PM Advised for Dad

Dear Members,
I have joined this club for my Dad who has been advised last month to get a PM cause of low pulse rate of around 40. First when my dad went for the checkup to the doctor cause he was not feeling much hungry and was eating less food, the doctor just gave my dad some medicines for 2 weeks and when he went to see him again he advised after getting the low pulse rate of around 40 that my dad should get PM. So my dad went to the heart specialist who our doctor recommended and his first impression was also that my Dad might not need the PM but he said we will do the Holter monitor report for 24 hrs and see what it shows.
So in the HM report the result showed ; Min HR : 34 bpm at 01:30 when he was sleeping at night and Max HR: 94 bpm at 19:37 when he was awake, the avg HR: 45 bpm. In the Narrative Summary they said that " The patient's rhythm included 22 hr 46 min 7 sec of bradycardia. The slowest single episode of bradycardia occurred at 00:01:05 lasting 1hr 33 min 47 sec with minimum heart rate of 34 BPM". The Summary also said " The patient had 6 episodes of Atrial Fibrillation , with the total time of 6 min 21 sec, representing 0.5 percent of the total beats. The episode of Atrial Fibrillation with the fastest ventricular response occurred at 14:05:38, lasting 1 min 25 sec, with maximum heart rate of 84 BPM. The episode of Atrial Fibrillation with the slowest ventricular response occurred at 05:03:50 , lasting 53 sec, with minimum heart rate of 39 BPM, The episode of Atrial Fibrillation with the longest duration occurred at 14:04:56, lasting 1 min 28 sec, with maximum heart rate of 84 BPM".
Also the Interpretation of the report says :" Normal Sinus Rhythm, Intermittent Tachy- Brady, S A Exit Block, Intermittent S A, No event of NSVT/VT Seen, No Significant Pause Seen, IMP-? Sick Sinus Syndrome".
I am sorry for the lengthy message but I am worried because even my Dad is 72 but he is in good shape, not at all overweight, has active life with a good diet, avoids butter and other full fat food, does cycling daily, in whole his life has never taken alcohol or smoked, has played football for hobby until 10 years ago, still does all the housework with lifting heavy objects easily, he has no other health problems, and had none fainting incidents apart from sometime when he wakes up fell little dizzy and last month before he went to the doc he did not feel much hungry and took less food.

So please advise whether my Dad should get the PM or should take some medicines or do some more tests before getting it.

Best Regards,

R.K


7 Comments

Reminds me of the time

by Theknotguy - 2015-06-25 05:06:53

Reminds me of the time I was asking my doctor a question. He told me I was looking at it the wrong way.

It doesn't matter that your dad led a healthy life and now he's facing having a pacemaker. It does matter that he did a lot of things correctly and has been able to survive until he needed the pacemaker.

Same for me, I was leading an active life. I was eating correctly, exercising, and taking my medications. Last conversation with my heart doctor was if I should be doing anything else. His response was "no". On Thursday I moved 2000 pounds of wood. On Friday I hiked 4 miles with the dogs. Woke up six days later from a coma in the hospital, pacemaker in place and working. So much for doing things correctly. But, and this is a big BUT, they told me I probably wouldn't have survived to get the pacemaker if I hadn't been doing things correctly.

I would not argue with the doctors about your dad needing a PM. He'll feel better and continue having an active life. Much better than having dizzy spells and starting to fade.

If you look around the forum you'll see a pacemaker isn't a limiting factor as far as an active life goes. We have people doing all sorts of things. Some are at 100% of what they did before having the PM. Others are doing more than 100% of what they did before the PM. It's nice to have a steady, regular, and full heartbeat. No more feeling dizzy when I stand up, no more gasping for breath, no more almost fainting episodes.

It's OK to have the pity party and say it isn't fair your dad needs the pacemaker because he led a clean life. I get irritated when I see someone doing something they shouldn't and it looks like they're getting away with it. But life isn't necessarily fair. And sometimes the paybacks are much worse than what I would have done to the people fudging it.

What you can do is to concentrate on helping your dad get the most out of his life. If he needs a small medical device to do that, so much the better.

I sit next to a guy in church. Got his replacement pacemaker at 90. He asked how long the battery in the pacemaker would last. Ten years was the reply. "See you in ten years", he said. "No you won't", was the reply.
"Why not?", he asked. "I'm retiring in five.", was the answer.

So your dad can look forward to a long life with the PM.

Hope everything goes well. Tell us about it.

Thank You Very Much

by Dad1943 - 2015-06-25 06:06:51

Thank you very much Sir,
I was confused, but your advice has really helped me a lot, we will be going ahead with it with a more positive outlook. Its going to take place in 2 weeks, so I will keep in touch.

Thanks a lot,
R.K

being in good shape...

by knb123 - 2015-06-26 03:06:16

Being in good shape is no guarantee that our bodies will never experience disease. I can think of a number of folks who were diagnosed with lung cancer yet never smoked a cigarette. And of athletes in peak condition who dropped dead from an as-yet-undiagnosed flaw in their heart.

My team of docs were scratching their heads that I was mostly asymptomatic yet had a complete heart block and needed a PM stat because it is not normal to have a pulse rate of 37. And so it goes.

If your father's Holler monitor revealed that he had a low heart rate for 22 out of 24 hours, it's not surprising that his doctor would conclude he needs a PM.

Rather than grieve over the fact that I needed this device in my body, I determined to be glad that medical tests found the problem and there was a minimally invasive solution that has enabled me to continue to live a normal life.

electrical vs plumbing

by Tracey_E - 2015-06-26 07:06:54

Taking care of ourselves and eating well prevents clogged arteries, plumbing problems. What most of us have is electrical problems, which can happen at random with no known cause. Think short circuit. Nothing we did caused it, nothing we could have done differently would have prevented it. Your dad is not even close to borderline. He spends 22+ of 24 hours with a heart rate too low. A pm is an easy fix, it simply watches for the heart to miss a beat, then gives out a tiny signal that mimics what the heart should have done on its own, the heart responds by beating.

This link has some great animations that explain it
http://health.sjm.com/arrhythmia-answers/videos-and-animations

Medications may help with appetite, but there is no medicine that will fix a slow heart rate (brady). It's likely that's the cause of the fatigue and dizziness, which should go away when his heart rate is normal again. Btw, 60 is normal, 50's is considered borderline and some patients do ok without pacing. Under that is generally treated. Even without symptoms, a hr in the 40's will make us tired and put stress on our body because it's not getting the oxygen it needs. Please let us know how your dad is doing. I'd be willing to bet he feels a difference almost immediately.

your dad is lucky

by knb123 - 2015-06-26 09:06:25

Hi and welcome to the club. I agree with the earlier posters who say your dad's history of taking good care of his health has benefited him. My bradycardia came on relatively suddenly and my PM was implanted the same day it was diagnosed. Sounds like your dad has gotten wise care so far. There's every reason to expect that his PM will enable him to continue to lead his healthy, active life.

Be aware, though, that those first few weeks after the procedure, he should focus on taking it easy and letting his body get accustomed to the device. Encourage him to take a nap when the mood strikes and not overdo it. Gradually you and he will find that he feels a bit stronger every day, likely returning to a state of health even better than his previous, normal self.

Thanks Very Much

by Dad1943 - 2015-06-27 02:06:01

Thanks very much to all the members for their very valuable advice on PM, it has certainly made my mind clear about it, It was actually me who was more concerned rather than my Dad or Mom who are willing to go ahead as the doctor says.

Thanks a lot. I will keep in touch.

Surgery Tommorow

by Dad1943 - 2015-07-14 09:07:06

Hi Guys,
My dad is getting the PM tomorrow so are their any pre surgery questions we should be asking the doctor.

Regards,

R.K

You know you're wired when...

You can hear your heartbeat in your cell phone.

Member Quotes

It is just over 10 years since a dual lead device was implanted for complete heart block. It has worked perfectly and I have traveled well near two million miles internationally since then.