Pacemakers and running

I just had a Medtronic "MRI Surescan" implanted last Thursday. My resting pulse rate had been in the 30's. My hobby has been long distance running which I want to continue, although at 70 years old I think I'll cut back to half marathons and shorter (except if I get into the New York marathon.) Any suggestions for me from other pm runners?

7 Comments

counting

by Tracey_E - 2013-05-29 01:05:20

Count manually, don't go by the reading on the treadmill. It can pick up pm spikes as beats, or the pm can interfere and cause it to miss beats so most of us find they aren't accurate. And I tend to go by how I feel, not what my pulse is. Once we're paced, I don't think the standard hr charts apply to us anymore, at least the rate I feel good working out at has never correlated with anything on the charts for my age. I push until I can barely talk and try to keep it there, whatever "there" is at the moment. It's been anywhere from 125 to 165 over the years.

It can take a few tries to get the RR set correctly, find the line between going up when you need it but not jumping up every time you sneeze.

Ian, I'm hoping some day they come with a remote control!

Rate Response

by IAN MC - 2013-05-29 01:05:45

Hi Joe I started off with RR switched on and had the same problem as yourself ; even just walking got me into the 140s. I also have a Medtronic PM in the Surescan range.

I think you will find that the RR on your model has 3 sensitivity settings , the most sensitive setting gets your heart racing almost when you sneeze, the least sensitive setting is better for people who really do exert themselves.

In the end I had my RR switched off and it suits me better. it really does depend on why you have had a PM fitted . I have an intermittent sinus node dysfunction which means that sometimes my heart rate responds to exercise, sometimes it doesn't ; unfortunately you don't have an option of having RR switched on when you need it , it is either on or off ; I decided to have it "off".

The other possible problem that older active people encounter is that Drs assume that ,because of your age you had better not have too high a max setting . I had to argue to get mine raised from 135 . I now have it at 165 and I think that is too low. It is POSSIBLE that your max of 145 is too low for you but we are all different.

You've only had your PM for a week , you may not need any changes to your settings. But, as a distance runner, chances are that you will !

Cheers

Ian

Alvajoe.................

by Tattoo Man - 2013-05-29 05:05:26


.................I have just turned 63, last week ...(Dammit ) and can still hit 179 bpm...

Forget the old formats re max bpm.

Do what feels ok and you wont go far wrong..

Tattoo Man

My suggestion would be .....

by IAN MC - 2013-05-29 11:05:51

.... wait 2 or 3 weeks and try a gentle jog and see how you feel and then build up gradually to get your running fitness back. It is so easy to blame your PM for any reduced performance but a large part of it could be the lapse in your training.

As a fellow active runner in my 70s ( dammit ) I wish you well. It is possible that you may need PM adjustments and not all pacemaker technicians take the needs of active patients seriously enough. The big decision is ... do you need Rate Response switched on or not ? If your heart rate increases as it should when you run, then you don't need RR on, if you hit a wall fairly quickly then having RR switched on MAY help.

Best of luck

Ian

running

by Tracey_E - 2013-05-29 12:05:15

As long as you are otherwise healthy, there's no reason you can't get back to running! I was out walking the day I got out of the hospital. When the jostling no longer hurts, try a light jog.

If you feel dizzy/tired when you jog, your settings may need fine tuned. Know that it's perfectly normal! They usually send us home with settings that don't support a lot of activity. Do you know why your hr was low? If it's sinus dysfunction, you will likely use rate response to get your rate up on activity. This often needs the sensitivity tweaked to get it just right because we're all different. If you have av block, your sinus node is just fine so you need the pm to make sure your ventricles keep up. They usually set the pm to only pace up to 120 or 130, so if your rate gets higher than that they may need to turn it up. The only way to really know is to try! Just be aware it's common to take a few tries to get it right.

Welcome

by singingtothewheat - 2013-05-29 12:05:22

Welcome to the group !!

Can't speak to you about running but walking is going ok so far for me.

I bet your going to feel TONS better with a better heart rate. I sure do!

running

by alvahjoe - 2013-05-29 12:05:43

Thanks for the comments and the welcome. Apparently the pm does have the RR switched on. I got on the treadmill last night for a brisk walk and my pulse got up to the pm max which is set at 145. If that reading is correct I'm somewhat concerned that the RR is too active. I expect that my pulse should have been around 110 at that pace. I'm not sure the pulse reading was accurate though. I may need to find a more reliable monitor.

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Member Quotes

Today I explained everything to my doctor, he set my lower rate back to 80 and I felt an immediate improvement.