Pacemaker heart rate setting

I have had a pacemaker for 12 years wiith my low heart rate set at 60 bpm..

After a recent ablation procedure for afib, when I came home from the surgery, I discovered my low heart rate is set at 70. I have been feeling some fatigue and was wondering if, with the higher heart rate, I'm not sleeping well. Has anyone here had this experience.?

Thank you.

1 Comments

Base rate setting following ablation

by Gemita - 2022-07-20 13:57:05

Hello Norma,

Just a couple of observations.  I see you have had a recent ablation for Atrial Fibrillation.  Perhaps your fatigue and difficulty sleeping is linked more to this and will improve as your heart heals.  Can take 3-6 months.  I am assuming you had a pulmonary vein isolation ablation, rather than an AV Node ablation.  Sometimes with the latter ablation they set the base rate slightly higher immediately following the procedure while your heart is recovering.  Perhaps they do the same for the former ablation too and will lower this when everything settles down.  I would ask your doctors.

I remember when I first got my pacemaker in 2018, I struggled to sleep with a setting of 70 bpm after years of my heart rate falling below 30 bpm during the night, but I soon got used to it and sleep much better now with a higher heart rate.  I would have a word with your doctors and see whether you can safely reduce the base rate back to 60 bpm, although a 70 bpm setting might be better to protect you from irregular rhythm disturbances, like ectopic beats.  

Do you feel as though your ablation was successful?  I hope so because continuing AFib can certainly cause fatigue and poor quality sleep.  Hope everything improves for you quickly

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Today I explained everything to my doctor, he set my lower rate back to 80 and I felt an immediate improvement.