PM Check

At the moment I am having my pm checked every 3 months because one of the leads is not working correctly, the cardiologist is happy to monitor it closely, they have changed the settings so that I am "safe". I can't seem to get much info out of the technicians. They just say nothing to worry about. Any ideas on what questions I should be asking.

Cheers Jane

4 Comments

Thanks Swetal Vora

by jane32 - 2014-03-24 08:03:48

I got a good report today, and don't have to go back for 6 months. It is the ventricular lead that is not working properly but because I am not pacing a lot they are happy to monitor it.

Questions for the leads

by swetalvora - 2014-03-24 10:03:02

Dear Jane,
If they are saying that you don't need to worry, be rest assured that you don't need to worry.

However, the probable questions that you may ask or learn is about which chamber lead is not functioning.

Most likely it is the Atrial lead (upper chamber lead) that may not be functioning properly.

In that case, the option will be either to work on ventricular lead (lower chamber lead), which is responsible for 75+ percentage of your blood circulation in the body.

OR the option will be to put the new Atrial lead, keeping the old lead as it is and capping it.

The Doctor will be the best person to judge.

Regards,

Swetal Vora

questions

by Tracey_E - 2014-03-25 10:03:04

I had a bad lead for years, waited until the battery died to fix it. I would ask 1) which lead is it, 2) which lead do you pace with, 3) how long is your expected battery life. If it's the lead you don't use, they can sometimes simply turn it off. In my case, it was the lead I use for every beat. The lead still worked, but it was fractured so they had to crank up the juice to get the signal through. It worked just fine,I never felt anything different, but the battery life plummeted. They compared it to running the air conditioner with the window open- the house cools, but the power bill is high.

If/when they replace the lead, they can cap it off and put the new lead in the same vein if there is room. The other option is to extract what is there using a laser sheath then put in a new lead. Either way, it's not a big deal.

Self Education

by Electro - 2014-03-25 12:03:46

Good you talked to the doctor. A good thing is to also get a copy of any procedures or reports produced by the techs. or doctors. Nothing like knowing what they are doing and if you don't understand you may have to assert yourself to get them to tell you what it all means. It is your body and they are doing things to it and you have the right to make choices and make decisions when issues come up. Good luck, Electro

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