Most Recent Messages in Checkups & Settings

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All is well!

You were all right, everything is great! Leads are solid! The heavy feeling in my chest is my pacemaker working. Now that I know what it is it isn't scary. I just need to get used to it! The light fluttery 10-30 second racing is PVC's. I am going to quit smoking tomorrow. The number of them will most likely go down at that point. If they don't decrease & they continue to interfere we will think about beta blockers.

Here's the report:

Medtronic Adapta dual lead
Battery...

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Problems faced

I have pacemaker since September 2009. I continue to have uneven heart rate. The heart rate is high while asleep. I used to have continuous pain on the left side of my pacemaker. Sometime it is tolerable and some times it is not tolerable and I am not able to do any thing. Recently I found that whenever I lift my left hand, the pulse rate jumps from 80 to 120. Doctors and PM techs are not able to solve this problem.

Can any one suggest best hospital in Chennai- India to solve my prob...

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Follow Up After Surgery

Hi, I would like to ask if anyone has had this happen and if you think that it is odd.

After my recent replacement pacemaker my Dr. went to my husband in the waiting area and gave to him the followup instructions. This is what he was told; Have your wife set up an appointment for 3 months followup. Take this antibiotic until it's gone and this is for pain. He gave my husband 2 prescriptions to have filled.

Here is the Question; Is it weird that I am not seeing anyone to ch...

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Great Checkup this morning!

I just came back from my 2 week post pm implant check up. The doctor and the tech were both great! The doctor answered all my questions. I think I had at least 20 or so, lol!

Currently, I am pacing 80% of the time. He also said that it takes time to get back to the way I felt before, but wants me to continue walking, but wait another 2-3 weeks to push my hr up to its limit. My pm is set from 50 to 130. So I'll see how it goes when I resume my normal exercise routine about resetting th...

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My incision check

Hi Heartu and All! I went to my incision check today. Well he checked my incision and did an interrogation too, which I was hoping for! Incision looks great and my pm is working perfectly. Unfortunately I didn't get any printouts or anything. He said my heart is doing it's job and it was beating intrinsic (is that the right word)? Naturally, or something like that. I was just happy things are working good, and the interrogation wasn't as bad as I thought and I'm feeling better every day!...

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Going for my post op visit tomorrow

Tomorrow will be 2 weeks since my pm implant for third degree heart block. My appointment with the EP is supposed to be a wound check. Should I ask any specific questions at this appointment?

After 2 weeks I still don't have the strength I had before all this started. My situation was that I had 2 episodes of wooziness before I ended up in the hospital and 5 days later got the pacemaker. At the end of the day I am pretty tired. I have been doing minimal housework and take several shor...

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Should I expect to get results?

I had a six month checkup last Wednesday where I had an EKG & ultrasound (Is this the same as an echogram?) to check valves, EF, etc. Should I expect the doctor to call me with results or not? I realize it's only been a few days & I'm OK with that. However, communication with this guy isn't easy. I saw him for less than 5 minutes & all he asked was how I was feeling. He's out the door practically before I can give him an answer. Would it be out of line for me to call & ask a few questions regard...

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PACEMAKER READINGS?

Could someone explain what I was told at my one-week interrogation with the PM representative?

He said the lead to the bottom chamber of the heart was at 100% and the upper chamber of the 36%. The heart rate had been between 60-80.

Then he reset the PM to 60-140 range. Next checkup with him is in 3 months.

Am I figuring this correctly? Does this mean the 100% on the lower chamber means it didn't have to work at all?

Does the 36% on the upper chamb...

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Shocks

Well im getting shocked again and im going to have to go back to the cardiologist again. They say that third time is a charm well whats to be said about the fifth? LOL. I called my cardio and he wants it adjusted before surgery tomorrow so they trying to squeeze me in today or in morning. I hope today because in the morning thAt would be crazy.

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Bandages off/shocks

Today I get my bandages off from my PM surgery last week. I am hoping he will be able to make some more adjustments too because I am still getting shocked every time I bend over and sometimes just randomly when I am sitting here. He made some adjustments a few days ago and said the lower lead seems to be resting right over a nerve. I really hope that I do not have to be opened back up to have the lower lead readjusted; I may just deal with the shocking experiences, LOL

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What do these settings mean?

The lower range of my PM is 60 and the upper limit is set at 120. Another note I made it that the PM paces at 70%.

What do these things mean?

Thank you so much.

John

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My Doctor's appt.

Well I finally had my appt today. My doctor confirmed that my heart rhythm is getting worse. My pacemaker did pick up episodes of irregular rhythm which I thought was going on. It was basically just like I thought. I am having atrial tachy and then a pause and then slow beats, then it repeats again. He seemed concerned but I could not get many answers about what this actually is and why I seem to be getting worse. He changed my medicine to Sotalol 80 mg twice a day and I have to go back in a wee...

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The "Appointment"

Hi Pacer friends. I have just arrived here at my office and was all ready to post my news when a client walked in so I had to logout and take care of him. Yippee for Clients! I like those people. :-)

Anyway, looks like I had a couple of "Remarkable Events" recorded on my Pacemaker since November. Those holidays can trigger some emotions! Yikes. My EJ (Ejection Fraction) is at 55%. Yay!

My Pacemaker is in EOL. Yikes. I still have a few weeks left so we decided that March...

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Appointment

Well, I have come to a realization that I don't like knowing that I have a surgery coming up. I would much rather have it happen as a surprise. I don't enjoy the "waiting period". I'm not used to having these things planned out. All my surgeries/hospital stays have been emergencies. Trust me there have been plenty of those.

I seem to have an overactive imagination and I now know a lot more about pacemakers than I ever thought I would. I know what questions to ask, when to worry, when...

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Follow up care

My pacemaker was implanted in June 2009 so I've had it just long enough to become real frustrated with the pacemaker clinic at my cardiologist office. I've had 2 remote pacemaker checks and have no idea what kind of information they get from these checks. I called the nurse at the pacemaker clinic and she told me "if we didn't call you then everything is fine". Well I am a dialysis nurse and we teach and encourage our patients to ask lots of questions, so since this is new to me I asked quest...

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when do you contact your dr or pacemaker clinic

Pacemaker in Aug. sat had intermittent chest pain for about 3 hrs, intensity coming and going for few seconds at a time. we were out of town so no one to call. yesterday and today the prevalance has been a lot less. some pressure, shortness of breath, and feeling faint (the latter of which is somewhat common.)

looking on internet this seems to be nothing. still i wonder. should i at least call the pm clinic and ask if they can read me? I have a portable machine here in office...

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Setting questions from a newbie!

Hi Everyone! I am 2 and a half weeks post op for pacer insertion. I went for my follow up appt with EP and had my pacer interrogated. As I have read on here I got a printout of the settings and everything. Now I need help deciphering them. I have looked online and at Boston Scientific website but am still confused...I have a DDDR , my lower rate is 75 (which I know is high but before all this my intrinsic rate was in the 80's always and I feel pretty good w/75) and then my "Max tracking rate" is...

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Checkups/burning & stinging

My PM was implanted in October, 2009. Everything is going well except I have a bit of burning/stinging often around the area where the PM was placed. It does not last long. What do you think this means?

Also, is there a general time frame for the doctor to monitor
the PM? Should it be checked more often? I went back in November, 2009 for my first check-up, everything was ok, however I did not know the questions to ask and the nurse told me they would monitor it again in s...

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PM settings

I read on another post and posted on that post about PM settings and being tired
feeling better etc etc
I feel better then before I had the PM... but I still get tired
not as bad as before... but its still there.....and Smitty my hubby has noticed that I have a lot more energy then before
but I have a question about what you said about the settings
of the PM? how many settings are there?
I know that my upper level is set to 140 which use to be 130 and the low...

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Heartblock

Hey Everyone,

I'm putting this question out there to all of my pacemaker friends. Yesterday I went to my checkup for my PM and found out that the bottom half of my heart is using the PM 97%, where at my last visit 6 months ago it was only 32%. When I asked the Cardiologist why his reply was, "It doesn't matter why, since you have the PM it will handle it whether it's 32% or 97%." Am I wrong to want to know why my heart needs it more now than 6 months ago? I am a 46 year old woman,...

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You know you're wired when...

You read consumer reports before upgrading to a new model.

Member Quotes

My pacemaker is intact and working great.