PVCs With Pacemaker

Hi. I've had my pacemaker about 8 months now. Had very infrequent PVCs for years - maybe once or twice a year? Now I get them more often and a lot during the day for the last couple weeks.

I am going to my cardio in 2 weeks and will tell him about it. I do my "over the phone" pacemaker check in a week and I guess if anything is wrong, I will hear pronto.

The only med I am on is a 40 mg. cholestrol pill that I've been on for years and 5 mg. of Plendil generic (that I just cut down to 2.5 the last two weeks in case it was that).

I've been tracking my BP and pulse and 2 yesterday were 111/79 - pulse 69 and 113/79 - pulse 68. The one today just a few minutes ago with lots of PVCs was 104/75 - pulse 64.

I was thinking I really shouldn't be on the BP at all since when I was told to go on it, it was during an extremely stressful time and I wonder if that gives them to me more?? I don't know.

I will, of course, get more answers from the doctor on the 23rd, but just thought I'd ask for some comments from others that can relate!

Thanks for any response :)

3 Comments

PVC'S

by cbulifant - 2009-04-07 01:04:30

I too had PVC'S when paced anything above 70bpm. To the point they were happening every 3rd beat. I found this very annoying, especially when trying to sleep at night. I brought it up to my Dr. and he suggested a beta blocker to control the PVC'S. However, as mentioned above, the beta blocker produces side effects worse than the PVC'S themselves. My situation is somewhat different.....complete heart block with episodes of pausing.........asymptomatic. So my pacemaker is set to a min of 40bpm......which happens to be right around my underlying rate. PVC'S no more.

PVC's

by ElectricFrank - 2009-04-07 12:04:35

The PVC's may be from whatever the condition was that required the pacemaker. Anything that results in irritability of the conduction system of the heart can cause PVC's.I have also found that having the ventricular pacing voltage set on the high side can cause an increase in PVC's.

I've also noticed that weather and what I eat can affect them. Fortunately, they rarely indicate any sort of heart problem. As long as they aren't too uncomfortable I would suggest avoiding meds to control them. The side effects are likely to be worse than the PVC's.

Be sure and ask the cardiologist for a copy of the pre and post programming report. Several of us here can help you interpret the information.

frank

PVCs With Pacemaker

by sonkitty - 2009-04-08 11:04:21

Thanks for the comments and I will discuss it further with my doctor on the 23rd. I know the setting was lowered, so maybe just a little lower will do the trick - we'll see!

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