pacemaker soon, question on rate

I am 49, getting a BIOTRONIK Evia pacemaker on 10/9 to treat bradycardia. I also have dysautonomia. When I saw my cardiologist in Aug. I failed to ask this question ( he is 300 miles from me) and won't see him again until the surgery morning.

I am used to a heart rate of 40-50.. When I exercise ( up to an hour on a stationery bike) my heart goes no higher than 90 and then drops quickly when I stop. So if the pacemaker was set at say 70-130 I i think it would feel crazy high to me. How does the doctor set the pacemaker - will he take this in to account? I know the meds. he has me on gets me in the 60s sometimes and that feels good- but I can't sustain it.
Thanks for your replies.

4 Comments

Initial settings

by Creaky - 2013-09-12 09:09:55

Hi
Don't know if this is helpful but- in my experience they will make initial settings generic, like 60-130. After 6 weeks or so if they feel the leads are healing they might make changes to personalize the settings for you.
There are a lot of considerations besides rate though that can affect how you feel, especially during exercise. I suggest you see how it goes and then revisit here to discuss.
There are lots of folks here with great insight that will be able to help you work through your issues.

Harry

settings

by Tracey_E - 2013-09-12 11:09:16

What is causing the brady? If it's heart block, it won't matter much what the lower rate because your own sinus node will be setting the pace, not the pm. All the pm does is make sure the ventricles keep up. My hr went from low 40's to 80's. My lower rate is set at 50, but my rate never gets anywhere close to that low. It took about a year for it to settle down, now my resting rate is in the 60's. It felt fast, yes, but it wasn't a bad feeling, just different. I felt energized, it was a good thing!

If you have sinus issues, then the lower rate will be more important. 70 would be pretty high, odds are they will start it at 50 or 60. It may feel a little fast at first but it will quickly feel normal. What you have now is NOT normal, that's sort of the point of getting the pacer, to get your rate up to normal?

The pm should be able to help you get higher than 90 when you exercise. Again, it should feel good! Faster beat = more oxygen, a nice thing to have when working out ;o) Or, if you are in block, your heart is trying to get higher than 90 now anyway but the signal isn't making it the ventricles. The pm will just get your rate up to where it should be if the circuit wasn't interrupted.

Settings are easy to change, so if what they start you with doesn't work it's easy enough to tweak it.

Similar situation

by Finn - 2013-09-15 12:09:27

My dr set mine at 70/140. I have a st Jude pm 4yrs ago , my rate was 30bpm low, high would go to 140. It took a little time to get used to the 70bpm but when a different cardiologist wanted to set it at 60 I returned and asked to go back to 70. I am very active and have no problems sleeping for what it's worth

no structural heart problems

by ladybug55 - 2013-09-18 10:09:44

I have no structural heart problems. The bradycardia is due to the dysautonomia - deregulation of the autonomic nervous system.

Thank you for the responses.

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