Pacing

Hello I am new here and only had my surgery on Monday. I have Tachy Brady Syndrome. My question is with a pacemaker does it stop your heart rate from going below 60 or does it still go low and the pacemaker just corrects it?  Yes I have a lot to learn. The best rate is still spiking to over 100 so my problem is still on going but we are working on it. 

 

4 Comments

Your PM measures milliseconds between heartbeats and paces you if the gap gets too long.

by crustyg - 2023-02-15 18:05:33

We can easily agree that if you have 60 beats over ten seconds during one whole minute and no other beats then you have 60 beats-per-minute.  But you wouldn't like it and it wouldn't be much use to you.  The 50s without beats would likely cause you to pass out or even die.

Your PM literally counts the milliseconds since the last natural beat that it detected - and for you, if 1000ms goes by and it hasn't detected a beat, then your PM will generate a pacing impulse => heartbeat.  One every second => 60BPM.

Over 60s that means that you will never have less than 60 beats, *and* they'lll be nicely spaced out to keep your blood pressure up and stop you from fainting.

Make sense?

Heart rate stays at a minimum of 60

by Theknotguy - 2023-02-15 19:39:45

The PM makes sure your heart rate stays at a minimum of 60 BPM.  While it does measure the heartbeats in milliseconds it does make sure your rate is the 60 BMP.  

While you may notice a difference at first, after a while of living with the pacemaker everything seems "normal". I'm on my second one and have had some family situations.  I haven't thought about my pacemaker for a couple of weeks.  I just go on about my life.

The biggest thing is not to think about your pacemaker as causing limitations on your life.  Instead it opens up a world of opportunities you wouldn't otherwise have.

I hope your adjustment goes well and wish you the best.
 

Pacing

by AgentX86 - 2023-02-16 00:27:33

As others have said, your PM makes sure your heart rate won't fall below some minimum, set by your cardiologist. It can keep it above a certain rate to take care of your Brady half but it can't do a thing for the tachy part. It does allow your doctor to increase drug dosages to reduce heart rate without surpressing it dangerously.

As we say, a pacemaker is an accelerator, not a brake.

Pacing

by Fable - 2023-02-16 11:27:59

Thanks everyone for your comments, I know as this goes forward I am sure there will be many more questions. 

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