Am I using too much battery

Hi to everyone,

I Have implanted an PM { VERITY (TM) ADx XL DR 5356 Bipolar - St.Jude Medical } 1 week ago....
anyone could tell me if i'm using too much battery since i have a dual chamber PM, my heart before was beating 33/50 beats normaly 40 beats / min i was born with a heart block 2to1....
the doctor have programed my PM with 75 beat/min
I'm 29 year old boy and very strong, i didn.t have any problem with my heart the only thing was that i felt strong beats and rare...
my concern for the moment are 2:
1 Am I using to much battery since i have bipolar PM
2 will my old heart system be inactive since i Have a artificial PM and if my PM goes off will it be any chance that i'll have back my old heart beat........ PLS .... any answer

3 Comments

Bipolar

by golden_snitch - 2012-12-13 06:12:40

Hi!

Bipolar is the standard, and they sometimes switch it to unipolar when there are lead problems (insulation damage, lead fracture). I'd guess when manufacturers estimate the battery life they assume that the pacer or rather the leads are set bipolar. Not sure, if unipolar would actually safe you any battery life. What could, however, safe battery is to program the minimum pacer rate to 60bpm for instance, instead of 75bpm. Especially at rest or at night when sleeping, you should be fine with 60bpm. Not sure why your cardio programmed 75bpm. I'd ask him, and if he does not have any special reason for it, you can at least try, if 60bpm works for you, too.

Yes, there is a chance that your heart beat will be same as before the pacemaker in case it fails. You have a heart block, but below the AV-node there is also the Bundle of His and the Purkinje Fibers which can initiate a heart beat, so you might have a slow heart beat, but something will most likely kick in then and buy you time to go to a clinic and get a new pacer. No one will give you a 100% guarantee that your own rhythm kicks in, but it's very likely.

Best wishes
Inga

Let me add to Snitch's comments

by donr - 2012-12-13 08:12:50

Eni: Welcome aboard. I see by your profile that you live in Albania. An even bigger welcome to you for coming to us from a country that has few people as members of our group.

Question 1) Your PM uses only as much battery as it needs to do its job. Your PM works on demand only. If it is not needed, it does not do anything. It has a capability to monitor your heart and act ONLY when your heart does not.

Question 2) Your heart still functions as it did before you had the PM implanted. Each and every beat of your heart is independent of all other beats. Your PM has the capability to monitor what your own heart's control nodes are doing - it uses the same leads to do the monitoring that it does to send the signals to cause your heart to beat. If your heart is going to beat normally for ANY of its independent beats, the PM allows it to do so. the PM does NOTHING during that beat. If the PM senses that the heart is NOT going to beat correctly, it sends a signal to make it beat correctly. So...your heart will not FORGET how to beat. Your heart's control system is only HELPED by the PM, not replaced by it.

The PM can be adjusted in many ways to control how much help it gives your heart. These adjustments can control how much battery power is used by reducing the times that it functions.

You say you have a heart block. This means that the signal from the upper part of the heart does not always get to the lower part to make it function. The number of times that the PM has to generate the signal to make the lower part function depends on how often the block either stops the signal or makes it so late that the PM thinks that it has stopped the signal. THAT is the real issue that determines how much battery your PM uses.

Do not worry about the battery running out. The PM will tell you when it is running out of battery power. After it tells you it is running low, it will have at least 3 months left before it actually does run out.

Eni, I realize that English is not your first language. I have tried to make this as clear as possible. If I did not, please write a note with questions. I will be glad to answer.

Don

Thank you DON

by Eni - 2012-12-13 11:12:32

Thank you for your hospitality "DON"

( and forgive me for my english speaking , I have difficulties writing it, but I can understand everything )

Don, i did have the PM , it was not an emergency , I just felt my heart beat strong and rare about 40 beats / minute, i had no idea that a human should have 60 - 100 beats , i did have a visit to the doctor and I was told i had a heart block AV 2to1 . it was like this since i was born , ,,,,,

If before i had 40 beats as normal now that i have 75 , it means than 35 are thanks to PM........
and since the uper part of my heart is ok ,, should it means that it will not use the PM ........ hoppe you understand what I'm looking for.... thank you very much for your help

You know you're wired when...

Microwave ovens make you spark.

Member Quotes

I love this new part of me, and very, very thankful that this technology exists and I know that it's all only going to get better over time.