Irregular heartbeat

I just had a pacemaker put in two weeks ago due to Bradycardia and arrythmia. I'm set now at 60bpm and everything has been fine. This evening I'm at 60+bpm but having skips and pauses every 8-12 beats. Has anyone else experienced this?

2 Comments

Irregular Heart Beat

by SMITTY - 2011-08-20 10:08:55

Hello Tpresson,

The 60 setting is the low set point on your pacemaker and the point at which your new PM will keep your heart beat in the event your heart's natural PM decides to take a little rest. When your heart rate is above 60 that means your heart's mutual PM is working and the manmade PM is now just filling in the blank spaces.

As for skip beats they are normal for most of us and the reason your new PM is not preventing them is they are not true skip beats but just very weak beats by your heart's natural PM. They fool the new PM into thinking it does not need to do anything.

The way this can happen is the new PM checks to see if your heart's natural PM is going to send an impulse to make your heart beat. If it sees none or sees them at a rate lower than 60 BPM the new PM sends the needed impulses. As mentioned, the skip beats are the result of a weak electrical impulse from your heart's natural PM, but it is strong enough to be detected by the new PM so it does nothing. If these become a big problem the sensitivity of the new PM can be adjusted some to try and prevent some of the skip beats, but there will always be some that slip by.

Arrhythmia is very common fro a few weeks to a few months after we get a PM. This is true not only for getting PMs but for any procedure that involves the heart. It is not uncommon at all and sometimes can be very annoying. If it becomes a problem for you then you need to call your Dr.
I've had bypass surgery, stents and heart caths, all of which will throw my heart rate into a tizzy for a while.

The good news is things are not likely to get worse than what you see right now. In a few weeks all of it will probably a distant memory as you will hardly notice your PM.

Good luck,

Smitty

To add to Smitty's Coment

by donr - 2011-08-20 11:08:13

Have you taken your pulse at the wrist, throat, etc? Just sensing your pulse otherwise may not detect the weak heartbeats Smitty talked about.

Try sitting quietly for a while until your heart reaches its rate for resting - 60 BPM, hopefully.

Either take your pulse yourself or have someone else do it. When you feel a "Skip," check to see if there really was something there. That'll tell you if you realy skipped a beat or if it were something else.

There is a condition called "Premature Ventricular Contraction" (PVC). It can lead you to believe that your heart skips a beat. What happens is that the ventricles contract earlier than they should, leading to a weak beat 'cause they are not full enough. (Your PM can do nothing about it because the contraction came before the PM was expecting a contraction.) Then the next beat can be stronger because it got a bit over full. You really sense that one. Are they serious? No, but they can scare the daylights out of the new recipient of their existence. To quote my EP "They won't kill you." How's that for a comforting thought? Get a high enough frequency of them & they will make you feel absolutely terrible. At 8-12 regular beats between "Skips," IF it is, indeed, PVC's, you are running at roughly 12-8% PVC's. I was up to 33% PVC's before it incapacitated me.

I'd say check your pulse. If there's soething there & not a true skip, relax (Tough to do, I know) & call your Dr. Mon for his analysis of your situation. If it's a true skip - call your Dr.Mon.

Cheers.

Don

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