Low & High setting on Bi-Ventricular PM

One of my friends had a regular Boston Scientific PM to keep him from going to low. His HR went to 170 over the weekend putting him in Hospital

I have a St Jude Bi-ventricular with a low setting of 60 and a High of 130 with a HR set to 70. I was told today if my heart were to beat at 170 the PM would not slow it done. That being the case can anyone explain what that high setting of 130 is for.

3 Comments

Example

by Good Dog - 2016-04-06 01:04:03

When I first received my PM my upper limit was set to 140 bpm. When I was working-out I would often get my rate up close to 200 bpm and I felt good. So obviously, my PM couldn't help above 140, but it didn't need to.
My lower rate set to 50 would not allow my rate to fall below that when I am sleeping. Prior to having the PM my rate would fall to about 35 bpm when sleeping.
So basically, those are safety limits. If you need them changed, your doc can have the pacer tech do that for you. My lower limit was set to 60 bpm originally and I was having trouble sleeping. I figured that is, because my body was accustomed to a much lower rate. So my doc changed it from 60 to 50 and it helped a lot.

David

upper limit

by techiej - 2016-04-06 03:04:03

Not a Dr so take this for what it's worth:The upper limit - which should also apply to the Boston PM (which I have) - is the point at which the PM will not increase the pacing to keep up with your (detected) exertion.

pacing limits

by Tracey_E - 2016-04-06 12:04:28

If your hr gets below 70, it will pace. If you exert and your rate doesn't go up on its own, it will pace you up to 130. If you are in av block and your atrial rate goes up but the ventricles don't keep up, it will pace the ventricles up to 130. Your heart can do whatever it wants on its own, the pacer will only watch. All it can do is add beats.

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