High heart rate after surgery

Hi everyone, this is my first post and I'm new to the club however I've been reading hundreds of posts on this site in the last month and a half and found many answers that several cardioligists could not answer. I have another question that I couldn't find an answer and would appreciate som input if anyone else has experienced it. I had aortic valve replacement and double by-pass surgery on Feb 3 2009. After the surgery I ended up with100% av block so I was implanted with PM which is tracking the atrial beat.I am 48 and in otherwise good health. The aortic valve was a bicuspid valve that i was born with and became calcified failed to seal properly. My question : Before the surgery my heartrate at rest 70-80 bpm at rest. After the surgery my heartrate has been 90-100 at rest. When I excersise it rises and falls normally and blood preassure is nomal with rise and fall the same. I'm concerned about this higher resting heart rate and can't seem to get an answer why. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

3 Comments

Do you know your high/low rate setting?

by BillMFl - 2009-04-05 11:04:44

They usually set the low rate at 60bpm, but they might think you need a higher setting. It is also possible that you have a fast atrial beat (Afib). Have you had a pacer check? Have you asked for a copy of the report and what your settings are? Basically if you don't ask questions they don't share much specific info.

speed

by Tracey_E - 2009-04-06 09:04:01

Your heart was probably trying to go faster than 70 or 80 before, the block prevented it. Now that you have the pm, the ventricle gets the message that the atria wants it to beat, that signal is blocked with the av block. My resting rate was 40's before my pm for complete block, now it rarely gets lower than 80. It will probably slow down some over time as your body gets used to having a more efficient heart rate, but it will likely always be higher than it was before you got the pm because you are no longer missing beats.

High Heart Rate

by ElectricFrank - 2009-04-06 12:04:11

You had some major heart surgery. A slight increase in resting rate is a normal possibility. Give it a month of 2 to heal and then see where it is.

The good news is that AV block is the easiest condition to treat with a pacemaker. Having your normal intrinsic pacemaker setting you atrial beat with the ventricle tracking makes for a normal response to exercise.

Be sure to ask for a copy of the pre and post programming report and your next checkup. This gives detailed information on the pacer setting and your hearts response. Several of us here can help in interpreting the information.

It is a good idea to know what the upper and lower limit settings are. Quite often the initial factory default settings are 70--120. The most important is the upper in that it isn't a good idea to exercise to within 5-10 BPM of it. If you exceed the upper limit the pacer enforces it by skipping beats, which isn't very comfortable. As soon as things have healed a bit you may want to ask to have the settings increased.

frank

You know you're wired when...

Your device acts like a police scanner.

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