PM Check

I recently had my 4th PM check. The St. Jude rep did the check this time instead of the Guidant(which is what I have) rep.

If I can keep on seeing this one rep, I won't worry about my checks making me feel horrible. He really was very gentle in the tests and I hardly felt anything. Whew!

Ok. He told me that my check wasn't as accurate as it could have been because the rep that checked my PM in December didn't erase the data that was downloaded from my PM.

Usually I pace in the top chambers anywhere from 11% to 25%. This check had me pacing 90% which scared me to death.

In the bottom chambers I was pacing 99%. Usually I pace 100% in the bottom because I was diagnosed with complete heart block. Sooo, I'm thinking that if my top number is off then maybe my bottom number is off too; and I'm pacing less in the bottom. I hope so, cause that means to me some kind of signal is getting through to the bottom.

That is what I pray for. That that bottom number will come on down and my natural heart rate will come up on it's own.

Actually, if it is accurate, my natural heart rate is 45 BPM, and when I had the pacer put in last June it was between the low 30's and 42. Maybe my condition is improving. I'm hoping.

I have a new cardio, I really like him alot, he is from Quebec, Canada with a French accent. He is kind and doesn't mind to answer my questions. I only wish I had had him from the beginning.

'Jeff' told me not to pay to much attention to the numbers this time because of the extra data in the system.

I have a scheduled PM check in September and he said that it will be more accurate then.

My cardio told me today that he has seen complete heart blocks clear up on their own. He didn't even have to think about it and that made me feel relieved. I have been hoping to hear some good news from the medical profession.

I had a C-Reactive Protein test which is within normal ranges. My echo was 60%. I have a slight abnormality in my mitral valve. But, he said don't worry about that. He told me that every one he has ever checked, including himself, has a slight abnormal mitral valve.

I asked him if he had ever heard anything good about Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy used for people with complete heart block. There are other countries that are using it for stroke, heart attack, downs syndrome, etc. No, he said he didn't think that it would help. America doesn't use it for that; he said.

Well, sorry so long. I wanted to let everyone know how my checkup went. Oh, one other thing that neither my cardiologist or the St. Jude rep could explain to me.....I have been having some irregular beats or flutters or hard beats. The PM check revealed nothing. Didn't record one of them.

Both the rep and the doc told me not to worry about them. He checked my pulse and felt the irregularity of its beats. "Don't worry," he said. They are not that bad.

I don't have them as much since I started on the fish oil and CoQ10. I wonder if I should add magnesium to my regimen?

Take Care,
Sandra


1 Comments

Complete Heart Block

by ElectricFrank - 2008-04-16 12:04:49

Sandra,
I'm so glad you have found a rep you can trust. The percent time of pacing numbers are very meaningful. The can be influenced by the settings of the pacer as much as by your condition. On my first checkup after getting my pacer I was showing a lot of atrial pacing and the cardiologist insisted that I had Sick Sinus Syndrome. After several programming sessions where I insisted that the lower HR limit be changed from 70 down to 55, and also that rate response be turned off, I went to 0% atrial pacing. The settings were causing the condition they were trying to treat. On the other hand I have AV block which keeps my ventricles from getting the message that they are suppose to beat and I pace 100% there. Without the pacer my ventricular rate drops to 25-40 and doesn't respond to exercise.

Now the biggy. I wish I could get it across on the forum that the term "Complete heart block" is a marketing term used to scare us into compliance with anything they want us to do. Our heart is not blocked whatever that means and they know it. Most people relate it to blocked arteries. What is really happening is that we have a blocked nerve conduction between the artium and ventricles. The pacemaker very effectively completes that connection. They are very reliable devices and rarely fail completely. If you fly on an airline, your life is totally at the mercy of some electronic boxes that connect the tail to the pilots controls.

frank

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At age 20, I will be getting a pacemaker in few weeks along with an SA node ablation. This opportunity may change a five year prognosis into a normal life span! I look forward to being a little old lady with a wicked cane!