Heart racing?

My pm was implanted early last week for bradycardia/SSS. Recovery has been fine and I've been taking it easy and increasing my activity slowly. For the first few days my hr hung out around 60 at rest and raised to 60's-70's when I would get up. However, yesterday evening and all day today my heart rate has been racing every time I get up to the 90's-100's. Even at rest it seems higher today.  Prior to surgery I was in the 30's-40's at rest and had to move a lot to get into the 60's-70's. Is it possible that the pm is causing the higher increases in my HR? And why did it just start yesterday?

4 Comments

HR

by Grateful Heart - 2016-10-02 23:04:55

The PM has definitely increased your HR from pre surgery beats.  Most likely the first few days you were moving slow and as the week passed you were moving faster as you felt better.

Your HR should rise as you are moving/ getting up.  Your body is still adjusting to your new efficient HR.  If you weren't moving and your HR rose 90-100 then that would be a concern.   Mine goes to 120 when walking....and not even at a brisk pace.  I probably need another adjustment.

If you have no pain and it settles back to 60 when you are not moving, it sounds normal.

When in doubt, speak to your doc.

Grateful Heart

Heart racing

by Finn - 2016-10-02 23:06:22

Possibly the rate response setting is too sensitive ? I have the same diagnosis, sss etc, I've had a st Jude for 7 years. Mine is set at 70, when needed my rate response boosts it up. I'd ask about that. Finn

Thank you

by Jayhawkjess - 2016-10-02 23:48:43

Thank you for the responses. I thought that the pm was only going to kick in if I dropped below whatever the set rate was, but I feel like it's doing something to cause the higher rates too. Maybe it isn't and I just feel different now than I did before surgery?

pacing

by Tracey_E - 2016-10-03 09:06:08

If your sinus rate goes below 60 (or whatever they set for your minimum), it will pace.

If you exert and your rate doesn't go up accordingly, it will kick in and pace. This is rate response and it has a number of sensitivity settings. It can take a few tries to find the right balance for you.

If your atria beats but the ventricles do not (av block), then it will kick in and pace the ventricles. In this case, it's all you setting the pace. All the pacer is doing is completing the broken circuit. 

It's normal to feel racy sometimes at first until you get used to being paced. It's normal to take a few tries to get the settings fine tuned. When in doubt, call your doctor. Also, write down the time of day that you have episodes, they can look on the reports and see if it was you or the pacer. 

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