no insurance no device interrogation

Are you at life risk ?

by Gemita - 2021-04-25 06:48:00

Cadaverock,

When was your last battery change?  I have an annual check of my pacemaker but the device is only 3 years old.  I also have a home monitor and send in transmissions to my clinic on an as needed basis.  

If you are close to end of battery life, then you would be expected to have more frequent checks.  But from any symptoms alone, symptoms like breathlessness, dizzy spells, chest pain, undue fatigue, I would expect you to know when you are in trouble?  You say you have had no issues with your pacemaker.  Pacemakers are generally very reliable and rarely fail unless the battery or leads fail, which is why we usually have at least annual checks.

My technician here in the UK mainly looks for battery/lead status, significant events like a serious arrhythmia and checks all my pacemaker data to see my pacing percentages/any evidence of significant changes, highest heart rate and so on.  He usually doesn't change settings unless I have symptoms and my EP has authorised changes to any of my settings. 

What are you going to do about your insurance?  With a pacemaker you obviously need at least an annual check to make sure that all is well and to pick up any potential pacing difficulties before they worsen.  But at 8 months since your last check, I would not say your life is at risk, especially if you have no major symptoms from your heart condition?  In any event, there is always ER if you start getting worrying symptoms.

i see from your second post that you have remote monitoring, so I presume your clinic is able to pick up any major pacing difficulties, although they will not be able to change any of your settings "remotely".  You would need to attend clinic to get settings changed.  They might though, if they see anything needing treating, for example an arrhythmia, be prepared to prescribe a medication to help with your symptoms.  

Please get in touch by phone with your pacing team if you have any worries and in respect of your additional post above, they might want to carry out additional checks to look for the start/progression of an arrhythmia which might have caused your symptoms while you were in the gym.  Good luck 

Danger?

by AgentX86 - 2021-04-25 19:33:28

It's unlikely that you'll be in danger.  Many of us go longer without pacemaker checks.  Mine is on a 90-day schedule with every other one done remotely.  My insurance is among the best available so I'm sure they're making money off me.  ;-)

As Gemita said, unless you have a life threatening underlying condition and your pacemaker isn't close to EOL, you should be OK.  The difference between six and eight months is trivia.

If there are no issues, they wouldn't change anything unless you rquested it.  I often ask for RR changes but that's only for my benefit.  There really isn't any difference.  If they have you hooked up it's not a big deal to make changes.  The costly part is the EP who signs off on the results. 

Health insurance

by AgentX86 - 2021-04-26 18:01:33

BTW,  I just heard that, because of civid, there is en extended sign-up period for Obamacare and that the subsidies are much higher than before. With heart problems, you really need insurance. It might pay off well in your case.