100% pacing

Depressed

by Good Dog - 2024-04-12 11:18:12

I understand why you may be depressed, because I went through that when I first received my PM. I can see from your bio that you have been through a lot. However, rest assured that you no longer need to worry about your heart stopping. None of us are immune from a heart atteck. However, it sounds like you've properly dealt with and fixed the blockage you have had. So you can rest assured that your pacemaker will protect and allow you to live a long normal life regardless of how much you are paced. I have been paced for 37 years and my pacing percentages have gradulally gone up over the years. I am now 99% paced in my right ventricle. Around here we always like to say that it doesn't matter how much you are paced, but what matters is how you feel. After an adjustment period (and learning from others with PM's) I no longer allow my PM or heart issues to hold me back from doing anything. You should not either. Having a pacemaker does not disable you in any way. On the contrary; it enables you to live your life without worrying about your heart. So that is what you need to do; just go about living your life no differently than anyone else. If you need to speak to someone to get over the hump then you should do that.

Should you have any questions or concerns in the future, this forum is a great place to bounce them off of people that have experiences just like yours.

I wish you the very best!

Sincerely,

Dave

100% No Big Deal

by Gotrhythm - 2024-04-12 11:52:26

Don't get wrapped up in numbers. Being paced 100% does not mean your heart has stopped beating on its own. It isn't a sign that the Grim Reaper is coming for you. People can and do live for many years being 100% paced.

The percentage paced can increase or decrease as a function of your settings, your activity and a host of other factors. In the fhirteen years I've had a pacemaker, I've seen the percentage paced go up, go down, go up again. It stood at 100% for 5 years or so, and since I got the replacement it has gone down again to 94%.

Get depressed (if you must) over the economy or your favorite football team's losing season, but don't waste a minute down in the dumps over being 100% paced.

You say you feel fine. In that case, what being paced 100% means for you is that your heart is being paced a percent of the time that works for you.

You need to take the lead

by crustyg - 2024-04-12 12:34:01

There are some interesting comments in your post "I feel fine and live my life" and "My wife and kids almost lost me and I can see the fear in their eyes".

I suggest that their fear is mostly coming *from* you and is not so much *about* you.

There's definitely a bit of self-help (or Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) needed here.  You need to take the lead.  GotRhythm puts it very well - stop sweating the numbers and remember that you tell us "I feel fine", because your family are picking up on your anxiety about the numbers and not being reassured about the "I feel fine" part.

Once *you* believe that you're fine (because that's how you feel), you will look better and start radiating confidence, and that will be easier on your family who will love you all the more for taking the lead over this.

I know, it's easy and trite to say that the emotional shock of discovering that you needed a device (in the worst possible way) takes longer to heal than the physical wound, but it will take even longer if you let it.  Focus on things outside of you and one day soon you'll realise that you haven't thought about your device or pacing percentages for a week.  This isn't a 'pull yourself together' comment: you have to make an effort to think about non-heart things.

Don't just exist, *live* your life with your family.

Best wishes.

Question

by Lavender - 2024-04-12 14:05:48

You said, "Had my 6 month Medtronic check and I am not pacing at 100%. "

Did you mean NOW pacing at 100%?

I have had my device three years. I pace 100%. So what? I'm alive. My heart is beating. If that's what it takes, so be it. 
 

I have gotten my affairs in order when I first got the pacemaker due to my heartbeat stopping. I'm even prepaying my funeral arrangements on Monday. But that's only because I have always been very organized and managerial. 😉

I am living eyes wide open. We all can't count on tomorrow-and it might not be a heart problem that's the final decider. Strong healthy people have car accidents and death comes in many ways. Only God knows the day or hour. We DO Know we are here in the present. 
 

🎊live it up😃

I know that look of fear...

by Grateful Heart - 2024-04-14 00:40:12

I saw it in my family's eyes too.  I was just talking about this with good friend's of ours (and a new pacemaker recipient).  

That's when I decided I needed to learn more about my condition and CRT-D.  I didn't know about this site at the time and was so glad when I found it.  I educated myself and was able to ease my mind and then my family's.     

I'm 100% paced in the ventricles which is what is needed and anywhere from 87%-98% in the atria.  Don't worry about the numbers, go by how you feel.

Grateful Heart

Sudden Cardiac Arrest

by Penguin - 2024-04-15 05:51:23

Hi, I just read your bio.  The sudden cardiac arrest must have been really scary for all of you, particularly as you had hoped that the stent had put an end to your issues.  I imagine that this is why another form of medical 'solution' - the pacemaker - is similarly difficult to trust, when you see what you perceive as 'evidence of worsening' e.g. rising pacing %s. 

As the others have said pacing %s rise for lots of different reasons, but if they steadily increase year on year it 'may' be true that you need the pacemaker more because the electrical impulses are not getting through for a higher % of the time.  This is an unfortunate truth about electrical disturbances - they are often progressive. 

Without a pacemaker this could potentially spell disaster again, but with the foresight of your cardiologist you have the solution in place, and this time it's a true solution for electrical disturbances.  

It sounds as if you, your wife and daughter need to talk through with your cardiologist what the rising %s and your echo mean when you get the results and how the device and various drugs you may be taking affect these results and help you.  If this reassurance still doesn't feel like enough a counsellor may help with the 'trauma' that you suffered (and your family) when you had the SCA.  Trauma in a situation like that is a real thing and it isn't easy to live well with that hanging over your head.  Seek some help for all of you. 

Best Wishes