a little help please :~)

Hi all just joined to day had no idea there was a pm club!! lol, i have had my pm since 2004 and now im back to 6mth check ups, i have one in august as they said at begining of year the battery was down to 3 yrs n 6mths before was 6 yrs....im having frequent dizzy spells and have not had them for a very long time n wondering if there is any side effects from a battery running low lol....sorry if this has been asked before total newby here lol xxxx

6 Comments

call!

by Tracey_E - 2011-07-13 04:07:38

When the battery needs replaced, it goes into ERI mode, elective replacement. At that point it has full function, sort of like the gas light in your car. Next stage is EOL, end of life, at that point a lot of the functions shut down to conserve power and if you pace a lot you won't feel too good. You'll be safe, but that's about it. Is your pulse staying the same? That's a sure sign you are EOL. Regardless, if you have sudden symptoms you should always call.

Is this your first replacement? They are super easy! I'm on #4 now :o)

Battery Replacement

by SMITTY - 2011-07-13 06:07:16

Hello Tambo,

The good thing about our pacemaker and its batteries is they don't run down like the batteries in a flashlight where the light gets dimmer as the battery gets weaker. Our PM has a battery checker and when the battery power reaches a certain level, the PM shift into a battery saving mode. In that mode the PM ceases to do some of the things it normally does and concentrates all it power to keeping your heart beating.

On Medtronic and St. Jude PMs and possibly other, the mode is called the VVI mode. I have a Medtronic PM and in 2009 mine went into the VVI mode after 9 years of service. It did that during one Friday night and when I got up Sat. I knew something was different, but I didn't know exactly what,. For me that meant the PM was pacing the lower chamber only and letting my heart's natural PM do what it could for the upper chamber. Since my PM normally paced the upper chamber about 90% or the time and the lower chamber about 5% of the time this caused some conflicts between the two chambers that were downright uncomfortable. I felt like the devil and when I got around to checking my heart rate it was a steady 65 BPM. Since the low setting on my PM is 80, I knew something had happened, but still didn't know what. My wife kept saying let's go to the ER and I kept saying let's wait until Monday and I'll see the Dr. For once i won and that was when I learned my PM was now in VVI mode because the battery was weak. But the Dr did a checkup and told me what had happened and it was time for a replacement which I got a couple of days later.

I guess what I'm trying to say is don't worry about your battery running down and leaving you stranded. When one goes into the battery saving mode the PM has enough battery power left to work for at least three months. And trust me, you will know that has happened. The most obvious sign is as Tracey said, your heart rate will not change, and in my case that meant it did not change no matter what I was doing.

thank you xx

by tambo - 2011-07-13 06:07:42

yeah it is my first im not nervous about that infact id rather go get it done now than deal with dizzyness or start fainting again, very scary getting that back again cant be doing with passing out all over place again :(....if dizzyness persits over next few days i will ring my hospital n ask my appointment to be moved up a month to make sure....i have no idea about my pulse i never check im suprised by how much you all do on this site its great to have people to talk to as non of my friends have anything like this, my dad getting a defib/pacemaker fitted soon so it'll be a family thing sadly lol ...thanks tracy babes xxx

Hey, give them a call

by ElectricFrank - 2011-07-14 02:07:06

Keep in mind that they are responsible for keeping the pacer working properly. Just because they have scheduled your next appt for August doesn't mean you can't ask for a checkup sooner.

In fact there is no reason you need to be limping around with a half functional pacer in EOL mode. I also had my original implanted in 2004. I have always requested a copy of my checkup reports so when I saw the battery life getting near the end I called the cardiologist and reminded him that I do a lot of back country exploring so walking out with a pacemaker in EOL wasn't an option. Less than a week later I had my replacement.

good luck,

frank

hi

by tambo - 2011-07-14 07:07:51

wow thanks your all so supportive ! :) xxx

hi

by tambo - 2011-08-15 09:08:57

hello all just an update i got my appointment moved up n pacemakers working fine with good battery left but it did pick up my heart is racing at different times a day but its racing at a steady rythym so pacemaker hasnt adjusted it but this may be why im feeling dizzy on occassion so i am being referred to my specialist again, thnks for all your support and i will keep u informed xxxx

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