Most Recent Messages in Checkups & Settings

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1st checkup - what to ask?

Hi fellow pacemakers,
I will be going in this Friday for my first pacemaker checkup. I had my Medtronic dual lead installed on 08/07/2011. Reason for mine was infrequent fainting that was caused by low heart rate(28 BPM) when it was checked in the emergency room. I had gone for over five months between fainting episodes. During that time I wore a heart monitor that eventually showed the problem.( I do have 4 stents that were installed five years ago)

I have done fairly well....

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Is my PM doing a daily test?

Hi,
I am a 33yr old male with a PM since 1 year for AV Block III. Other than that I am healthy as a mule. I have a Medtronic Adapta.

I have recently noticed that I feel my PM every day pretty much exactly around 8.22 in the morning. Is this just in my head or is the PM doing some daily functioning test? :-)

If so, what is the purpose of the daily test? I mean, if it wouldn't work, there is no alarm going off anyhow... so whats the point...?

thanks for any...

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Analog or Digital Line

I am 6 weeks post-op with my new Medtronic Revo. I got a letter in the mail that my home transmission box was ordered, but I don't have a home phone line. I've never had one, and I don't have ordering service, but does it have to be analog? The rest of my house is AT&T U-Verse, so it wouldn't be anything for them to add a digital phone line. I called Medtronic and they wouldn't really say if a digital line would work.

Anyone make it work with a digital line? Medtronic told me t...

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Ventricular pacing...

I know there's a lot of information out there talking about not pacing the ventricle too much, as it can cause problems such as a-fib and the like, but I have some questions about this. I went for a check up today (since I've been passing out several times a week since April and all meds so far have pretty much failed). My doctor right away mentioned that the ventricular pacing was not in a natural rhythm. As he explained it to me, my ventricle is being paced 25% of the time and he said that i...

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Who does your PM checks?

I'm curious as to what the norm is for others out there regarding PM checks. In the beginning it was a couple nurses that were trained to do PM checks, but given my complicated history they now only do my checks when a St. Jude PM rep is there. I've met with 3 various pm reps from St. Jude (my fave being the one that was in my surgery since he knows my situation the best). The actual programming engineer met with me once during my stress test as they wanted the most knowledgeable person to fix...

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Thumping

Hi,
16 days past implant and had a thumping session that lasted for 2-3 minutes.

Was at a grape festival and had been waiting in a line in the heat for ~30 minutes. Then went to sit in car and wait for Husband. While sitting there I started to feel 2 or 3 thumps at a time then a few seconds of no thumps , then this repeated for 2- 3 minutes. No pain. Should I contact the doc about this??


Thanks,

Maryalice

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Pacemaker Episode

Hi All from Florida....

Just got back from my 6 month pacemaker & cardiologist checkup. It showed that I had an episode back in March where my heart rate went up to 180 ! Don't remember anything weird happening back then.
Cardiologist now wants me to start taking Digoxin.
Does anyone else take this medication?

Txs
Karen

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Big jump?

Went in for my second pm check (implanted June 28 th). Last month he said I was pacing minimally, however this month I'm pacing 87% of the time. Wow!!! That's a jump. He also changed my settings to 70 -120 because I was too lightheaded and now I am better re dizzy/lightheadedness ( some say that's just my natural state, humph) anyway that's what's new with me. I just don't understand why the big change, is that the norm?

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Echocardiogram

Hello everyone,

I've had my Bi-ventricular pacemaker for a year now and out of the blue I have had a letter from the hospital saying my doctor has requested a Echocardiogram. I went for my year check up with my cardiac consultant about three weeks ago and the Echo wasn't mentioned, in fact, he was pleased with my progress and said I can do whatever I want now. Is it normal to have an Echo at the end of the first year of implant? Thanks you for any advice. Baz

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Aftercare? haha

so i'm a fortnight post implant now and to be honest i'm getting a little bit annoyed by the fact that people in the cardio department keep lying to me! i got told when i left hospital that a follow up appointment had been made for me on the 4th of october a i'm due to go abroad on the 7th. I was also told that my ID card with the type of pacemaker etc would get sent to me with the appointment card in the next few days.

So after a week of nothing arriving i phoned to be told it's defi...

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question on settings of PM?

Got my PM 4 2 weeks ago.. All is well so far. They had thought to set it ofr 50 because i had a low heart rate and that was reason for PM.. I asked for 60 becasue I thought it would give me more energy and got 60when they inserted it,. I do all and exercise on a treadmill wallking..

I am wondering if I would have been better off getting it set to 50 as orignally suggested. At 50 it would last longer and maybe my sleeping would be better at 50.

All opinions appreciated

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correction to previous-PM setting question

Got my PM 4 weeks ago.. All is well so far. They had thought to set it ofr 50 because i had a low heart rate and that was reason for PM.. I asked for 60 becasue I thought it would give me more energy and got 60when they inserted it,. I do all and exercise on a treadmill wallking..

I am wondering if I would have been better off getting it set to 50 as orignally suggested. At 50 it would last longer and maybe my sleeping would be better at 50.

All opinions appreciated
W...

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No allergic reaction

Hi everyone:
Just wanted to let you know that with my third interrogation, I told them that I had an allergic reaction from the gel and sticky pads which developed into huge welts and itched and lasted quite some time before they faded away. This time they used pediatric sticky pads with bunnies on them LOL and the same gel but told me to wash the areas with water right after I got up from the interrogation. It worked well and no reaction. So just wanted to let you know that.
I'm 100%...

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got the "go ahead"!

Well, went to mm cardo today. Met the vendor/rep from St. Jude Medical and we went over my "nums. With my settings at 60-140 and RR, my upper chamber was tracking 25% and my lower chamber was @ 1%. In talking with the rep, I asked that since my "normal" HR while sleeping was between 50-60, is it probable that the 25% is mostly from my PM working a lot during this time period. He sez, probably yes. This is good news for me. I also asked for a definition of RR. Got it, and now I understand i...

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Landline phone

I am being fitted with a PM on 9/23. My question at this point is can a VOP phone system be used for PM checks instead of a regular land line? I'm assuming a cell phone cannot be used since you are supposed to make sure you use it on the opposite side where the PM was fitted.

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Time to "fine tune"

I will be going in to se my Cardo tomorrow for a 45 day "fine tune" My St. Jude 2210 dual lead seems to be working fine, but I have a couple of Q's:

1. for those of you who jog, run, or bike: I did a lot of running (5k/10k) B4 the implant and have not done any since last week of July (doctors orders). I want to start again. I am thinking my settings (60-140) should be set to 50-155 to cover the spread. any thoughts?
2. since the implant, I seem to get "light headed" more often...

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does anyone know what this means?

Had my pm checked today and tech told me my threshold was up to 1.4 in venticular lead asked her but all I got was that it was something to keep an eye on . Does anyone know what the norm is and if this is a bad thing? Tech also mentioned that I had a few episodes of V tach up to 190 is this all related?

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How often do you Merlin?

I'm curious about how frequently your cardio group monitors your pm via Merlin.

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tach or fib

help pls. pacemaker 2 yrs. kept having what i call tachycardia. wore monitor for 3 weeks and sent to hospital to start sotalol and predaxa because, as i understand it, v tach and a fib. 6 week out having longer episodes of what i call tach. i typically have pulse of 60. suddenly without cause my pulse will jump to 100 - 120 and last for several minutes. the sensation really takes me aback. went for pacemaker check today and nothing detected, at least tech told me no signs of v tach in pa...

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sleep loss

I got my pm in 2003, I have not been able to sleep over 6 hours since.My pm doctor told me he would lower the setting to 40bpm instead of 50 but he lied to me and never changed it.
I hate my pacemaker and after 8 years I still think they made a snap decision to put this thing in me. When I ask for the proof in the test they did, they say trust us you need it.BS

They say I have 2nd degree heartblock. I say OK show me how you know that. They can't or don't want to.

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