no endurance?

I am a 38 year old who lifts weights and does 30 min of cardio about 3 times a week. Last July I went into complete heart block and got a pacemaker. They think the block was caused by myocarditis from a viral infection 2 months earlier. Since my pm I have really struggled with my cardio endurance. I felt as though I was hitting a wall and had my settings changed and rate response turned on. I am better but a I am wondering if I will ever feel normal again? I am worried there is something not right. I have sent in transmissions and my pm is working correctly. I also have been able to feel my pulse under my left breast since my pm ? In addition I somtimes feel pain under my left arm which is where I had pain before my pm. Is anyone else dealing with this?? Normal?

3 Comments

Tiff...................

by Tattoo Man - 2013-01-28 02:01:56


.................................you know , I, and other sports people are beginning to lose count of questions like yours....you are doing fine ..and suddenly, post PM you feel that you just cannot meet your previous goals.

I had an emergency PM ..March '10..the day after I had been doing Shuttle Sprints with my running club..I have never got back to my earlier form.. Some comments :

Hey !..running a bit slowly is a whole lot better than waking up a bit dead.

Train harder..you wont break.

You needed one ..get used to it.

Give up Sport and take up Golf

Basically Tiff, once you have your settings confirmed as ok, it seems to me that you are stuck. I'm doing my first run for 6 weeks having had 3 ops since the end of Dec. I expect to be very slow but will measure my time and keep a log (as I always do ).

Maybe another question could be..." Have sports people out there with PMs got back to original performance levels ?"

Its all a bit of a mystery to some of us

Best wishes...Tattoo Man

Hello Tiff

by Casper - 2013-01-28 03:01:47

In time, I hope you get back to a normal routine.

I would like to add to what Tattoo Man said, regarding sports people with pacemakers. It's been my experience that it critical to let your doctors and others who are treating you, know how athletic you are.

In general, we still fall outside the norm, when it comes to treating the majority of patients they see. You might need to get your settings adjusted again.

By the way, if you had your pacemaker implanted 6 months ago, your body may still need time to heal those tissues.

Tattoo Man, I'm glat to hear you're getting back to your grand old self.

Hope you feel better soon.

casper

Rate Response on?

by SaraTB - 2013-01-28 04:01:40

You mentioned that rate response is on? There is an idea that those of us with heart block should NOT have rate response on: the problem for us is not the rate - our brains can deal with sending that signal to our hearts. The problem is that the signla isn't getting through from the upper chambers to the lower chambers, to keep all in synch. The rate response function can sometimes interfere with your brain's instructions, and mess things up. Some people here have had huge improvement after having RR turned off, if they only have heart block. Some notice no difference (I'm one of those, sadly). But it's worth discussing with your doctor. Ask to switch it off - if you don't like it, you can just have them re-set it again.

Alternatively, the difficulty may be to do with your upper tracking rate (I think Tracey wrote an excellent post about this, but I can't find it right now). In short, if it is set too low, you may find that as your heart rate increases while exercising, you exceed this tracking rate, and the PM stops providing its signal, thinking you're having a problem. This can stop you in your tracks, gasping for breath. My doctor told me they had to keep making adjustments for one of their patients, who runs marathons, as his fitness improved, to keep up with his needs.

Again, something to think about (I probably haven't explained it well, but if you use the Search function here, you may find other, better descriptions).

Don't give up - keep nagging the doctor to try out different adjustments. I'm not an athlete, but it took 6 months of adjustments to get my first PM to where I was happy. Lucky for me, my doctor's very supportive.

You know you're wired when...

Titanium is your favorite metal.

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My pacemaker is intact and working great.