Shortness of Breath

I'm an occasional runner and a serious bicyclist which probably gave me a low heart rate 45 - 50 bpm. I've also got Parkinson's. Whereas I can perform fairly well in my sports, I have shortness of breath when walking up an incline or flight of steps without some warmup. After a series of cardio and pulmonary tests, I was diagnosed with CI. I had a pacemaker installed a couple of months ago, but I still have the SOB problem. My PM doesn't really boost my heart rate significantly until 60 seconds after I start to climb the steps, and in the interim I start panting heavily. I'm going for an adjustment of my PM this coming week and am wondering what feature needs tweaking. I have a Boston Scientific Ingenio dual lead. Any advice with similar experiences would be appreciated.

2 Comments

Ask cardiologist

by NiceNiecey - 2014-12-05 11:12:50

I just went in for a routine check up five days ago. I was asked whether I had any chest pain (yes), any SOB (yes) and a third yes but the question escapes me at the moment.

They strongly suspect diastolic failure but I'll find out for sure next week when I have another echo. It sounds like what you're experiencing but how do I really know?

I told my cardiologist that I can only climb a ladder for x number of feet and then I am totally wiped out and need to stop and catch my breath. The same thing happens when biking up a hill of any size. Unless I get a real running start, I can't make it.

Just make sure you tell your doc what's going on. Keep me posted.

You most likely need tweaking

by KAG - 2014-12-06 09:12:09

Until you've explored getting your PM adjusted I wouldn't jump to other conclusions.

If your PM is controlling your heart rate there are many adjustments that can be made. It can take some time to get things optimized for you. I'm not familiar with Boston Scientific PMs but there are many on this site who are. You might try searching for past posts in the upper right corner of this site.

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