normsw

Hi-I'm new to this club/forum. I'm 75, on my 2nd pm after 6 years on the first. It's only a backup, as I have an electrical prob. leading to bradycardia and fainting, so it's set at 60.
My pulse rarely goes over 80 but I have 2 different situations:
1. When I lie down to go to sleep, often my pulse will drop to 46 to 50 for a while; deep breathing will get it back up again.
When I wake up in the morning sometimes it's also in the 40's.
2. Occasionally while working at my laptop my heart will begin to race for no good reason I get up or back off for a minute or two and it's back to normal again.
The pm tech says the slow beat is actually a double beat, but I swear it is only one, steady and slow. Any ideas? Is the laptop emitting signals that interfere with my pm?
I have an Symphony DR 2550 by ELA medical, a new version of my old pm. My follow-up checkups show it working OK.


4 Comments

Laptop

by NH - 2008-02-24 04:02:02

Hi and welcome to the Pacemaker Club! Just a note on laptops. I have a desktop, but my hubby has a laptop. He has a Toshiba and we found this warning in his safety booklet that came with the computer.

Warning - Turn WiFi, Bluetooth and Wireless WAN functionalities off for cardiac pacemakers. Turn these off when near a person with a cardiac pacemaker. Radio waves may affect pacemaker operation.

I hope this helps. When I use my desktop, there is no problem. But when I use his laptop it sometimes will cause me to have a funny feeling in my chest. It is the same feeling I get when I go thru the security doors at a department store. I can usually get away with looking at something quickly and then giving it back. But I can't use it for any length of time.

I think you can turn the wireless off and then just use the modem to connect or dial-up. Hope this helps and again welcome.

Take care,

NH

normsw

by jessie - 2008-02-24 04:02:41

hi norm, welcome to the pacemaker club. i don't have any answers for you technically but maybe someone else does. i don't think tho it would be the computer causing the racing. i have braddychardia and i am on the computer a lot but not a laptop. so welcome again and hope you get some more answers jessie

Welcome

by pacergirl - 2008-02-24 10:02:56

Hello Norm,
If you heart rate is dropping to 40s at night you need to tell your dr. Sometimes our beats are very light and we can not feel them, let alone count them, so maybe that is the problem? So mention it to your dr. and have him check it out.
The laptop and racing heartbeat..... It is not uncommon for people like you and I to develop Tachycardia after getting a pacemaker. It happened to me. Right now it is controlled with medication. Not my first choice, but looks as if I will not only get a new PM sometime next year but perhaps an ICD as well. I've decided to worry about that later. Who knows maybe my heart will settle down and won't need one!
I hope this helps you.
Best Regards,
Pacergirl

Double beat

by ElectricFrank - 2008-02-24 11:02:34

The pm tech is likely right about the double beat. He just isn't explaining it well. A run of PVC's are double beats with every other beat being ineffective at pumping blood. If you look at an ECG or use and ECG based HR monitor you will measure in your case 80BPM. However, feeling your pulse or using a finger based pulse volume monitor you will measure 40. PVC's are very common and while they are uncomfortable they are particularly risky. The reason the 40 HR doesn't make you light headed is that whle you are only pumping blood every other beat, the contractions are stronger and pump more blood. (Hope this makes some sort of sense)
As for sitting at the computer, for some reason the hunched over position seems to aggravate PVC's. I use an adjustable office chair and set the back to let me lean back slightly. I just sit closer to the computer to make up for it. The problem is that when I get intent I tend to lean forward again!
There is little chance that any of the wireless based functions of the computer will bother you. The manufacturers of electronic devices include a warning to protect them legally. I am an electronic engineer and work around all sorts of devices that radiate many times the energy of anything associated with your computer and have no problem. I have deliberately tested putting the antenna of my wireless network, cordless phone, cell phone, and two way CB radio right over my pacer with no effect.

frank

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