Adjusting the Pacemaker settings

My mother got her pacemaker on 10/10, and was not feeling well afterwards. We had hoped it was due to the surgery. However, as the days went by she felt worse. Dizzy, short of breath, and nauseous. This happened mostly when she stood up or walked.

Finally, we took her to the Emergency Department. After a full work up, they decided to adjust her pacemaker settings so that it would raise her heart rate when she stood or walked.

The difference was like night and day. She slept a full night, and was able to walk around the hospital unit without a problem.

We are back home now and hoping that she continues to feel well.

6 Comments

An uplifting read, from the OP

by oldearthworm - 2015-10-29 01:10:05

I hope that many read this , including the nurses and doctors ..She should NOT have been discharged until fine tuning was done ..and I think this is a "volume" thing , her volume of delivered blood was simply insufficient.. ..Sending the patient home "sick", NOT a nice nor proper thing to do ..She could have been discharged directly to a clinic of sorts where she could recover ..hospitals are horrible places for recovery, at least in my opinion ..

Wow, how old is your mother?!

by LondonAndy - 2015-10-29 07:10:00

Your profile says that you were born in 1924, so is it you who is 91 or your mother? If you, then your mother is awesome!

Adjustments are important

by PJinSC - 2015-10-29 08:10:00

Do not hesitate to tell your EP, Cardiologist and the PM device lab when things are not going well. When I first got my device, the EP had a Boston Scientific technician (vey nice lady) adjust me to 80 bpm and all the other settings before I left the hospital, and then I saw her for three month intervals for six months, and she set me down to 70 BPM and we have been tweaking the rate response over the last two years. I guess it depends on your EP. My Cardiologist and PM Lab Technician are great and they work with me. I have a Boston Scientific CRT-P and a Latitude home monitor, so they read me daily. If anything goes wrong, they call me.

PJ

I bet there are others who need the same changes

by IAN MC - 2015-10-29 10:10:00

Hi Katy I'm glad that your mother's life has been improved by such a simple change to the PM settings.

Her heart-rate was obviously not increasing with exercise the way it should ( known as chronotropic incompetence )
and she needed the Rate Response feature switching on.

I have often wondered how many people lead sub-optimal lives with PMs for that very reason. The other side of the coin is when RR is wrongly switched on for patients who don't need it and they end up not having the quality of life which they deserve.

I hope that your mother's improvement continues

Ian

Being sent home...

by Katyaval - 2015-11-04 01:11:19

To clarify, each time my mother was discharged from the hospital, she was initially feeling better.

The first hospitalization was about 2 months ago, for bradycardia (low heart rate). Two cardiologists refused to give her a pacemaker saying it wasn't needed. She was checked for a PE; and that was negative. The bradycardia resolved in the hospital for about 2 days and she was released.

Within a few days she felt worse and her heart rate was back in the 50s and sometimes 40s. She had a 2 week Holter monitor that found a 5.1 second pause. She had an emergency pacemaker inserted. She was released the next day feeling all right.

At home, she felt very weak and didn't feel much better. Then she felt sicker as they days progressed --rather than stronger. I took her to the Emergency Department where they admitted her. They worked her up again with extensive testing. All tests were basically normal or unremarkable. Then the cardiologist adjusted her pacemaker, and she felt much better.

One doctor suggested a skilled nursing facility, but she wants to be at home. Physical therapy confirmed that she is quite strong and fine. Three months ago, she would walk 5 to 7 miles a day and work with a personal trainer for 2 hours a week.

Now she feels better than she has over the last few months, but is far from baseline.

I will continue to follow up with her healthcare team and monitor her vital signs at home.

My Mother's Age

by Katyaval - 2015-11-04 12:11:01

My mother is 91. I put her age not mine. I wish I could say my mother feels significantly better, but she does not.

She is able to walk about a mile now, which is about 1/5th of what she used to walk. Before the pacemaker she was lucky to walk across the room. So there is improvement.

However, she often feels weak, short of breath, and has a headache.

Now I have traced large swings in her blood pressure. It goes from high to low in a few hours. Yesterday it went down to 102/50. She felt very dizzy. Other times, it goes up to a 170 (systolic).

In the hospital, her systolic was over 220.

We have more appointments with doctors. At 91, she is getting very tired of not feeling well and I often feel at a loss to help her.

You know you're wired when...

You can finally prove that you have a heart.

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