Looking for info

I'm a newbie, AV node ablation and bi-ventricle pacer placed 4 months ago. I've had a-fib, a-flutter and some vtach issues for the last few years and ablation and amiodarone were not controlling things. Been feeling great, rarely thinking about the packer at all and then yesterday had an issue. Beach camping with my family had to come up 8 flights of stairs and barely made it to the top. I started to see stars, my husband said my lips turned white and I had to sit for 5-10 minutes before I could stand. Felt exhausted after. I had this syncope happen prior to the pacemaker but thought I was in the clear and wouldn't be dealing with this anymore? Would love more info from people who have knowledge on all of this.

2 Comments

Stairs

by 0300hours - 2015-07-19 01:07:36

I used to run up six flights of stairs at work. Then ablation, beta blocker a year ago and was walking up stairs. Post six months of feeling lousy (presyncope, dizzy spells, short of breath, SSS, and finally a pacemaker + beta blocker since April,

I run out of gas before I finish second flight of stairs. Am able to walk briskly on streets and roads, but not so well on stairs. Don't know if I'm so de-conditioned that I've lost tolerance for activity or if PM needs adjustment of parameters.

I don't think this info answered your question, but you are not alone. My feeling is the pacer is not the be-all and end-all, but I couldn't have continued as I was before. I felt so lousy that I didn't particularly want to live any more. Better now, but diminished expectations.

If you think about

by Theknotguy - 2015-07-19 03:07:03

If you think about how the PM works, you can see why stairs can be a problem. My PM has an accelerometer and will sometimes kick up my heart rate when I don't want it to. So any back and forth motion will kick up my heart rate. Walking, moving wood, using my arms, etc. will increase my heart rate.

Activities such as walking on a treadmill, walking up stairs, riding a bike don't involve much movement in the upper torso so my accelerometer doesn't get activated and my heart rate isn't kicked up. I have to drop back into the chronotropic incompetence mode and expect my heart rate to go up as fast as I'd like. I'm also on meds that won't allow my heart rate to respond as quickly nor will they let my heart go up to a speed that I'd sometimes like.

As someone said on another post, PM's aren't the final answer in heart care. Your natural pacemaker that came with your heart was the best - when it worked correctly that is. But the PM is better than nothing. In my case, I'd be dead without it. So it's a matter of live and learn.

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