Exercise after Ablation with Pacemaker

I am schedule to have Ablation next week. I had a pacemaker installed in March of this year. Even though I was on a drug to keep the heart rate down, I was over 170 beats a minuted 1100 times in the past 90 days.
My question is what happens when you exercise strenuously with only the pacemaker controlling the heart. I run and do spinning classes on a regular basis. What will change if anything? Will I be able to do these sports and what will control the high heartbeats?

3 Comments

Exercise After Ablation

by SMITTY - 2013-11-01 06:11:39


Hello Merle Smith,

For all practical purposes the pacemaker's no.1 job is to speed up your heart rate.

A rough description of how the PM will work for you is the pacemaker has two set points when you get it. A low point and a high point, One is a low setting and that is the one at which the PM starts to work should your heart rate drop below that setting. The PM continues to monitor your heart rate and steps in anytime it detects a heart rate that will go below that low setting.. However when your heart rate gets higher than the high set point the PM becomes a monitor only and will not raise your heart rate above that level.

There are some of us that need the PM to help raise our heart rate for some activities. In my case my low set point is 80 BPM low and a high of 110 BPM. The PM has a feature called a rate response and if I'm doing something (exercise for example) that requires a heart rate higher than 110 my rate response will be activated and give me that increased rate.

It is dr. option, but most of us get our PM with the rate response deactivated for various reasons. If you think you need the help of the rate response for a higher heart rate talk to your dr. He knows the particulars of your heart and is the one to decide if you should have your rate response activated.

Which of your activities will change I cannot tell you. I have to suggest that your discuss with your dr the extent of your activities and let him explain how your PM will fit into activities program.

Good luck,

Smitty

Prepare yourself

by PacerRep - 2013-11-01 10:11:38

For about 95 comments on this! you will be fine.

More info needed

by golden_snitch - 2013-11-02 03:11:09

Hi!

Why did you get the pacemaker in the first place, what was your original diagnosis? And do you know what they are going to ablate, is that an atrial tachycardia or atrial fibrillation or flutter?

They are doing the ablation to take care of the high rate episodes. That's what ablations are for, while pacemakers can do something about your heart beating too slow.

Not sure why you think that after the ablation the pacemaker will control your heart rate all the time. Usually, the sinus node dictates the pace, and the ventricles follow. If you have a heart block, the pacemaker will track the sinus node and make sure that the ventricles beat at the same pace. If you have sinus bradycardia, the pacemaker will stimulate the atria. The rate response, the pacemaker's feature to adjust the heart rate to exercise, only comes into play when the sinus node fails to dictate the pace (not when it's beating too fast, only when you have sinus bradycardia).

So, if they only ablate an atrial tachycardia, but your sinus node functions well, nothing will change. If you have, however, sinus bradycardia with chronotopic incompetence (inability to adjust the heart rate to exercise), you'll need the rate response feature. Running and spinning should not be a problem, though. What most rate response sensors have a problem with is cycling. But again, if they ablate only the atrial tachycardia and everything else stays as before, you'll feel no difference at all.

Good luck with the ablation!

Inga

You know you're wired when...

You run like the bionic man.

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