytime 70bpm.

Could it be?

by Giggi - 2018-10-09 07:56:56

After my ablation I was left with Winchebach, it is the PR intreval that gets longer and longer until the beats resets. My ablation was done in the 90's? It was when they first started doing them so that could be why I was left with this. I wish you luck. 

Winchebach?

by AgentX86 - 2018-10-09 23:05:14

Winchebach (Mobis 1) implies that the ablation failed. That would really suck, since I'm v-paced. 

Update: Sent in another record last night but heard nothing back from the device clinic today.  Felt good today.  No shortness of breath and I could do my whole walking thing (12mi + 7mi on the treadmill).  No arrhythmia tonight, either.  I don't like intermittent problems.  They're a real PITA to fix.

Bigeminy

by AgentX86 - 2018-10-10 12:09:08

Thought I'd close the thread by saying that the device clinic called back and said that the download I sent Monday night showed "bigeminy", which in my case is a PVC inserted between each normal beat. I already had a regular appointment with my cardiologist in two weeks, so maybe I'll find out more then.

I get those all the time....

by BOBTHOM - 2018-10-10 19:39:03

I get those bigeminy beats all the time and it usually leads to VT or VF.  That's why I have the ICD.  Of course many times after a little physical exertion I get them but at to low a rate for the ICD to record.  Those are the ones the dr's tell me it's all in my head.  
I'm heading to cardiologist tomorrow and will be asking about it too.  We'll have to exchange notes!

Indeed

by AgentX86 - 2018-10-10 22:09:38

The PM tech said that it wouldn't record bigeminy because it's not a string of PVCs.  It's only one - between each beat.  ...for an hour or two at a whack but that doesn't trigger an event.  The only reason it caught it was because I did the download while it was happening and the 6-second EKG it sends with the report caught it.  Otherwise it would ignore the bigeminy.

Yes, I tend to get them an hour or two after I exercise. This is something new, though. 

My cardiologist has learned not to just ignore my complaints.  Several times I told him I was going into A-fib.  He looked at his EKG and said "no way".  A week later, I was back with a raging case of Afib.  Same thing, later, with flutter.  I just watched my heart rate.  It would take a jump from the 40s to the 70s or 80s about a week before he could detect an arrhythmia. Of course this is different, in that they thought they'd done everything possible to get rid of all that crap.  So did I. :-(

Yes, I'm thinking they're going to want to trade my brand new CRT-P in for the -D model.  It's not going to make me happy.  The ash trays aren't even full yet!

30 seconds before...

by BOBTHOM - 2018-10-11 17:06:34

What I noted and shared with my cardiologist is that on virtually every strip of a logged event, about 30 seconds before, there are these 2 "blips" that are out of place.  It's to consistent to not be linked in some way.  He will discuss with my EP.   I also went back to a holter monitor from 2 years ago, the begiminy seems to occur just prior both events that I had flagged as being severly short of breath.  Why do I sometimes feel like I'm doing the EP's job for him?   Now it's discussions of EP study, with possible ablation, and maybe another lead and CRT to replace my single lead ICD.   Are you looking to sell your old one?

Just as a coincidence, I noted the last 2 times it happened, I had not been doing anything physical, just sitting on the couch watching TV, my laptop was rebooting from an update.  Really odd and hard to believe it may be related but it did happen both times.  I know because I keep a log of my heart issues on my computer and went to update my notes right after and it was just completing the update after it had rebooted.  The laptop is only connected via wifi, and I did not start the update, so something started it.  Odd, I hope its just a coincidence but I will keep watching it.

Laptop

by AgentX86 - 2018-10-11 23:25:54

I don't want to be a conspiracy theorist but does your laptop have Bluetooth?  I know I once saw my PM as a device, listed on my cell phone.

Possibility

by Hummingbird - 2018-10-23 12:17:52

My EP said that sometimes the ablated av cells could regrow. 

The Body Electric

by 24-7Pacer - 2019-09-04 10:58:00

Our bodies are amazing, adaptable and adapting instruments, constantly seeking normality. I hope for you that your device is not malfunctioning and that everything settles down as your body continues to adapt to your device. Best wishes, sincerely.