Iam Pacing

Hi friends!!!well I got my Jewel on 2nd Feb,DDDr St.Jude. The wound is healing fine though I still have sourness in and around my left shoulder and arm(I think it's normal???is it?)As far as I know I was diagnosed with SSS with Bradycardia but now it seems I have Tachy-brady syndrome(is this normal too? going from brady to tachy-brady???).So,since two four days Iam taking Beta -blockers to control tachycardia.Will have a Holter done to see if it's working on this wednesday.As for my PM, the base rate is set at 50bpm. Ap-55%,VP-95%. So the battery life is 7yrs(which is bothering me a bit). How can we know that the PM is optimised to save battery life. And for this AF,will it go away or is it like,once you get it,you keep it kind of a thing? I don't konow what's in store for me next.I appreciate any feedback.

6 Comments

Junctional rhythm

by pushpa - 2009-02-16 02:02:26

Bill, I was diagnosed SSS with juctional rhythm,could that be the reason,why they are pacing the Ventricle??Iam confused too.As Tracey pointed out ,I'll know what's going on with the Holter done. By the way, I thought PM records all the heart activity and wouldn't need a holter to know what's going on. i guess I was wrong.It's a terrible feeling when you cannot understand anything, right now my mind has block:-). I guess I need to have a good long chat with my Dr. this time.

records

by Tracey_E - 2009-02-16 04:02:21

Pm's record a lot but not like a Holter will. A holter is like a 24/7 ekg. The pm will record pm usage only, so they can tell you when you had an incident and how much it worked but if something doesn't show up as an incident or your heart is beating without the pm, those things can't be recorded by the pm.

Like Tracey said

by BillMFl - 2009-02-16 04:02:30

The pm records events, but not much detail. Think of the Holter as a continously running video camera that records all of the electrical activity of your heart. It is like a continous ECG strip that would probably be longer than a football field if it was on paper. Your cardiologist will see every event and every little nuance of your sinus rythm and any arythmias. They are a pain in the butt to wear for a few days, but if you are having frequent events it will capture frequency that they occur, duration, severity, etc. Much more data than your pm can retain.

battery life

by Tracey_E - 2009-02-16 07:02:05

It's too early to be thinking about how long the battery life will be! Every time they change a setting, the estimated life will change so I don't pay much attention to it until they tell me I have less than a year. The estimates are very accurate, but they're accurately predicting the battery life based on TODAY's settings and usage... i.e. not accurate at all, lol, because settings and usage change all the time.

When you first get it, they use huge safety margins which will shorten the projected battery life. The longer you have it and the more consistent trends they see in your usage, the more they can tweak the safety settings to maximize battery life. But for now that's not a priority, the important thing is getting you feeling good. And battery life will always be secondary to making you feel good and keeping you safe.

Don't stress over your settings and how they affect battery life. Battery changes are nothing to fear. I've had three now, they are much easier than what you're going through now. You've been through the worst, it's all uphill from here.

Tachycardia is just a fast heart rate. All tachy is not afib. A Holter will tell you a lot about what's going on.

And yes, the soreness is normal. You can gently move your arm to try to relieve some of the soreness, just don't push it past where it hurts, keep it below your shoulder and don't lift any weight.

VP 95% ?

by BillMFl - 2009-02-16 07:02:57

I'm no expert, but something seems awry. If your dx of SSS was correct, then you should have relatively normal AV conductivity. That is the typical case for SSS/Brady. It happens to be my dx. You should be pacing your Atrium and the signal should be passing down to the Ventricle via the AV node. If not, then either your dx was wrong or you may have misunderstood your settings. Or it may be that you have a near total block, and your pm is sensing that and firing your Ventricle. If you are having frequent episodes of tachy on a daily basis the Holter should be very useful. I have my one month pacer check this week (Medtronic replacement on 1/22). Yours should be coming up soon and it will tell you exactly what chamber is being paced and how frequently. In general, its better to not have to pace your ventricle. And if you read the posts on here, you will find that many of us live with some SVTs and PVCs. They are usually only a problem if you have long runs and become symptomatic. I would suggest you get some very specific info. Ask for copies of your reports and come back here with your questions.

Tachy - Brady

by Bionic Man - 2009-02-16 09:02:30

I was told I had SSS with episodes of A-Fib. I felt miserable. I went to an EP who told me I had tachy-brady syndrome. I got my pacer on 6/25/08. It took care of the bradycardia but even on medicine I was still having episodes of A-Fib. I went to a cardiologist who told me I had a mild cardiomyopathy. My medicine was changed and my pacer was changed to 50bpm and although I still have episodes of irregular heart beats I feel much better. I'm at a point now where I'm saying I don't care what you call it just fix it.
Best of Luck

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