what to think

Before my first pacemaker, my HR was 32. I am 4 years and
2 1/2 months into my third device. They wear out rather quickly since they pace 98% of the time. I have gotten to the point where I can hardly do anything. It is difficult to breathe, fatigue, back pain, and unable to stand or walk more than a few minutes at a time. Running the sweeper is enough to send me to bed for an hour. They are going to do a heart cath on 12/31. When I had my interogation this week there were three alerts, the longest one was 3 1/2 hours long. Thet said if the heart cath turns out okay they will turn on the rate response feature and it will help. I don't know what to think because it seems like if the answer is that easy they should have done it a long time ago. 2012 has been a year of steady decline for me. I am almost 69 yeaes old.

5 Comments

Rate Response and Other Settings

by Many Blessings - 2012-12-28 10:12:52

Hi,

I'm so sorry you're feeling so awful. There are so many PM setting adjustments they can make, one being the rate response function, and any of them can make you feel just awful, or totally great within a very short amount of time, depending on what your body's reaction is to them.

Have they been making any changes during your PM checks at all? Or, just leaving things the same. I'm not sure why they'd wait so long when you've been declining for the last year if they thought a setting change would help. I'd ask them to see if maybe they wanted to rule out any other issues or if they just weren't sure what to do.

I have had several setting changes made since I had mine put in back in April. Some made me feel really great, and a couple others made me feel just horrible, to the point where I couldn't even make it up one flight of stairs or down the hall at work. When they changed it back, I felt great again. I know many others have had similar experiences with their setting changes.

The time I felt the worse was one of the times when they changed my rate response. I'm very active and they changed it to where it "should" be set for active people. It didn't work for me for whatever reason.

Once before, they made a different change to my rate response which made me feel great. It just depends on the person and what works best for you, not what the "text book" says. Keep that in mind when they're making changes they think should work. If you feel worse afterwards, speak up as soon as possible and get it changed back.

Hopefully, when they do your heart cath, they can rule out anything serious, and they can start experimenting with making some setting changes and you'll feel better soon!

I know others out here can give you more examples and suggestions on what worked best for them. Hopefully, something one of us has mentioned will work for you.

Thoughts and Prayers for a smooth heart cath with great results! Then, they can work at getting your PM settings to where they need to be.

Hopefully, soon you will be posting how wonderful you feel after your settings were changed! Good luck!

Adema

by dad4dds - 2012-12-29 01:12:57

Are there any signs of adema(swelling in the feet. Ask your Dr. sounds like something I had alot of fluid buildup.

Maybe something else?

by Many Blessings - 2012-12-29 09:12:41

I didn't think of it earlier until dad4dds brought up the adema, but could it maybe even be something else non-heart/PM related that the doctors are missing because they're concentrating on heart/PM issues?

I would hope the docs would catch adema or rule out CHF when they were doing tests, but who knows, like dad4dds said, I'd look into that too. I'm still wondering if you should see a GP doc to rule out anything else that may be going on, just in case there is more than one issue. Still keep those PM setting changes in the back of your mind for after your heart cath.

Good luck and don't give up!

I agree

by ElectricFrank - 2012-12-30 02:12:48

By the way pacing 98% of the time is no reason for short battery life. I'm paced 100% for AV block and my first pacer lasted about 5 yrs.

frank

I agree

by judith-francis - 2012-12-30 12:12:32

They are supposed to last 7-8 years in someone that doesn't pace all the time. It is like anything else, the more it is used the faster the battery wears out.

My first one lasted 6 years 2 months, 2nd one 5 years 2 months because I pace more now, and this one is now 4 years 2 months. Maximum life for leads is supposed to be 15 years but mine will be 16 years old in another month. They are still working because they picked up the 3 alerts during the last three months. I am hoping they last until the day I leave this earth since my heart isn't built correctly anatomically and lead placement is difficult and painful.

Thank you fro responding.

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