Pacemaker

Hi

I had my ATP MRI compatible pacemaker fitted on the 12th February. My pacemaker is set at 60 but my pulse keeps dropping to 55/56. I have tachycardia episodes as well bradycardia episodes and I understand that tachycardia part has not yet been connected.

Any help or advise would be appreciated.

Many thanks

Oli

4 Comments

Pulse

by gleesue - 2016-02-23 03:02:03

If it is set at 60, it can't go below 60. If it does something is wrong. How are you measuring your pulse? Mine is set for 50 and if I take my pulse for 15 seconds sometimes I get 12. That would be 48. But, when I take my pulse the next 15 seconds I get 13 to equal 50. So everything is fine.

If that doesn't work for you, contact your Dr.

Jerry

close counts

by Tracey_E - 2016-02-23 04:02:24

Set at 60 doesn't mean exactly 60 beats per minute, it means approximately 1 beat per second, so 55-56 over the course of a minute is close enough to be considered 60. Some things to keep in mind
- monitors are notoriously inaccurate with us, always count manually when in doubt
- pvc's will throw off the count
- sometimes there are weaker beats between the strong beats that we miss when we count

If you don't feel well, then take your pulse. The rest of the time, try to resist the urge. You'll just make yourself crazy with all the nuances. If you feel bad or it gets lower than the low 50's, call your doctor.

Hysteresis

by BillH - 2016-02-23 04:02:29

There is a setting call Hysteresis that will allow the heart rate to drop below the lower setting. It requires that the HR is regular and slowly drops. It is designed to mimic what the heart does when calmly resting.

Also the PVC's can sometimes fake out the PM.

The important thing is are you having any symptoms?

Normal

by athlete735516 - 2016-02-24 04:02:55

My PM is set at 35 but my PM tech said that there is a setting that will technically allow me to go to 30 before kicking in. It is supposed to allow your heart to follow its more natural cycles or something. Also it could be that when your PM measures beats it takes the average of the last minute and 5 or 10 seconds and will only kick in if the average drops. This means you can has slower beats or larger gaps between beats and not bring your average down enough to kick it in.

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