This Shouldn't have happened!

Was cycling 2 weeks ago when I had a major dizzy spell accompanied by irregular hr and PAC's. Made it home but went to see my Dr. the next day. When interrogating my pm his jaw dropped. I had gone into "safe mode". That occurs after entering the ERI (elective replacement interval) on my pm. The problem is, I was inbetween regular (6mo) checkups and had been assured (as always) that I was "good to go" until next time and probably had another couple years left on my battery. It will be 9 yo next month. He recommended immediate "generator change" and we did so the following day. Acc. to the tech rep I spoke to in the operating room, they had been using the wrong voltage numbers from St. Judes; maker of my "pacesetter." I am angry and feel violated; I am also scared this will happen again; not logically but emotionally. I have scheduled a followup for this week but don't know how to approach my physician. He never apologized, nor did the rep. I am a peaceful guy but feel I've been wronged! Dare I say law suit? A final note. I was told I could resume exercise after 1 week. I did so today and got dizzy again and had some more PAC's. Did I start back too soon? Thanks....

5 Comments

My Comments

by SMITTY - 2009-10-17 10:10:56


Hello Amphibman,

I'll make a comment because and I have recently had similar experiences. But first let me answer you last question.

I doubt that you returned to exercising too soon. You had a PM replaced and if the leads were not replaced your pacemaker should have been good to go in a week unless your exercise includes something like kick boxing. My GUESS if the settings on this new pacemaker are not exactly what you need yet.

Now the question about a law suit. I agree it does sound like you were wronged, but and I'll comment on that more later, but for right now for your peace of mind you may need to talk to an attorney to see if you have any recourse, but again my GUESS is you will be told you do not have a valid complaint for law suit.

You say you say your PM is nine years old and the battery is just now running down. I have to say that doesn't sound like a faulty battery or faulty settings. From what I can see, industry standards for life of pacemaker batteries is 5 to 7 years. Of course they may last longer or less, depending on the percentage of time they are assisting your heart beat.

As for being told you were "good to go" until next time because you still had a couple of years to go on the battery, a couple of years from now that battery would be 11 years old. I think says you are using the battery very much that would be a very old battery. It is conceivable that during the last checkup some settings changes were made that did use up the remaining life of the battery faster, but again 9 years is a long time for a pacemaker battery.

One thing I have noticed is that the people doing the checkup lead us to believe that they have a tight fix on how long a battery will last, but I think they are just guessing most of the time. Again it depends on how much your heart is calling on that pacemaker for help. From what I can see from my copies of my PM checkups they estimate remaining battery life by see how the battery voltage has dropped over a know period of time then extrapolate from that how much longer it will last.

Now let me tell you a little about why I sound like I think I am an authority (I really don't) on this subject. My pacemaker is also nine years old. In July I was told my battery would last at least another year. During that visit some settings changes were made and my pacemaker went to pacing the atrial more than 90% of the time and pacing the ventricle more than my 3% of the time. I had to go back in August to see how the new settings were working out and I was told old the estimated remaining life of my battery was 7 months. Then in Oct. my pacemaker, which is a Medtronic< went into something called VVI mode. What that means is it was pacing the ventricle only at 65 BPM. The way I found out this had happened is I was suddenly having dizzy spells and feeling as if I was going to pass out. A quick trip to the PM clinic and I got the news "your pacer is in VVI and needs to be replaced." I hope to get that done next week. Oddly enough they tell me i will get a St. Jude this time.

One more comment, As for what the St. Jude rep told you, my feeling is that he felt he needed to tell you something and telling you something that could explain why somebody missed a guess on how long the battery would life was the easy thing to do. Now, I'll be the first to admit I am one of those that takes everything I am told about my PM with a grain of salt. But that is another story I've already told too often plus I am old and cynical.

Good luck to you,

Smitty

Poor information

by ElectricFrank - 2009-10-18 01:10:13

The whole medical situation is getting scary. Errors, incompetence, trying to rush patient out the door. and that is just the beginning. At my checkup last week I was told I had plenty of time with the estimated battery life of 11 months. It was only after I pointed out that the report showed 5-11 months that I got their attention.

What we need is some real Health Care Reform not just Health Care Payment Reform.

Right now the best I can suggest is to learn as much as you can about your particular condition and QUESTION, QUESTION , QUESTION.

If I hadn't done this over the nearly 6 yrs since I got the pacer I would be taking several serious cardiac meds that I don't need, would have been run through the whole stress test, cath lab routine, had Rate Response ON even though I have a perfectly good sinus pace, and no telling what else.

I also have an advantage that I don't scare easily. When I see that worried look on the docs face I don't give him time to reach for his pad..I start laughing. I use the same approach when I take my car in for an oil change and the service manager comes out with a worried look.

are we having fun yet?

frank

frank

Monthly Checks

by MSPACER - 2009-10-18 11:10:24

My doctor insists on monthly telephone checks when the pacemaker gets to a certain age. He told me that he had a patient where the previous checks showed two years left on the battery, then at the monthly phone check it showed that the battery was at the end of its life and the pacer needed replacement. Just look at your cell phone battery-one minute it has full power, the next minute it needs charging.

I think that your doctor should have done phone checks every month on the battery considering that the pacer was 9 years old. I'm guilty of not calling in on time when the tech from the office calls me-she gives me h**l if I don't call her-she keeps calling. I'm glad I have a vigilant doctor's office.

Sudden Low Battery at Phone Check

by ElectricFrank - 2009-10-18 12:10:14

The battery drain is higher during a phone check because the data transmission section of the pacer is turned on, and also because of the complex self test it goes through. As my battery has dropped under a year the phone check box has started beeping a low signal warning during the check. This supposed to tell me that the magnet isn't directly over the pacemaker, but it is. My take is that the signal strength is down because of the low battery.

That could be what happened to you on the phone check if your battery was marginal.

frank

monthly checks

by dwelch - 2010-01-21 05:01:15


wow, good answer Smitty.

I wouldnt pursue a law suit, not worth it. I have been formulating a question for this forum that I will ask soon. But with my condition and use my pacers are expected to last 7-10 years, mine have been on the short end of that. Smitty sounds like he is on the 5-7 year plan. 9 years is just a long time so your pacer was old and ready to go, they should have been doing regular checks and at the same time after 5 years or maybe 4 in Smitty's case you should start doing your own. With my medtronics the safe mode means they go into a fixed pace, like 65 bpm. No matter what you are doing, climbing stairs is a killer (painful not literally a killer) because you cant get enough oxygen in the blood, you start breathing really hard. So my current one turns five next month and based on yesterdays visit we start the monthly phone checks now. This could go on for a few years. the bigger problem is not your doctor but your health plan, they may not let the doctor do more than 6 month checks. the doctor should be forthcoming with that though. I am fortunate that the last place I lived the docs I was seeing were fighting the health care system and as a result opened their own facility, basically they won. I am in a doctor rich town and on a good health plan so these monthly checks are hopefully going to be approved. If not I will pay for them myself or just do my own checks as I know what to look for.

Call your pacer manufacturer about the new pacer you have or are going to get and find out what the modes are and what you can do to detect when it has changed.

Each of us on this forum are different our leads are different technologies form different years. The scar tissue has a different resistance from the next persons, our conditions are different. Some of us use our batteries more than others, with or with out biking or hiking or whatever. The estimate on the print out is a calcuated thing, do not rely on it being accurate. After you have a couple of these things you will start to know how long your batteries last and how to watch for the next changeover if your doctor is incapable because of the health care system. Medtronic has been very good for me when i ask technical questions, call your manufacturer. Take the matter into your own hands.





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