PVC's after pacemaker implantation

Hi everyone,
I just recently got a DDD pacemaker for AV block. Before I had PVC's for many years but I mainly felt them as being "isolated beats".
Since I got my pacemaker however, my heart rate at rest regularly switches from a low normal value of +/- 70 bpm to a fast value of +/- 120 bpm. This hight heart rate is even measured on my blood pressure monitor, which never occurred before! My cardiologist verified that no PMT occurred and eventually made a 24 hours Holter recording: Frequent PVC's were recorded but no high heart rate of 120 bpm although I can measure it easily myself?!
Did anybody have a similar experience after implantation of a pacemaker ? Thanks.

2 Comments

PVCs

by kwhite62 - 2013-06-06 10:06:38

I had an irregular heart rhythm for years before my PM. But after the PM implant I had horrible PVCs. After dealing with it for 6 long weeks, a simple PM adjustment stopped them almost completely! Also, the rate response on my PM was turned on and I could walk across the hall and my heart rate would go up to 110-120. The RR has sense been turned off and this doesn't happen anymore. I'm sure there are different reasons for having the RR on but so far this has worked for me.

BP Monitors...

by donr - 2013-06-07 01:06:56

...are easily spoofed by PM driven hearts.

You cannot really trust them to be accurate.

I'm not sure how yours works, but if you have a bunch of PVC's in a run, it may be using the very short interval between the end of a normal beat & the beginning of a premature one to calculate your HR.

That's how MOST BP monitors determine HR - measuring a time & calculating a HR to go with it.

Does the monitor switch between 70 & 120 very frequently while this is happening?

Don

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