Low Battery Patient Symptoms

• by boboantho
• 2013-11-26 09:11:32
• Batteries & Leads
• 8354 views
• 2 comments

I have had a Medtronic two chamber pacemaker for 8 years. My last pacemaker check showed battery life from 6 to 10 months. About 3 weeks ago, I suddenly began experiencing severe shortness of breath. Of course it was on a Friday, so I waited until Monday to see my Internal Medicine specialist. He ran a relatively simple Spirometer test on my lungs and a BNP blood test. The lung test showed lung breathing at 60% of normal and the BNP test read 8,700. Normal BNP for my age and sex is 0 to 400. He explained to me that the BNP test showed a heart problem but the lung test showed a lung problem. He didn't know whether the lung caused the heart problem or the heart caused the lung problem. He sent me to a pulmonologist who had more specific lung testing performed. He ran another BNP blood test to confirm the reading from the previous BNP test. He found that the lungs were not the problem but the heart was the problem. Next day I then went to the cardiologist and he thought it might be atril fib. His pacemaker tech was not available so I had to wait another day, During the interim from first symptoms, about one week, my wife awakened on 2 different nights because I was breathing so hard she became alarmed. I saw the Medtronic pacemaker tech the next day and she said the chamber that controlled the signals to the atrium was no longer working due to low battery, but the ventricle was getting the proper signals. Consequently, the ventricle was doing all the pumping work. I had the pacemaker replaced the next day and upon post-surgery recovery, I immediately felt normal with no shortness of breath. Don't wait too long to get the pacemaker replaced once battery life reaches 8 to 10 months. Also don't believe either Medtronic techs or the cardiologists when they tell you that there are no symptoms from low battery power. I confer with the comment that when the car battery gets low, it may turn the crank over, but not fast enough to start the car. Hope this post helps someone. Regards, Bob A.