Frequency of Pacing

Just curious, I have had my PM since Feb 5 th, and I had my six weeks check with the medtronic representative and I was told I had more than 250 episodes where my pacemaker kicked in and my heart dropped by more than 20 beats within a sixty second period, To me that seems like an awful lot of droppes in heart beat.

I feel like my heart is beating so fast that I can feel it now. I never noticed before.

Does anyone have syncope, which is what the pacemeker is for?

4 Comments

pacing

by stephanieann - 2007-04-09 02:04:01

i also have a pacemaker for syncope it does fire an average of 650 per check up times my pulse only drops to about 30. i also thought that sounded like alot but my doctor reminded me thats why i had the pm implanted. its weird now to know when and how often i need the pm. ive had it 3 years. once they get you regulated with adjustments you wont use it as much. my first few months i used it more often. i now only go get check ups every 3 months and the average use is 650 wich still sounds high to me but but broken down over 3 months i guess i cant complain it proved i needed it. i also experienced that sensation of fast pacing and even like i was being shocked at first but that has now gone away and i feel much better.

Syncope

by ela-girl - 2007-04-09 02:04:14

I, too, have my pm because of VVS/neurocardiogenic syncope and bradycardia. I have a dual chamber pm and it is always interesting to have the pm rep go over the printout with me to see what percent of the time the pm is firing for the different chambers. My pm also fires a lot while I am sleeping.

Now that I am feeling healthier, it is amazing how sick I was before! It took me awhile to get used to not noticing my heart rate. When I first had my pm implanted, I really noticed my heartbeat and could tell many times when the pacer kicked in. I've had my pm since 10/06.

Happy pacing!
ela-girl

Heart Beat

by SMITTY - 2007-04-09 04:04:00

Hi Latgre,

I have been plagued with syncope 25 years. Mine started after a heart attack which was followed a couple of month later by bypass surgery in 1982. Frequency of the episodes has varied throughout the years, but since I got a pacemaker in 2000 the frequency has been much less. Sometimes I now go for 3 or 4 months with out an episode. There are a number of causes as well as a number of different treatments for syncope. If you are interested in seeing a very good article on this subject go to: http://www.clevelandclinic.org/heartcenter/pub/guide/disease/electric/syncope.htm.

Or you can go to Google and input syncope and find many more articles this subject, But, I found the one at the above site which is from the Cleveland Heart Clinic to be the best and easiest to read and understand for me.

As for what the Medtronic rep. told you, I wouldn’t put to much emphasis on that information. I have found the PM reps. and technicians guilty of throwing out data with big numbers knowing there is almost no possibility that the patient will know what they are talking about. I often wonder it this is not just an ego trip for them. I rely on two things, be they right or wrong, one being that my doctor will see the data and let me know if I have a problem. Two, while the numbers may be big, in your case for example, 250 episodes over a six-week time span, means that one of these episodes occurred an average of about once every four hours and I take it you were not even aware of the episodes. That says to me, you were given a big number that really was not very important.

As for your heart dropping more than 20 BPM in a sixty second period, the importance of that depends on what you were doing prior to that drop. For example, my PM is set for a range of 70 to 110 and I can walk on my treadmill for 25 to 30 minutes and my heart rate will be n the upper 90s. Yet when I get off, the first thing I do is a BP and HR check. I have found that my HR will drop 20 to 25 BPM within the first minute. My heart rate goes down before I stop panting, I tell you for certain. My cardiologist says don’t worry about that, so I don’t.

As for you being able to feel your heart beat, I don’t think that is normal if this is happening during your normal physical activity. During normal activity you should not feel your heart beat. If you are, I think you should see your doctor. It could be that there is a problem – possible but not likely – or your PM may need some fine tuning.

I started out to write that first paragraph and stop, but as usual I got carried away and you get what is probably too much comment. So I apologize for the length.

I wish you the best.

Smitty

Heart Beat

by Butch - 2007-04-09 08:04:11

Hi Latgre
I never felt my heart beat before like I have since my PM.. I can feel my pulse in my head neck even my fingers. I feel a constant throbbing. In bed at night I feel it thru my whole body.. I have syncope and bradycardia too. I go every 6 months for a check-up. Are you set up with the monitoring over the phone?
c ya Butch

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