gift

I went to the DR. because I felt tired all the time and kept nodding off. I ride motorcycles and my husband threatened to bungy cord me on. So it was time to go. My norm hr is 30-45. So I get this gift. A medtronic pm. My color has changed, I have more energy, and I hardly ever nodd off (except around my in-laws). I need to know a few things. If I am pacing at 85% and hardly anything, what does this mean? If this is caused by medication (lithium) will it be normal if I stop the medication? My hr seems to go 1000 beats per minnet when on the motorcycle, should I be concerned? Should I buy one of those meters to measure it when I can't? And last should I be wearing a medical Identifacation bracelet? Thank you for your input it is greatly needed diane

7 Comments

Bad Spelling

by SMITTY - 2009-09-08 04:09:08

Country Rider, I apologize for the mess I made of your name. My typing is always bad and I depend on my spell checker but it went to sleep again.
Smitty

Fast HR While Riding Motorcycle

by SMITTY - 2009-09-08 04:09:23

Hello Copuntry Rideres,

I'm glad to hear your pacemaker has got you more alive and above all you don't need to be dropping off to sleep or passing out while riding a motorcycle.

My guess is your pacemaker has the rate response turned own. This is a feature, sort of separate from your pacemaker, but not really, that senses body motion and increases your heart rate accordingly. I think this feature was probably designed with exercise, like walking or something of that nature in mind to increase our heart rate and make it pump more blood to accommodate that activity. Obviously when you are riding a motorcycle you don't especially need a faster heart rate, but the vibration from the motorcycle starts the rate response and there you go.

Rate response can be adjusted down, so I would suggest that you contact your doctor and tell him what is happening and get the necessary adjustment changes to the rate response.

Also, I don't think you will need a HR monitor after the rate response settings are changed. I shouldd add, if the Dr. dosen't want to,or can't change the settngs on the RR, that feature can be turned off and has been for many of us with no ill effects.

Enjoy your ride,

Smitty

Rate response

by ElectricFrank - 2009-09-08 04:09:44

Smitty is right on about the rate response. It can cause all sorts of problems with unusual movement. Mine would drive my HR way up just sitting in the hot tub with a jet vibrating my left shoulder.

One thing I would add. Your pre-pacer HR of 30-45 sounds very much like you have AV block. When the ventricles don't receive pacing information from the artrium, they beat at their own built in rate which keeps you alive (thats good), but at a too slow rate to provide optimum blood flow (that's not good). In this case all the pacemaker has to do is sense the atrial beats and electronically send the information to the ventricles and all is well again. Since the atrium still has its normal ability to beat at an appropriate rate it doesn't need the Rate Response to help it.

So the bottom line is that if you don't need the Rate Response then it should be turned off. Usually, they leave the pacemaker set its factory settings at implant and then fine tune the adjustments at the first checkup. The problem is that often they don't schedule the checkuo for several weeks.

frank

Vibration

by mike thurston - 2009-09-08 04:09:53

Dear Country Rider,

Not sure about the 85% question but some PMs like mine use a piseoelectric crystal to detect movement and thus tell things to speed up - this happens to me sometimes when I am on the riding mower or on rough roads. This is because of the vibration that the PM is sensing. More noticable at some times than others and makes me a little anxious until I realize what is going on.
Mike

Agreed

by ShadowWeaver - 2009-09-08 05:09:15

Sounds like Smitty and ElectronicFrank are on target again. Really sounds like the rate response. Just have them turn it off or at the very least reduce the sensitivity of it.

Michael

Check and see if you even need Rate Response

by COBradyBunch - 2009-09-08 05:09:21

When I got my pacer, for syncope due to heart naps (flatlining for a few seconds at a time) they wanted to put me on rate response but since I work out a lot and don't have any known issues with anything but my heart taking naps I fought hard to have them turn that off. Now my heart gets to work based upon what it needs and I only get paced when my HR drops below a certain level. The big question is how does your heart deal with exercise. If it responds normally and you don't need boosts to feel okay exercising they probably can do for you what they did for me and just 'turn off' that whole part of the pacing.

thank you all

by countryriders2 - 2009-09-09 10:09:50

thank you all, The tec was puzzeled over the phone but is seeing me today. I rode again thinking it was my imagination and its not. So off I go to the doc. thanks diane

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