low heart rate

went to the pacemaker clinic today and was told pacemaker being used at 90%. Has significantly went up over the last 2 years. was told that my pacemaker is set to "trigger" on in the mid 50's range. But then told also that my heart rate drops to the 30's at sleep. is this possible? I thought it would not drop below where pacemaker was "set". Comments appreciated.

melinda (new member)

4 Comments

heart rate

by pacingdiva - 2014-10-29 08:10:27

Can I ask why did you need a PM in the first place? I see everyone got one for different heart issue.

pacing vs heart rate

by Theknotguy - 2014-10-29 09:10:17

The onboard microsystem of the PM watches your heart and, if it doesn't initiate a beat, the PM will step in and start a heartbeat. While I am not technical enough to go into the actual details of how the PM does this, the delay the PM senses gives an estimate of what your heartbeat would be. At the same time, it kicks in and keeps your heart rate at the settings your EP or cardiologist has chosen. So the PM will estimate your heartbeat at 30BPM while it's keeping your heart beating at 60BPM or whatever the EP has set the rate.

If your heartbeat goes faster than the base rate set, the PM will just sit and watch. Not fun when you go into afib with RVR. My base rate is set to 60 but with the afib it went up to 140 BPM with my PM just sitting there watching.

Just because you're pacing at 90% it doesn't mean your heart isn't working or that you wouldn't survive if the PM were to stop working. (Don't worry about the PM not working.) It just means your heart doesn't initiate a beat quickly enough and the PM steps in 90% of the time to initiate a heartbeat per the PM programming.

It took me a while to get my mind around the "pacing" versus the need for pacing. I didn't like being told I was pacing 80% of the time but the other options aren't very good. Prior to having the PM my heart was beating whenever it felt like it. I had gradually grown accustomed to how it was beating. After the PM it felt really strange to have a regular heart beat.

So, sit back and enjoy the fact your PM is helping your heart along and that your alive enough to enjoy it.

Hope you continue to feel better.

heart rate

by fontanamen5 - 2014-10-31 06:10:30

It didnt make much sense to me when she was telling me this. Hopefully; i just misheard her. Might have to message them and ask again about the heart rate drop. As for earlier comment from "pacingdiva"; I was born with a congenital defect. I had a VSD repair as a baby (2 holes in the heart). I had my first pacemaker put in in 1991 at the age of 23; for a slow heart rate. I am 46 now with a complete AV block and on my third pacemaker and had only 1 lead replaced so far. Still have a few years left on this pacemaker. The longer the better; as those surgeries are uncomfortable to have. Thanks everyone who commented; i appreciate it...

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by donb - 2014-10-31 11:10:14

Hi Melinda, Thought I'd through in my (2cents) as having heart rate drop real low at rest is not normal. In my case this was primary for having a pacemaker. My 5th replacement pacemaker did not sense my low heart rate immediately after implant. It was set at 60 & my heart rate would drop below 50's. Months later getting a good interrogation it was found that indeed my Atrial lead was not sensing my heart rate due to infection of the lead tip attaching to the heart wall.
This was missed by a Medtronic tech even after I asked why my HR at rest was way below my setting of 60.
Hopefully you can get proper help in getting this resolved.
DonB

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So, my advice is to go about your daily routine and forget that you have a pacemaker implanted in your body.