Check up confusion

Hello,
I had my pacemaker implant in January of this year. The reason for the implant was 4 blackouts and heart pause of 20 seconds in length in a 1 day period.
I went for a second check up last week and find my results confusing!! I hope someone might be able to help me understand my results. The reading is from March 14 to present. I had 286 short V-V intervals. I asked what these were but did not understand the explanation at all. What is a V-V interval? Is 286 a lot for an almost 4 month time period?
Also I am already on coversyl for high blood pressure and now they want to put me on a beta blocker, I am questioning if that is even necessary at this point and I do not want to overmedicate. I feel sometimes they are quick to prescribe meds.
My pacemaker is set at 60 and I feel that might be a little high for night time for a resting heart rate and think it may be causing me to pace more at night. Does anyone have their pacemaker set lower like to 50 for 55 for the nighttime?
Thanks for always being there, I feel great comfort in knowing I have this group to turn to for a vast amount of pacemaker knowledge.
Ev

2 Comments

CRT?

by golden_snitch - 2014-07-12 05:07:11

Hi!

Do you have a CRT device, a bi-ventricular pacemaker? Because the VV-interval normally is the time delay between the contraction of the right and left ventricle. You need to program this in a bi-ventricular pacemaker. It is usually a short delay; in heart failure patients it's often prolonged, with a shorter left ventricular ejection time, which is a reason why the left ventricle cannot pump efficiently. In a dual-chamber device, you cannot measure the VV-interval, because there is only a pacer lead in the right ventricle. So, if you do not have a CRT device, I have no idea what the VV-interval could be, and why you now need a betablocker. And if you have a CRT device, a short VV-interval is the norm.

Most pacemakers offer a nighttime setting for the lower programmed rate. Usually, you program the time, for instance between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., and the rate, for instance 50, and then your heart rate is allowed to drop to 50 when you are sleeping. You should ask about this possibility during your next check-up.

Inga

Thank you

by evmohr - 2014-07-16 11:07:04

Hi,
Thanks for your response. I have a dual lead Medtronic Advisa pacemaker. I will also ask about the lower programmed rate at night at my next check up.

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