Correct me if I'm wrong....

From what I understand, here's what the PM can help and not help these situations. Please correct me if I'm wrong or make additions to the conditions that I'm missing.

PM can NOT help:
1. Afib
2. PVC's
3. PAC's
4. Pauses (skipped beats)
5. Irregular beats
6. Vtach
7. Atach
8. Heart attack
9. Angina

PM can help:
1. Heart block
2. Bradycardia (basically Sick Sinus Syndrome)

So, come to think of it, and from my understanding, PM can't do much. Please enlighten me. Thank you.

Duke

12 Comments

Actually

by Theknotguy - 2014-01-13 05:01:15

The Medtronics Sure Scan has software that is supposed to aid with a-fib but the FDA hasn't approved it yet. My PM has the software but it isn't turned on. So a-fib help is coming.

As for the rest I'll let others comment on that.

Theknotguy

Sinus Pause/ Irregular beats

by ebfox - 2014-01-13 07:01:15

A Pacemaker will address sinus pause and irregular beats. There are situations where you can have a junctional escape rhythm fighting the pacemaker but the PM will attempt to keep your rate at least at the set minimum. With irregular beats, if they are above the set minimum, the PM won't do anything; if the rate drops below the minimum, the PM paces you.

I would also disagree that a PM can't do much; it can keep you alive and greatly improve your QOL-

E. B.

Can't do much???

by Bostonstrong - 2014-01-13 08:01:21

Only bradycardia and sick sinus? Only? Really? For some of us what the pm does is a huge big deal.

You've cheated!!!!

by donr - 2014-01-13 08:01:26

Duke: The PM can do a LOT of things. You cheated by listing problems that are somewhat subsets of one another in the first section - then lumped a lot of things together in the second.

1) Start by throwing out the PLUMBING problems - heart attack & angina. PM's just aren't automated fire dept standby rotorooters for the coronary arteries when they decide to clog up.

2) The PM cannot fix anything that comes sooner than it is supposed to - that would require predicting the future & that is impossible. If we could design a device that could predict the future, we'd all be wearing diamonds as big as horse apples - AND, I might add, just as worthless. That rules out the PAT, PVC, A-Tach, V-Tach, A-Fib.

BUT!!!!! - compound the PM w/ meds & it can work wonders for some of those problems. Ditto for coupling the PM w/ ablations of several types.

So - under certain conditions, you can move those problems from the clear-cut "NO" section into a GRAY area called "SOMETIMES."

3) Look at what is left in the "PM Can Help" list:

a) Brady is so many bad issues from the SA Node it is unbelievable & the PM can cover them all.

b) Heart Block - there are text books big enough to hold a door open in tornado velocity winds. There are pages of sub-sets of heart blocks that can be corrected for easily by a good PM. First, second, third degree AV blocks of various severities. Try adding "Skipped Beats in here, also - another item belonging to the set of SA Node ills. As long as it is not severe enough to cause problems so severe that they lead to the requirement for an ICD - WHOOPS!!!!!

4) ICD's - they are an entire subset of PM type devices. Use a lot of the same technology - like monitoring for arrhythmias to determine when to give the Mule Kick in the Chest. Couple an ICD w/ pacing capabilities & it can do double duty. Pacing a basically sick heart (Electrically) & converting it freom a quivering mass of uncoordinated muscle back into a functional heart.

I'm afraid that there are far more things it can do than what it cannot do. There are tens of millions of people world-wide who can attest to that fact - all of them host PM's of ICD's.

Don

Vasovagel Syncope

by brushmore - 2014-01-13 08:01:31

I can think of one more use. I received a PM for vasovagel syncope. If I understand things right, I have an issue with my vegus nerve which is what controls the autonomic system. My problem is that my heart can stop for a short amount of time which causes me to pass out.

Feeling cheated

by crossettae - 2014-01-13 08:01:43

To me, being only 25 years old, getting my first pacemaker in august of 2013, it gives me life. I truly feel like that is the most important thing that it needs to do, and I am happy with that. My SA node stopped working and my heart couldn't beat on its own.
So without this handy thing in my chest now, I wouldn't be here. I think that's enough for me. Bradycardia is life threatening if you cannot sustain a heart rate that isn't fit for life. So now I hopefully get too enjoy every minute of it. I think you need to look at the bigger picture as to how many people this device is actually saving.

Pacemakers and afib

by Elleninminn - 2014-01-14 01:01:02

You're right that a PM won't cure afib, but a PM can make afib easier to treat by keeping the heart from beating too slowly when a drug, often metoprolol, is given to treat afib. I would be in danger of asystole or at least bradycardia every day without my pacemaker while I'm taking drugs for afib. I hope the prospect of new software from Medtronic to reprogram the Revo SureScan pacemaker will soon be approved by the FDA. I need it!

Duke999

by IAN MC - 2014-01-14 01:01:27

Hi Duke I know from comments in your previous posts that you regret having a PM and you feel it was totally unnecessary to have one in your case.

You have stated before that you hate having a PM and you would like to have it ripped it out. We are all sorry that you feel this way.

So you seem to be looking for agreement from other people that PMs aren't worth having . As you will have read here not everyone agrees with you . I CERTAINLY DON'T,because my PM keeps me alive ; end of story !

My suggestion ;- please have your PM removed and hopefully you can then let us all know how happy you have become

Best wishes

Ian

What's your point

by Jonny - 2014-01-14 05:01:08

A PM is designed to assist with bradycardia & heart block and does it extremely well, that's why many of us on this forum are alive. It was not designed to assist with the others. So just cannot see the point of the post.

Wrong about Heart Attack

by Glyn - 2014-01-14 07:01:45

DonR is right, you did cheat a bit to put PM's down.

Depending on the heart attack site electrical impulses which cause the various chambers of the heart to beat can be slowed or reduced in intensity. The result can be weakened contractions and/or contractions out of synchronisation. Cardiac re-synchronisation (3 lead PM/ICD) improves the strength of the electrical impulse and for instance ensures that the left and right ventricles contract together, the result is a higher ejection fraction and overall improvement in cardiac output.

Plus on top of that heart attack patients have a 1 in 10 annual risk of sudden cardiac arrest, so the built in defib function plus improved heart function means a significant improvement in lifespan and in quality of life.

In summary the PM has the capability, depending on type/set up etc. to do many things which help give us longer healthier lives.

take #4 and #7 off your list

by sam78 - 2014-01-15 02:01:34

While a pacemaker cannot take pauses away it can treat them by adding a beat so the pause does not last too long. IE, if your heart takes too long of a pause it will pace you. Secondly, it can treat Atach, as in my case, in that a pacemaker can be set to ignore a fast rhythm such as Atach and only pace the ventricles at a slower rate, assuming you have had an AV node ablation.

Question for you, if you could see in the future, had your pacemaker removed and died the next day from something your pacemaker would have prevented, would you still make the same choice?

asfasf

by boxxed - 2014-01-17 07:01:33

PMs treat (or help treat) almost all of what you mentioned.

1. Afib
Allows more aggressive uptitrating of beta blockers to control rate without making a person too brady.

2. PVC's
PVCs typically cause a compensating pause. The PM intervenes and paces when it notices a pause. Also there is a concept of overdriving. The higher the pacing rate is, the more likely that the heart will be in tissue refractory and you may be able to reduce PVCs occuring.

3. PAC's
Similar concept to PVC's.

4. Pauses (skipped beats)
Similar concept to PVCs/PACs.

5. Irregular beats
Similar concept to PVCs/PACs/Pauses.

6. Vtach
Correct.

7. Atach
There are PMs that can pace you out of Atach (even Aflutter) just like an ICD paces a person out of VT. Further more PMs have a functionality of over-drive pacing similar to what I described in #2 to try to reduce occurrences of AT/AF.

8. Heart attack
Plumbing

9. Angina
Plumbing


You know you're wired when...

Friends call you the bionic man.

Member Quotes

I am a 58 year old woman, race cars, ski at 13,000+ feet, work out daily, have become a second-degree black-belt in Karate, run a business - no limitations.