Ventricular pacing

I am 55 years old and received my pacemaker in March 2012 due to bradycardia (sick sinus). My heart rate was 30bpm in the ER. I had been feeling very dizzy, near fainting, short of breath and in a mental fog for about a week before going to the ER. I have no other health problems and take no medications.
I had the motion sensor turned off after a few weeks since it bothered me. I was set for ventricular pacing only when needed. HR set at 50.

I felt better after the surgery but it took me about a month to really feel better. There were still times I felt dizzy, etc. and I never reached that feeling fantastic state that many swear by after getting their pacemaker. I am active and run/jog several times a week.
I had symptoms the end of June similar to those before I received the pacemaker but not as severe. My dr. was not available so I saw a nurse practitioner and the pacemaker technician. She raised my heart rate to 55 and also set me for ventricular pacing 100%.....which I didn;t realize until recently. She is not very good at explaining things and seems to be bothered by my questions. I felt significantly better after this and felt like I finally knew what it was to feel really well!

I transmitted my 3 month check-up recently and called technician to see how it was. She said I was paced 45% on the top and 100% on the bottom. That is when I realized about the 100% setting. I asked her if this was bad and she said that it was always better to do it on your own. So, I went in and had her adjust it....tried stretching out the timing and felt bad. Tried "turning it off" and felt bad. so, had it set back to 100% and I feel great again!

But I am worried about the 100% pacing of the ventricule with all the things I read about heart atrophy and failure.
Any ideas of what I should try?

2 Comments

Sounds like you...

by donr - 2012-10-25 01:10:11

...have more problems than SSS. You must have some sort of an AV block if you require 100% ventricular pacing.

I'd say, since you have 3 mos of data, that you need to discuss what is going on w/ your cardio. Sometimes you cannot do it on your own.

Yes there are potential long term problems that can crop up w/ only one Ventricle paced. Talk to your cardio about the particular ramifications for you. There are solutions available, so it is not all the worst thing that can happen.

Don

pacing

by Tracey_E - 2012-10-25 10:10:13

All pm's are set to pace ventricular AS NEEDED. It just watches most of the time. When the atria beats, if the ventricle follows the pm continues to watch. If the ventricles do not beat within whatever fraction of a second it's programmed for, it kicks in with a pulse. If you are consistently pacing ventricular, either this setting needs adjusted to give your heart a longer time to beat on its own, or you have av block also. If you feel good, I'd leave well enough alone. If you don't feel your best, keep on them to continue to tweak it.

Don't lose sleep over the possibility of atrophy, heart failure, etc. I've been fully paced ventricular, every beat I take, for almost 20 years now. My EF is as good as it's ever been, I'm in the best shape of my life, and I feel great. There are no long term studies because there aren't that many of us, but it seems like only a very small portion of people end up with problems. I hope I never have problems associated with long term pacing, but if it happens, it happens. The effects of NOT being paced are much worse so it is what it is, pacing is not optional if it keeps us feeling good. I eat right and exercise daily so I'm doing everything I can to make sure I don't end up with preventable problems to exacerbate the problems I already have. That's about all we can do. Worrying is just another stress on our hearts so I don't waste energy with it, work on the things we can control and put the rest in God's hands :)

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