Can bpm affect oedema?

• by atiras
• 2018-12-02 10:45:44
• Checkups & Settings
• 1055 views
• 0 comments

Note: not asking for a diagnosis here (well, obviously), just a steer on which route to progress first

Background: PM put in in early September and repositioned in early October (don't ask -- it just moved). AV node ablation done 22 Oct 2018; rate set to 80 bm and all was well. Hopped skipped and jumped out of the hospital (first time in 15 years).

Just after the AV node ablation I had an episode of fluid on the lungs, but was reassured that it was just 'a reaction' to the ablation and wouldn't repeat itself. Which is true so far...

Back to 'device clinic' on 22 Nov when technicians verified that (1) PM was working (well, duh - I walked in grinning); (2) there hadn't been any episode of AF conducted to the ventricles since the ablation (hooray); and (3) (at the request of my partner, who is a worrier) I appear to have an escape rhythm. (Me, if I didn't have one, I'd rather not know. Ignorance is bliss and all that).

Rate set to 70 bpm and back in 6 months to check progress and (supposedly) set rate to 60bpm.

Question:

While my bpm was set to 80, I didn't have any leg swelling -- and now it's set to 70, I do (to the extent that once again it's affecting my mobility and I'm also a little breathless).  Could it be a result of the lowered heart rate (prior to the ablation the resting rate was between 70 and 80) -- in which case I need to contact the technicians and get them to dial me up again? Or should I be asking my GP for a new cardiology referral? Or are we in: shit happens; deal with it territory? (Which come to think of it is the same as a cardiology referral).