OK - Joined the Club 17 October 2018

What the pacemaker doesn't

by Theknotguy - 2018-10-20 08:33:06

What the pacemaker doesn't do is to stop afib, PVC's, and the like.  So you can still experience those situations.  The only thing the pacemaker can do is to make sure your heart beats at the rate it has been programmed to do.  Unfortunately if you have heart conditions that confuse the sensors, the pacemaker may not send out any signals or send out different signals. Very frustrating at times.  

I went into afib with RVR.  Something you don't want.  I think my pacemaker is programmed at 60 BPM on the low side and 120 BPM on the high side.  Since my heart rate was above 120 while I was in RVR the pacemaker just sat there and did nothing.   Believe me when I say I didn't feel good.  Same for PVC's.  Your heart can sneak those in and the pacemaker can't do anything about them.  There may be other conditions but I'm not sure what they are. 

I do have a Medtronic pacemaker that has two programs running on  it for afib.  (Neither was turned on when I had afib with RVR.) Most people don't have my kind of pacemaker and most don't need it.  And, of course, there are doctors who say it doesn't do any good.  Anyway, my pacemaker continually watches to see if I'm in afib.  When it senses afib it changes my pacing and most of the time paces me out of afib.  Sometimes it will run one program for a while, then switch over to the other.  Other times it will turn one on to match my afib rhythm and pace me out.  It just depends.  I went into afib last week and the programs went on and off for most of the day.  I'm also one of the extremely rare people who can feel their afib - but that's another story.  So I do have one of the pacemaker types that can correct for afib but most people don't have that type.  You can ask your EP what you have but don't be surprised if you don't have that feature.  Also, your EP may tell you that you don't need it anyway.  Oh, and I pay for the extra programs with a shorter battery life.  

PVC's won't hurt you but they can be uncomfortable.  I'd just let your EP know in case they want to check something out.  You're still early in your pacemaker life and your heart is still getting accustomed to being ordered around. So you may experience some lumps and thumps you may not have experienced otherwise. 

Isn't it nice you haven't felt the pacemaker do anything and you're still alive to talk about it?  

Hope you are otherwise adjusting smoothly to your new life with the pacemaker.  
 

Pacemaker not doing anything

by AgentX86 - 2018-10-20 11:34:20

Knot said it perfectly, "Isn't it nice you haven't felt the pacemaker do anything and you're still alive to talk about it?". You shouldn't feel your pacemaker doing anything.  Some do (feel it) but it's not intended and most complain about it so it's a little strange to see someone complaining that they don't feel it.  ;-)

Pacemakers can only insert heartbeats.  They can't stop them once they've started so it can't do much for arrhythmias.  In fact, the process of implanting a pacemaker can cause, at least temporary, arrhythmias.  The good news is that most of these are benign.  Any new ones have a good chance of going away in short order, as the heart gets used to its new boss.

BTW, "skipped beats" are really beats that are inserted beats, before the pacemaker would have initiated one.  The pacemaker "inhibits" the beat it would have started and starts timing for the next.  It feels like one was skipped but in reality, one was inserted at the wrong time. Sometimes you can't feel the errant beat, which makes the time even longer.

I'll get there!

by Rick1945 - 2018-10-21 04:38:19

Many thanks for the comments offered - they are "comforting".  

I do have a level of impatience and while my cardiologist is very well qualified and regarded it is difficult to pin him down and extract information.  This is the polar opposite of our family Doctor who I have not seen since my stent and PM procedures - but who was good enough to phone me on the weekend to ask how I am.

Before both procedures I had learned that I had a very high level of coronary plaque - but without symptoms.  At that time I was told to"carry on" and come back in 12 months unless symtoms arose....And they did in the format of a dizzy spell and very low BP.  At that point I bought a smart watch".

I now have reservations about the watch and stopped wearing it for a while.  Last night I had 2 glasses of red wine - the first for some weeks.  I left the watch on at night and, according to it, was in a state of "low stress" rather than "rest" for most of the night - and this is how I felt.....

What I don't want to become is paranoid over every moment of my day..... And it is very early days of course since my PM joined me.

I think i need to be more "accepting".... Have others felt similarly?

PVC's can be dangerous!

by BOBTHOM - 2018-10-21 11:09:36

In most cases PVC's aren't viewed as dangerous and many people get them and do not even notice, however, if they occur frequently or at the wrong time they can be very harmful.  So don't completely discount them and let your doctor know if they become more frequent.  For me, I've been seeing a pvc about 30-35 seconds before tachycardia starts.  I see it in the log for my ICD and went back to a holter monitor from 2016 and see the same thing.  Meeting with my EP in a few weeks and that will be one of my top items to discuss.  But again, each case is different and it will depend on your issues and responses to medications.

The PM should keep your heart rate from going to low or to high and the response rate setting will tell it when to increase based on your activity level.