Pacemaker Settings

fine tuning

by Tracey_E - 2016-12-06 08:59:44

It's perfectly normal to take a few tries to get the settings just right. They start out with a good guess, then adjust from there as needed. If you still don't feel better, ask to be seen again, but I'd give it a few weeks. 

If you feel better at 65, then it's perfectly fine to leave it at 65. Some have it even higher than that. Less pacing is ideal and we don't want unnecessary pacing, but the idea is to feel good. Many of us here pace every beat and we are thriving, there is no one number that's considered good or bad, whatever it takes to get us feeling our best. 

6 Weeks is still early

by Grateful Heart - 2016-12-06 11:27:46

Like Tracey said, a few tries may be necessary and is typical, especially since you are active.

Don't be concerned about the number of bpm.  I am paced 100% at 70bpm for the past 8 years....same device.  Other are paced even higher....we get what we need.  :) 

They shouldn't change too many settings at once, so they (and you) can tell what feels better and what doesn't.  It's easier to narrow it down that way and change back a setting if things feel worse.  Feel better.

Grateful Heart      

sounds good

by confused - 2016-12-06 15:19:40

Hi Diane,

I am the one that had surgery around the same time you did.   Stopping by to say I am glad your visit seems to have went well.   Hope the increase helps with the energy level. Good to hear you are running also.  I haven't gotten up the nerve just yet to get back to zumba.  I am afraid I will forget and sling my arm around like crazy haha. 

Tammy

Straight from the shoulder...

by donr - 2016-12-07 00:11:47

...(Pun very definitely intended!)  Anyone who changes more than one parameter at a time is a fool & doesn't understand multivariate problems.

You have the rest of your life to live & there is plenty of time to vary the many parameters of your PM one at a time to find the optimum settings.  If the body can go from feeling great to feeling lousy in just minutes, it can do the opposite - meaning that the PM adjuster does not have to wait weeks to learn the effects of a parameter change.  Minutes, hours or just a few days is adequate.  Oh, I forgot - they don't have the time to be that effective.

Those parameters are NOT necessarily independent of one another when it comes to functioning of the heart.  So - now you still feel crappy - which change did it to you?

Grateful heart was right on about changing too many variables at once.

Donr

NHS

by Diane C - 2016-12-07 14:32:45

Hi All,

thanks so much for your comments. Unfortunately things don't work quite the same here in U.K. Don't get me wrong I am extremely grateful and proud of our National Health Service but it does mean we can't perhaps be as demanding as if we were paying directly for our treatment. Therefore I think they try and do as much in one session as they can and then get us out of the door! I have been told that unless the tweaks cause me any problems I don't need to go back for a year! 

It is very reassuring to hear that the bpm settings don't matter - it seemed like everyone was on 60 so it's good to hear that isn't the case! I actually do feel more alert today - the only problem is I couldn't sleep very well and I normally sleep like a log. I'm wondering if that is because she turned the 'sleep setting' of 50 off so I was probably pacing at 65 all night!

Thanks again for your comments. If I can't sleep again tonight I will ask to be seen again!

Not much different...

by donr - 2016-12-08 09:54:03

...Here in USA.  As healthcare has come more & more under the unreasoning, bureaucratic thumb of the Federal Govt, service has gotten more & more impersonal & rushed.  My Cardio sold his personal practice to a big university hospital several yrs ago out of economic necessity caused by Govt procedural rules - most notable of them was the requirement that he convert his records from paper to electronic.  My records consisted of two folders, each three inches thick, chock full of ECG's, PM Download results, Echos, stress tests, & voluminous dictated notes.  It was a natural progression of info technology, but it cost a lot of long time practitioners their freedom because they just could NOT afford the cost of converting their records.  My visits went from being scheduled at 15 min, but taking an hour , to being scheduled for 15 min & my cardio looking at his watch the whole time.  A PM interrogatioon session went from 15 min w/ a manufacturer's engineer, followed immediately by a three way discussion of the download (Me, Cardio, Engineer) & its implications.  Also, My cardio had his own interrogation machine & could check me out at any visit.  Now it's a session w/ someone from the  central PM lab who has a head harder than a granite slab & totally non-functioning ears, who submits a written report to the cardio & I see him some weeks later for a discussion - maybe.

It's not just Cardio care that is suffering from lack of facetime between patients & physicians.  Primary care is being torn asunder by Govt involvement.  Try managing a patient suffering Hypertension, Diabetes, overweight, clinical depression & several other chronic maladies simultaneously.  You do not do that in a 15 min session once every six months to a year.  

Donr

Ha ha ha

by Diane C - 2016-12-08 15:01:38

Ha ha ha yep Donr it sounds much the same! On a positive note though the tweaks they made at the interrogation certainly seem to have helped - Im wide awake for the first time in ages :-) 

I'm Glad...

by donr - 2016-12-09 00:23:38

...for you.  perhaps a bit of a butchering of the Mother Tongue, but it expresses my pleasure that it worked for you. 

Let's hope that it continues for you.

Donr