I have a question

Allan (41) edinburgh

I had my first pace maker installed on 10th of October last year a dual lead st judes symphony 2550

I had been diagnosed with sick sinus syndrome with my pulse going as low as 14 secs per minute when asleep also i had been suffering with bouts of afib.

My question is on my first (one month) check up it was revealed that i was only 28% dependant I stll had problems with afib they sitched on suppressor leads and a month later i asked how dependant I was on pacer and they said that i was up to 70% in my atrium but it was nothing to worry about as it was the suppressor that caused this.
Of course when you are there you never think of the right questions to ask but after you go home and ponder over things for a few months the questions come.
My main question is does dependancing slowly increase or does it fluctuate from year to year?

I am on 25mg of atenol everyday and this has brought my afib attacks down below 1% and with none lasting for more than 4 secs. I guess I really want o know is being pace maker dependant where all pace maker patients end up

kind regards
to everyone allan

1 Comments

Question

by SMITTY - 2008-01-19 12:01:05

Hello Allan,

This may not be necessary but before starting I want to give my understanding what our pacemakers do. A pacemaker does not replace any part of our hearts function unless the heart’s natural pacemaker fails to do what it normally does. That normal function is to send an electrical impulse to make the heart chamber(s) contract. When the heart’s natural pacemaker fails to do that our manmade pacemaker does the job.

I point this out because you have dropped a term on me that I have not heard before. That is a “suppressor lead.” As I said this is the first time I’ve heard this and I can find nothing about a suppressor lead in any of the literature. That could mean what I say here may be of no value whatsoever.

The varying percentage of time your PM helps your heart maintain a regular rhythm is not uncommon. Using me as an example when my PM was implanted the low setting was 80 and the PM worked 100% of the time because before the PM my natural heart rate was 50 to 60. Then the low setting was lowered to 60 and the PM worked part of the time. Then for a long period the low setting was 30 and the PM just went along for the ride. Then it was back to 70 and the PM now works most of the time. So how often your PM assists your heart is dependent on your heart’s natural PM and the settings.

As for your question “I guess I really want to know is being pacemaker dependant where all pacemaker patients end up.” My answer is not necessarily but probably yes. As we get older lots of changes take place in our body and if we have a problem with out heart, to me it stands to reason that it will not improve with time. But, just because your heart is getting help from a pacemaker does not mean that PM will make whatever caused you to get the PM in the first place get worse.

I’ve had mine 8 years and depending on the settings, it still does not work a greater percentage of the time than when I first got it. But I’m glad it is there in case things do got to pot one day.

Good luck

Smitty

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