Dual to single

Hey guys,
as you know i've been having a few problems with my pm with what I thought are palpitations and really uncomfortable. For the 13yrs of having a pm I have always had a single chamber up until 2yrs ago when I was impanted with a dual chamber pm. I had never ever experienced this weird sensation like i have been since the upgrade and they have spent the whole 2yrs trying to work out what the problem is!! But it turns out that I only use the ventricular lead 1% of the time and the atrial lead 99% which is weird. They are now saying they think the sensation I am feeling is when the ventricular lead is pacing as it does so differently. I go in for the 4th appt this month in a couple weeks to switch the ventricular lead totally off. But I swear they've tried to do it before but for some reason couldnt!! I swear most of the time they dont know what they're doing!!!

1 Comments

ventricular pacing

by golden_snitch - 2009-08-15 08:08:41

Hi Rachael!

My EP says that many patients feel when the ventricular lead starts pacing. I feel it, too, but got used to it. If they think you don't really need the ventricular lead, let them switch it off. However, the low pacing percentage in the ventricle does not necessarily show that you don't really need it. Some patients get a third degree heart block occasionally, sometimes really just a couple of times per year, but they do pass out whenever it happens. So they have a low pacing percentage, but without the pacer they would keep passing out and this could be dangerous.

The pacer should show if you have any heart blocks, if there are none, then it's safe to switch the lead of and this is also good for the battery life.

Best wishes,
Inga

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