Resting Heart Rate Setting

My two lead PM was installed 8/12/16 and resting HR was set at 60. Over many years, my resting HR usually was 55-56. Should I consider having the resting HR lowered to save battery life, would it have any affect on long term heart dependence on pacing. Currently pacing at 89% and wondering it loweering the resting HR might reduce this to perhaps 50%. Very active 70 year old.

7 Comments

I would lower it

by Good Dog - 2016-10-03 11:57:27

I had my low setting lowered to 50 bpm from 60 bpm a month after getting my PM. It helped me sleep better. It is difficult to know how much benefit this will be in the long-term, but it sure can't hurt anything as long as you feel good. If you think about it, a change from 60 bpm to 50 bpm is 5,256,000 less paced beats in a year. Of course that assumes you are being paced at 50 bpm all the time, which you are not, but it does illustrate the significance of a small change.

battery life

by Tracey_E - 2016-10-03 12:19:02

The difference in battery life would be negligible. The question is how would you feel. Less pacing is always best but only if you still feel good. You could ask them to let you try it. 

The heart doesn't really become lazy or dependent on pacing because the pacer always gives the heart a chance to beat on its own before stepping in. A minimum setting of 60 bpm doesn't mean it paces at 60 bpm, only that it is watching and if the heart goes a second with out a beat, then it paces. With very few exceptions, they work on demand. 

Heart rate

by Cabg Patch - 2016-10-03 17:50:29

everybody overreacts to the PM pacing you. Fact is that's ridiculous, it's why you have one. As Tracey said you don't save all that much battery life, and there well may be a valid reason your device is set the way it is. Ask your Cardiologist if the way it is set up is optimal for your needs.

Sleep

by Figallegro - 2016-10-03 19:40:05

Thanks for the thoughts and ideas. I have been having some difficulty sleeping and perhaps this may be the reason. I will talk to the EP nurse tomorrow and see if I can try a lower setting.

not for battery life but for life style/enjoyment

by techiej - 2016-10-04 15:27:48

Personally, I wouldn't be concerned with extending the battery life so much as making sure that you feel well.

 

Before my problems my resting HR was always abotu 50. When my EP discussed the settings with me he thought it would be best to try to set the minimum at 50.

After about 9 months now that has been working out well for me.  They did need to tweak the response rate a few times to better match my activities.

Regarding sleeping, I will say that I slept better before (but not well rested) but that is most certainly due to my HR dropping into the upper 30's at night before the PM.

my dropped in low 30 then 20 then want to stop beating.

by Wo bist du - 2016-10-11 01:13:04

My pacemaker always pacing my heart.

Resting Heart Rate Setting

by D-Five of Fourteen - 2023-12-15 20:52:42

The big question is...How do you feel?

If 60 is working for you then I wouldn't change a thing. Your EP will argue that the PM base rate is not the same as the Resting HR. And they are right, however..they need to be told that the PM base rate becomes the default resting HR when a bradycardic heart just cannot make anything higher. 

I've just managed (after 4yrs) to have my PM base rate lifted from 50 to 60 BPM and for the first time since before all this happened, like 6yrs or so, I finally feel myself again. And now that my heart is also getting all the oxygen and nutrients it needs to function as a heart, it looks like it can also produce a resting heart rate of 65 BPM. I wonder how much better it's tolerances and impedance will also be.

 

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But I think it will make me feel a lot better. My stamina to walk is already better, even right after surgery. They had me walk all around the floor before they would release me. I did so without being exhausted and winded the way I had been.