Recovery time seems slow

Hi. I'd like to hear about how long it took before you got your strength back after your device implant. I am 75 years old. I'm a little over two months from the implant and I still don't feel as strong as I want to. I do all of my own housework and cooking. I try to walk when I can. But my energy level is such that I can only work or walk for a short time then I have to rest. If I keep gong too long I get so tired it takes me a few days to recover. Do I keep pushing as hard as I can, or what is the best way to handle this?

5 Comments

talk to your doc

by techiej - 2016-01-28 07:01:03

I'm 57 and I started to feel better the day after my implant.

It's now 5 weeks and the only thing holding me back is that the doc wanted me to wait the full 6 weeks before fully using my left arm.

I have other, non-heart related medical problems that also restrict my physical activity.

Talk to Doc

by Good Dog - 2016-01-28 08:01:13

As we get older. I have found that it takes much longer to fully recover from anything. However, if you have any doubts, you should ask your doc as the previous poster suggested. It could be that you doc can change the settings. I can't know, but maybe your low setting is too low. You may also need the activity monitor turned-on and/or adjusted. There are lots of things that can be done if you bring the issue to your doc's attention.
Best wishes,

David

Answers and questions

by ellen001 - 2016-01-28 08:01:38


Have you discussed this with your doctor?

I was very seriously ill... and hospitalized for about a month total before pm implant. I was required to stay an extra 6 days to tweak the pm and adjust my meds as I have multiple allergies to many meds.as well as a long list of other things. I think you may need to have some of said tweaking and adjusting done for yourself... so I seriously recommend a call to your MD team.

To answer your questions about my own recovery... while in the hospital I was too weak to walk until after the pm... and then I had physical therapy to learn how to walk again... my first week out of the hospital was spent at my daughters... and I used a walker while staying with her... As soon as I was able to return home, I walked with a cane for a little over 2 weeks... and I now usually walk briskly without any aids.... but I walk... and I don't run......I still have occasional dizzy days when I use the cane until it passes... but there are fewer and fewer of said days as time goes on.

I was 63 years old and in what I thought was in reasonably good health until the day I collapsed last year in early January... My pm was implanted on 2/5/15... but all in all I consider myself to be a very lucky woman... I am still alive,., mostly pain free... and extremely grateful to be here and able to enjoy my grandchildren...

I wish you the best... and hope to see you posting some updates on how you are doing.

with a smile
ellen

PS I have a friend who is 79... who is on her second pm... and she can do anything she sets her mind to do.

Tired

by Gotrhythm - 2016-01-30 08:01:08

You might want to have a talk with your electrophysiologist or the pacemaker tech.

I've encountered a good bit of ageism amongst techs who were willing to assume that my age, 72, meant I was completely sedentary. They set my response rate (the amount your pacemaker speeds up when you exercise) too low and just walking a block was exhausting. Because of this forum, I knew about things like response rate and could ask for it to be changed. But there are other settings that might need to be changed as well.

Don't just try to tough it out. It's not unusual for It to take a couple of tweaks before you get the pacemaker settings that are optimal for you. But they certainly don't know how you are feeling unless you tell them.

addendum

by Gotrhythm - 2016-02-01 04:02:52

I thought of something else. They commonly set the resting rate as low as possible (in order to preserve battery life) but that might be lower than your natural resting rate has ever been.

About six months ago I convinced the PE to allow the resting rate to be moved from 65 beats per minute to 70. It doesn't sound like much but I felt the difference immediately. Since then I feel like myself again--for the first time in years. I don't know if I would have insisted on trying the change if others here hadn't said they found that quality of life issues trumped battery life sometimes, and that they felt so much better at a higher resting rate that it was worth it.

Here's hoping a few tweaks can get you back to your old strength level--or at least a whole lot closer.

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