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New pacemaker on July 21
Well, my son who is 29 just had his first pacemaker implanted on July 21. He has been doing very well since. He has questions & comments so I hope he will join this group soon.
It was implanted for bradycardia and Mobitz II conduction block.
It has been amazing to see how quickly his symptoms disappeared.
I have a question. How often do most people get "paced"? What percentage of the time? Especially those who have a pacemaker for either bradycardia and/or an AV block or Mobitz II block.
My son gets paced 30% of the time or an average of 8 hours out of every 24 hours. Is that a lot? Average? Low?
I was under the impression that most people were paced about 1-5% of the time, but perhaps I didn't hear it right.
Also how can you politely convince the doctor to give the patient the results of the checkups? Our doctor didn't want to give us a copy for some reason and I know we have a right to the information.
Thanks,
KaTea
4 Comments
Pacing percentage
by golden_snitch - 2009-08-04 02:08:40
I'm 28, have had my first pm implanted when I was 18.
Pacing percentage depends on the condition you are treated for. Some patients have a permanent av block, some have it only once in a while but do pass out when it happens so they get the pacer implanted. In others, like me, the sinus node is not functioning normally. I'm paced 99% in the atriums (upper chambers), but only around 2% in the ventricles (lower chambers, I occasionally have av blocks).
Pacing percentage matters when it comes to the pacer's battery life. The more you need the pacer, the more the battery gets drained. But even if you need 99% pacing like I do, the battery life will still be around 7-9 years. In some patients who only need the pacer once in a while and have a very low pacing percentage, the battery might last up to 12 or even more years (a friend of mine had his first pacer for 13 years).
Pacing percentage also matters when it comes to so-called unnecessary right ventricular pacing. This is when the pacer paces the right ventricle too much though not really needed. Unnecessary right ventricular pacing can lead to heart failure (after many years, not right away, but still this is important in young patients). Most of today's pacemakers have special algorhythms to prevent this from happening. The pacer technology is highly advanced. For example my pacer won't start pacing my ventricle when just one heart block occurs, it waits till it "sees" three blocks within twelve beats. Oh well, I hope that wasn't too difficult to understand. Please feel free to contact me if you have any more questions or if your son would like to get to know someone with a pacer who is his age.
Best wishes,
Inga (from Berlin/Germany)
Hi there! 100% paced!!
by Hot Heart - 2009-08-04 03:08:40
Hello and welcome to the club to yourself and your son. I'm paced 100% of the time, and its absolutely fine! lol. All this means is that my heart never gets to a rate which would make me feel well, I beat at a normal rate of under 40bpm, which is a wee bit dangerous, so my pacemaker keeps me at a min rate of about 60. Ive got 3rd degree heart block and get afib.
Best wishes HH
Answer about Pacing %
by Maguila - 2009-08-07 04:08:38
Hi to all!! I took a long time to contact you again for healthy reasons...but now I am back. I have a question I never understood well, related with how much Pacing percentage I am doing. In my last Quick look report it says: Pacing (%of total)
AS-VS 87.3%
AS-VP <0.1%
AP-VS 0.8%
AP-VP 11.9%
My PM was implanted (April 2001) because I have Sick-sinus-Syndrome. Can somebody explain me what those parameters mean? I know that Pacing % depends on the condition the patient is treated for and that the battery´s life depends also on it. My PM change is scheduled for October this year.
Thanks and best wishes!
Manuela
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it's all relative
by Angelie - 2009-08-03 09:08:45
I'm 34 and I pace 90% of the time. There are toddlers who are paced 100% of the time. Some people are paced only 10%. Percentages don't matter- what does is how YOU feel.
You are right about having the right to your medical records. There really is no reason to sugar coat matters, just simply be professional and polite. They don't have any reasons to keep them from you. It's against HIPPA, so just ask.
I do have one point though after re-reading your post, because it's hard to understand clearly. Your son is 29, so therefore needs to ask for his own records. They CAN refuse records to you unless you are his POA, or he has listed you on the HIPPA release.