Dual Chamber Pacemaker Settings

Today I went to the hospital pacer clinic and had Abbottt connect me to the mothership and did a full function test of my leads and pacemaker.  I have been having some issues and the Abbott tech was right on top of his game today.

My pacer setting was off a lot and he adjusted the sensitivity to increase my bpm sooner and to bring my heart rate down slower as I am a bicycle rider.  It has only been a few hours and what a difference already.

My chest pain is gone first time in two years.  The techs want me to go ride hard like I used to and contact them back Monday and let them know how the setting worked.

As a dual chamber pacer at 100% paced, I am required to have my pacer check every 6 months which was news to me.  So the new pacer clinic tech has entered me into the 6-month cycle for checks now.

I was told my pacer will allow me to scuba dive as well something I gave up 2 years ago.  It was GREAT talking with the pacemaker techs and getting all of my questions answered.  The tech showed me my charts and explained it all to me.  As they say, the squeaky wheel gets the oil.  Really happy with the outcome today, it pays to talk directly to the manufacturing techs that make the adjustments.

9 Comments

Good for you!

by Penguin - 2023-04-15 04:10:53

Pleased for you Stache. 

Hope it goes well from now on. 

 

 

SCUBA - mind the depth

by crustyg - 2023-04-15 05:27:49

Really pleased for you.  Remember that your PM is subject to full pressure when diving, and most PMs aren't rated for much more than 4-5bar.  There *are* some that are suitable for greater depths, but this isn't common.

Company reps

by piglet22 - 2023-04-15 10:44:18

It's noticeable that there is a difference between how things work in the US and UK.

Our US friends often mention seeing the device manufacturer representative instead of the physiologists.

In the UK, I haven't heard of anyone seeing the rep, Medtronic for instance.

I think that seeing the rep is a good idea as they are likely to be best informed about your device. Sometimes that sort of information is for the customer, the hospital buyer, and not the patient.

The medics will be trained on all types of devices and hopefully are kept updated on changes and newer devices.

In an ideal world, it might be nice to see the two together and who knows, at Christmas time, you might get a nice gift as well.

Boston Scientific are great in my area of the UK

by crustyg - 2023-04-15 11:48:38

My experience has been that BostonSci really support my EP-doc (he's a Medtronic man, so it's enlightened self-interest on their part) and I've seen one of their reps, along with the local EP-techs, on more than one occasion.

Straightforward device management and configuration - I have complete confidence in the local EP-techs.  But for more subtle stuff, tuning a device for a particular athletic activity and trouble-shooting, it makese sense to get the vendor's rep there - they have access to more training and documentation than they make public.  And the EP-techs learn too.

I'm not on commission, I don't have shares in any medical device vendor, just reporting my experience.

Medtronic

by Mrw2350 - 2023-04-15 19:15:27

I have my visit June30,visit with the device rep first and then my doctor 

The squeaky wheel gets the oil

by AgentX86 - 2023-04-15 20:22:09

Absolutely right! There is no reason to be an a$$ but firm questions and demanding real answers/results is your right as a patient.  The metric is "how do I feel?".

Manufacturer Reps in the UK

by Penguin - 2023-04-16 06:20:50

You can get to see a manufacturer's rep in the UK, and you can contact their offices to request help. They will come out but they cannot contravene their contractual relationship with the NHS and will not be forthcoming regarding advice on your symptoms etc. as their role is an advisory one without ultimate responsibility for decision making.  The relationship with you (the patient) is always via the doctor / hospital. For your part you can provide your wishlist of needs/ concerns / symptoms but ultimately their customer (the doctor / hospital) make the decision.

Prior to selecting a new device you can speak to any number of Reps for advice, although ultimately the relationship with you will shut down once a purchase has been made and the contract is signed between the manufacturer and NHS hospital. The contract dictates this. 

Pacer Selection

by Stache - 2023-04-16 18:55:08

This past Saturday I took a 40-kilo bicycle ride and was surprised I can now ride at 24 to 25 kph verse the 18 to 19 kph before my adjustments.  Really happy about the new settings and the slow-down rate from riding has greatly improved.

I am in California and have an Abbott dual-chamber pacer.  It’s really good to pick up the telephone and talk directly to an Abbott tech.  It is even better to have the Abbott tech like the one who reset my setting and explained everything he did and why.

I was surprised Abbott told me the pacer I have can go down to 100 feet while scuba diving.  However, I would not dive that deep anymore. The tech told me my pacer is one of the newest models and hardened more than others with more settings available than just a few years ago.

It is interesting that hospitals have the major pacer companies bit for their services.  I have an HMO Kaiser Permanente and whoever wins the contract that is the pacemaker the hospitals install.  So in my case when the time comes to replace my pacer I am at the mercy of the lowest bidder.  However, when it comes to a replacement I will surely do my research and find the best pacer for my condition instead of letting the hospital make the selection for me.

Scuba

by Tem - 2023-04-17 05:16:30

You are very lucky to be able to dive to 100ft. I loved diving, but was given false information about my Pacemaker. I have a Biotronik and they are only rated to 1.5bar. I had to contact the German Company direct to get the specs. I regularly dived to 50-60m on shipwrecks and in caves. Whilst there have been no recorded deaths from divers with pacemaker failures I don't want to be the first! There is a medical article that tested various brands to different depths. Distortion occured at 20m on all models, but no failures. I was only able to read the conclusion, as you had to purchase the whole article. It was to expensive.  I have to wait until my current unit needs replacing. A pity as Biotronik are a good brand. Good luck with your diving and bike riding.

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