Working @ 68%

When I had my PM checked for the first time the technician said that it was working @ 68%. Can anyone explain what this means?
Steve

1 Comments

Working 68% Of The Time

by SMITTY - 2007-07-12 09:07:13

Hi Steve,

You asked what the report from the technician meant when they said your PM was working 68% of the time. I’m going to be a little sarcastic here because to me that says that technician doesn’t know what they are talking about. Your pacemaker is always working 100% of the time, but it could be assisting with making your heart beat only 68% of the time.

You see a pacemaker doesn’t just sit there and send out a miniature lightening bolt every so often to make your heart beat. The PM works in conjunction with your hearts natural PM. The way it does this is, the manmade PM monitors your heart natural PM, and if it senses that the heart’s PM is sending an impulse to make your heart beat, the PM does nothing until the next beat. So your manmade PM is on duty all time, it just may not be helping your heart to beat but 68% of the time to maintain the minimum rate set on your PM. I have bradycardia and my PM is set for a range of 60 to 100. Since without the PM my heart rate would be in the 40s, my PM is working all time unless I do something to make my heart rate go above 60. Then it sits there and helps out as needed. When I got my PM 7 years ago, it was set for a 70 to 110 ranges and my normal heart was in the low 70s. In other words my PM worked less than 1% of the time. But as time goes by my hearts natural PM gets a little weaker and my manmade job works more often.

The next time you are told your PM is working X% of the time, you might ask for a further explanation.

Good luck your new PM.

Smitty

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As for my pacemaker (almost 7 years old) I like to think of it in the terms of the old Timex commercial - takes a licking and keeps on ticking.