Heart rate increase

Hi all. My husband has a st. Jude crt-d. It was implanted in June 2014. It was originally set at a low rate of 60 and a high rate of 120. The rate response is on. He was interrogated yesterday and they turned his heart rate up to 70 bpm because he was only being paced at 88%, not 100%. They want him paced at 100%. The technician said that My husband's heart looked better with an increased heart rate. He is now feeling light-headed at times. Is this normal? Will it just take a little time for his heart to adjust to the new rate? His voltage was also turned down to save battery life. Thanks for any information you can provide me.

2 Comments

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by Tracey_E - 2014-08-20 09:08:20

If he's feeling worse after the changes, call and ask to have him seen again. Technicians aren't drs and some people don't do well at 70.

It's normal to turn down the juice after we've had it a few weeks. Once the leads settle, they can start to optimize to help the battery last longer.

Know how he feels

by Wired1995 - 2014-08-20 12:08:13

I'm in the same boat as your husband. My lower limit is now 87 and when I do anything even walk my rate shoots up as high as 150bpm. I'm very fine tuned with my CRT model. There are things and adjustments that can be made to help alleviate the dizziness. It all comes down to the timing and perfusion at such a high rate. There is a special type of echo that can assist in timing the device at just the right time to get the most optimal effect of the device. Hope this helps, trust me I know how discouraging it can be.

You know you're wired when...

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