First Scheduled Check-up.

My big day was today. Eight weeks scheduled pacemaker clinic appointment. It was great to hear my unit is working as it should. It's doing 92.5% and should go another nine and a half years before renewal, along time to wait for my paper weight!  My next routine appointment will be in six months time.

I had been to clinic weeks ago as something was not right. At that time it was reset from 60bpm only to 60 to 130bpm range.  That was fine but I always felt a little uncomfortable for a couple of minutes when I had got up to do something and sat back down, until my pulse settled down.

Now, that discomfort has gone. I can get up, walk about, do some domestics and sit down feeling fine. The only adjustment the technician made was to reduce voltage.  She said that when it was installed, it was on high voltage so it could cope with what was happening to my body at that time. She said she's now set it on minimum "just enough" voltage.  

It's early hours yet, but I havent felt any heart-jumpiness at all.  I wonder, for I don't know, is this fine tuning why I feel better?

A major problem though is, my pacemaker hasn't told me what name it would like!

 

4 Comments

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by Tracey_E - 2018-05-25 15:20:02

They start it high until the leads settle in and the heart gets used to being paced, then they turn it down to the minimum it takes to get the heart to beat. They'll make other fine adjustments, too. They start with a good guess, then fine tune to meet our individual needs. If it doesn't go up as quickly, they may have turned down the sensitivity on the rate response.  It's great that you feel good now! Don't hesitate to tell them if something isn't right, that's the only way they know something needs changed. 

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by BionicBry - 2018-05-25 15:25:09

Thanks so much, TraceyE. I've got their phone number recorded, just in case.

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by BionicBry - 2018-05-26 05:36:32

Having found I felt better for the voltage reduction, this morning something happened.

I was hanging washing on the drying frame in my spare room when I suddenly felt faint. I sat and dropped my head between my knees, pulse faster than ought to be, waited a moment, crawled to my bedroom and flopped onto the bed.

After a couple of minutes my pulse returned to its now normal, about 60bpm. Been fine since. Some sort of arrythmia I guess.

This is a bit disconcerting. Will it happen again, how often? Could be awkward in some circumstances. I thought I was doing so well, then this!

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by Gumjump - 2018-05-26 22:10:58

I had mine put in 2 weeks ago, so I'm still kinda new. But lately I'll be just sitting down or doing something light and I will feel this weird feeling like bubbles in my chest, then my pulse races quickly to about 108 - 151 and drops just as fast. And a couple of times I felt faint. So I am going to call my cardiologist after the holiday and find out what's going on. Maybe you should do the same thing. Maybe it takes time to adjust. 

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Member Quotes

Try to concentrate on how you’re able to be active again and feel normal, rather than on having a machine stuck in your body.