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I had my first Pacemaker installed on July 16 due to low blood pressure and sick sinus syndrome. My heart was pausing for up to ten seconds at a time and I didn't even notice it. They had me wearing a halter monitor and the monitor picked up the pauses. I went back one time already to say that I am still tired, especially in the afternoons. The tech said she made a small adjustment and that they only make small adjustments at a time. I go back on Aug. 31 and am going to ask for more. My blood pressure has been typically reading only 110/66 with a pulse of 78 and that was during the day and not at rest. Or another one 119/78 and a pulse of 75. This doesn't seem to be much different than BEFORE I got the Pacemaker, although my pulse never seemed to go above 60. Before I got the Pacemaker my readings were typically 113/61 and pulse 60 or 122/61 and pulse 55. How much of an increase can I ask for and hope to get when I go in on the 31st? I am 61 years old and have been low energy for so long that now with a Pacemaker I was hoping to feel SO much better and I'm not! I do plan on asking for a printout when I go in and am going to ask them to explaine it to me! I want to say thank you to everyone who has commented. This website is a lifesaver and full of information and support. I get the help I need here in dealing with the psychological aspect of having to get a pacemaker. I live in Wasilla, Alaska but we have the Alaska Heart Institute in Anchorage, which is only 40 miles away and the doctors are supposedly very good. The same doctor that put in my pacemaker also did an ablation on my younger sister, who lives in Anchorage. My brother has also had several ablations, different doctor, and my older sister is also dealing with afib and went to Boston for her first ablation. I also had afib for several years and took diltiazem and metropol to control it but was able to get off the prescription medication and only take magnesium supplement which worked for me and I never had afib again but of course my heart decided to switch to bradycardia. I guess it is a genetic thing in my family. Thanks again and sorry for rambling on for so long but it is good therapy!

4 Comments

Thanks Don

by Good Hearted Mary - 2012-08-14 04:08:10

I guess heart rate means the same thing as pulse? I meant that some time before, like years, my pulse never seemed to go above 60 and I was always tired. So now that it is up to 75-78 I should be feeling much better and have more energy? I wonder why I am not. Maybe I am still recovering. And when you said that most of your adult life you have been at 120/70 w/HR of 72? Was that before you got a pacemaker and if so, what are you at now? Just for reference for me because I don't really know what my target is. I guess at whatever gives me the most boost of energy. Does that make sense?

Thank you for rambling!

by donr - 2012-08-14 04:08:46

At least you told the whole story instead of trying to be brief & leaving out salient points necessary to understand your situation.

Mary, you keep referring to BEFORE you got the PM. Do you mean the DAY BEFORE, or some time in your past that you can consider to be "NORMAL"?

You are right - those are not what I would necessarily consider "NORMAL" readings. But what is your target BP/ HR? Remember we are all different.

I'd be very happy w/ a HR of 78 & a BP of 119/78. I have spent my entire adult life at 120/70 w/ HR of 72, so THAT would be a great goal for me.

Remember that a PM is not designed to affect BP - only slow down a heart & fix certain arrhythmias, so any BP changes are collateral effects from the HR corrections.

Don

HR = Pulse

by donr - 2012-08-14 07:08:46

Mary: Yep, you've got it.

For me, my resting HR & BP comes from a life long compilation of military annual physicals. I'd been a 172 & 120/70 since I was 17 or 18. Realize that there were deviations from those numbers a bit, but statistically , that's my average. I don't recall what my BP/HR was when I was sick or injured, it must have been higher. I developed High Blood Pressure in about a three week period in 1992. I went to Saudi Arabia for a contract job. Before I left for Saudi we all had a cursory physical that consisted of checking that we could see thunder & hear lightning; pass water & stand upright; had a pulse & a BP. At that time, I was 72 & 120/70. While working in the desert, I OD'd on water & wound up in the hosp for a week while they tried unsuccessfully to get my BP back to normal. Best they could do is 72 &140/80 (that's w/ BP Meds) Right now I'm all over the map - I've seen some readings as low as 110/68. No matter what my resting BP is, my pulse/HR stays pretty much at its comfy 72. That is unless I'm in the ER thinking I'm gonna have something horrible happen or I've just really exerted myself. Several weeks ago, I was just a couple days post-op from having a big toe fixed surgically & I thought I was developing pneumonia. Went to the ER. I was about 85 150/95 the whole 4 hours I was there, continuing till the next AM.

Now YOU have put your HR/BP in proper perspective - or perhaps you had the SSS for a lot longer than you realized!

What I have tried to illustrate is that there is NOT a real strong correlation between BP & HR. There are many factors that influence the pair of them - stress levels being one of them; activity level another; the current state of your health; etc.

Hope this helps.

Don

Thanks again

by Good Hearted Mary - 2012-08-14 09:08:42

Now it is making more sense Don! It sounds like you have had many exciting jobs in your lifetime and a lot of them must have been stressful and high energy and weather/humidity that you had to adjust to in a hurry. I think I agree that our BP and HR can fluxuate for many different reasons, including stress! Thanks for helping me understand all this.

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