Most Recent Messages in Checkups & Settings

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1st check up

I had my PM put in 8 days ago, and today I am having my 1st follow up check up. Can anyone tell me what to expect??? Also kinda nervous about the bandages coming off.

Thanks,
Debi

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Defibrillator settings

I have had a defibrillator since 2003 then another in 2007 which neither has ever fired. I relocated to another state to retire then consulted a new arrhythmia doctor who changed the settings on my defibrillator in February. My device fired for the first time in March. I spent a week in the hospital then the docs prescribed another pill to "regulate" my heartbeat. The first medication caused hives then the second one I am currently taking has caused chest pain and dizziness. My device fi...

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Atrial Fibrillation

I have a pacemaker for A-Fib and had my pacemaker interrogated recently. My highest rate was 640 BPM in the atrium and 119 in the ventricle. 640 seems terribly high. Is this "normal" for us???
Thank you for any opinions or advice. Hope you are all doing well.

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Diet change and stress effects on heart

I had my 6 month PM check today and was happy to see that I only had 1 episode recorded by the PM since my last visit on 3/31/11. This comes after a 3 month period where I had 90+ incidents. 2 and a half years ago, one of the leads of my initial pacemaker, which I got in 2006, pierced the wall of my heart and I had to go for emergency surgery to remove it and eventually have a new PM installed. Since recovering, I felt that I was never 100% until recently.

There have been some m...

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RATE RESPONSE

Hello ... I had a PM fitted 4 weeks ago because of sick sinus syndrome and am having my first checkup tomorrow. the lower limit is set at 50bpm. I don't know if an upper limit is set, or not.
I am an exercise fanatic and am a keen runner,as well as playing regular tennis and golf. So far everything feels great and I'm going off to play tennis in 10 minutes time .
I understand that rate response can be either switched on or off. I will find out tomorrow which mine is.Could someone expl...

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pain at ck up

Well I went for my first check up today. I found the tech. to be very vague in explaining what was going on. She said that everything was fine. But I noticed that when she turned my pm down that my heart rate dropped to 48 but she told the doc that it was holding in the 50's. ???? then when she raised the heart rate at 80 I was in terrible pain in the shoulder and felt a pulsating sensation in my throat. She said that she don't know why it happened and that she's never had it happen before. The...

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First check up

Hi everyone I wonder if anyone could tell me what happens at the first check up post implant? I have mine in a few days after having a dual chamber pacemaker fitted almost 3 weeks ago.
thanks.

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Remote Transmission Issues

I got my Medtronic Sensia (sedr01) in February 2011 (for asystole). I’m wondering if anyone else is having trouble with the Medtronic CareLink transmission. On three different occasions I’ve tried to send my information over the phone line. The first time it took 8 tries with a Medtronic rep on the phone talking me though each time. She had me try on bare skin, through my shirt, with a washcloth under it and even with a bath towel folded over twice!! I’ve put new batteries in and tried anot...

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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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Life does not stop with a pacemaker, even though it caught me off guard.