Abbott Assurity #2272

Hope you get the best pacemaker for your activities

by Gemita - 2023-11-14 05:50:17

Skater,

Just wanted to say hello and to welcome you.  I hope your Atrial Fibrillation stays away.  It can be very difficult to tame even after a successful ablation. 

I have a Medtronic pacemaker so cannot help you with Abbott, but there are many members around with this pacemaker.  Not sure that it will be the best pacemaker on the market for your particular active lifestyle, although many members do very well with it.  In your shoes, I would perhaps want to know if your doctors are able to offer any other manufacturer brands that might suit your lifestyle better, although I accept the priority will be to keep you safe from a low heart rate and to get you a pacemaker without delay.  Good luck

From my lowly position as an enthusiastic road cyclist...

by crustyg - 2023-11-14 13:05:54

.. I'd recommend the Boston Scientific Accolade.  There are several road cyclists here with this device and it works really well for road-cycling and swimming (any modern PM works well for running).

There's at least one competitive triathlete here with this device and the reports have been very positive.  For road cycling, if you have a sick sinus you need something to raise your HR when climbing - BostonSci's Minute Ventilation does that very well, once it's been tuned for you.

Ideally your EP-doc will use Boston Sci leads as well, which may not be so popular, given the mutterings from my EP-doc when my leads were installed.....

Make sure that you emphasise what sports you intend to continue post implant.

Best wishes.

Thanks

by Skater58 - 2023-11-14 17:59:40

Hi , and thanks for the comments  , I am primarlily a cross country skier ,( think cycling with arms . your turn over rate is pretty much the same but your intensity increases on the climbs.

what factors does the pacemaker use to increase HR. ( a good cyclist will downshift and keep their RPM the same going up hills... how does the Pacemaker know to increase HR and how much ?

I have a Boston Scientific and it's great

by Ventum rider - 2023-11-14 20:03:24

I am a cyclist but not anywhere near elite and had similar conditions as you describe. The BS pacemaker paces off of my respritory rate and after about a 18 months and several adjusments i can go pretty hard without any issues... it's been a true blessing

BostonSci's Minute Ventilation

by crustyg - 2023-11-15 02:38:46

What the device does is to measure your breathing - both rate and depth of each breath. It multiplies the two values together to arrive at a single value and then compares this short-term value with a longer term MV-baseline.  The difference between the two values then feeds into the Rate Response algorithm and increases the HR.

It's pretty good - not perfect - and responds very well to the natural increase in respiration due to increased effort, whether that's climbing the Spanish Steps in Rome or starting a hike up a mountain, snow-covered or otherwise.

It needs tuning for you to deliver the best results, and with input from a BostonSci rep you should have the device adjusted after one or two goes.  For cycling I recommend a static bike session to get the parameters worked out. And folk here are willing to share their settings which will give you a good start.  You certainly shouldn't have to wait a year to get your PM optimised.

Best wishes.

Thanks

by Skater58 - 2023-11-15 12:00:37

Crusty , Thanks for your insite and information . I would love to get some data from people that have that PM , to help my doc get a good starting point for me .  I am new to this site .... should I go to a different forum to get that data ?

It made the other two problems worse....

by Penguin - 2023-11-15 12:50:12

Do you mean that it made the sick sinus syndrome and Wenckebach (Mobitz I) AV block worse? 

I only ask because a lot of people with higher grades of AV block get given pacemakers that function in DDD(R) mode - (a more physiological pacing mode). The Abbott Assurity is one of them. I'm wondering if this is why you were offered this particular pacemaker?

The Abbott pacemaker doesn't have the breathing technology (minute ventilation) that Crusty describes. It has an accelerometer instead which uses movement to detect when it needs to raise your heart rate.  

The Boston Scientific device has both types of rate response - minute ventilation and an accelerometer.  Athletes seem to prefer this. 

Abbott Assurity

by WazzA - 2023-11-18 12:20:28

Hi I'm into my 5th year with this make & model. There are many different settins which your EP can tailor for your needs . One of which is DDDR a rate response setting which recognises you are exercising & responds automatically to your hearts needs.The down side is that if you are a passenger in a car going over rough terrain/ground it thinks you are exercising & responds to the bumping around LOL Best wishes

pacemaker after ablation

by softball35 - 2023-12-15 22:21:31

I had the pacemaker put in first then I had the ablation two months later for atrial flutter.  I did not know I was sick.  I was diagnosed with tachy brady cardia.  I have a St. Jude pacemaker.  This was in 2011,  I now play in three softball leagues, have gone surfing and am now taking ballet classes which have improved my coordination and has eliminated the arthritis pain in my back.  I don't think it matters what brand of PM you have inserted.  The idea is to get your life back and start doing the things you love and to find new things to love.  Do it.