newbie

I just had my dual lead St. Jude pm implanted 10 days ago after three and a half years of taking theophylline which very poorly managed my arythmia ( the day before my proceedure, I nearly passed out with a heart rate of 38, and was rushed to the e.d. where my ekg showed 2nd and 3rd degree block). I'm normally a very active mom--I work full time, have three kids, and do cardio and weight traning at the gym. My p.m. right now is set at 60, and I still feel pretty fatigued( I'm taking it easy and have lots of help). I have also had 3 episodes of dizzyness and palpitations--one of the episodes was before I left the hospital--the p.m tech happened to be there and found that the rate responsive option was not activated, but the other episodes have happened at home. Also, has anyone experienced coughing, chest congestion, or a feeling of diaphragm soreness. I expected the exteme soreness of the excision and heavy feeling around the site, but I thought my heart rate would be higher, and I would have less fatgue. I see my Dr. tommorrow. Any thought, tips, suggestions?

3 Comments

caramel

by jessie - 2009-05-17 11:05:21

candy lol seriously i was told that 3 months before i felt better. actually it was 4. so take it easy mom get as much rest as you can and lay off work if you can for awhile. after that period i felt better. energy returned. no problem . take care jessie

time

by Tracey_E - 2009-05-18 06:05:00

It can take 4-6 weeks to heal and feel your old self again. You're not only recovering from surgery and having leads placed in your heart, but your body is recovering from what could have been months of a low hr, which robs your organs of oxygen. It takes time to bounce back, though your good conditioning you started with should get you back to normal faster. Write down everything you just listed and ask about it when you see them. It's very common for the starting settings to need tweaked, the dizziness is likely settings.

Coughing and congestion should be checked out, that is most definitely not a normal part of the healing.

A pm can speed up a slow hr, it can somewhat regulate an irregular hr. It can't do much about palpitations and it can't do anything about a fast hr.

If you have a block, you shouldn't need rate response. With a block, the atrial rate is fairly normal but the message isn't getting through to the ventricles so the pm is there to bridge the gap. It simply tells them ventricles when the atria beat because that signal is blocked in our hearts.

RR is for people with atrial problems. They exercise but their atrial rate doesn't go up as it should, RR will sense the movement and raise the hr. You don't want this on if your atrial rate is normal because it'll fight with your natural hr. It's terrific for someone that needs it, just causes problems for those that have normal natural atrial pacing.

AF

by sholgate - 2009-07-14 02:07:50

hi there
i have just had a duel pacemaker fitted to combat low heart rate and af.after struggleing with af and 2 cardioversions for 2 years
i am due to be cardioverted again within the next couple of months. having discussed with my consultant today he has recomended i take fleckanide to double check i don't revert back to af.
i hope my question in concern is not too muddled but could someone tell me,,,,,,,
when i was cardioverted i reverted back to af because my heart rate was too slow which was also due to taking feckanide after cardiovertion, my pacemaker is now set to 60 beats. does anyone know what the heartrate would have been for this to happen. i am worried that my setting should be different to accomodate this and also the fleckanide i shall be taking.
my doctor said that if i stay in normal rythem i would then be weaned off fleckanide which means the dual pacemaker is working.
i hope this makes sense
regards
shirley

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