2 year battery decrease in 4 months

You have a lot going on too

by Gemita - 2024-06-14 14:59:33

Amy, first of all, I wouldn’t worry unnecessarily about the sudden drop in battery life.  This seems to be quite common for many of us during mid-term battery life.  It has happened to me several times.  A few months ago my battery was showing 2.5 years. It is now up to 4 years again.  As experienced members will tell us until we get closer to end of battery life, we will continue to see these large swings which are mostly meaningless.

With 40% RV pacing hopefully you are feeling comfortable, without symptoms?  If so, then again I wouldn’t be concerned about this percentage of RV pacing.

Your clinic will no doubt have a look at your lead that they fixed with a silicone sleeve to make sure that the lead settings are appropriate and within the set parameters.  If they are, then you shouldn’t be concerned about depleting your battery.  

As a matter of fact I noticed with my Rate Response turned ON a slight increase in battery usage after 3 months, but again what is important is that you feel well with the amount of pacing you are getting.  We shouldn't be worrying about how long our battery will last.  Why have a pacemaker if it doesn’t make us feel better?

I am so sorry to hear about your subclavian vein trauma.  I have large prominent purple blue veins in the area since getting my pacemaker.  I had trauma from one of the pacemaker leads too during subclavian/axillary vein access but mother nature intervened to provide collateral circulation.  I was already on anticoagulation, so this obviously helped prevent worsening symptoms and kept my blood flowing.  I hope getting those leads out will help prevent further problems for you.  Do you know where they intend placing any new leads?

thoughts

by Tracey_E - 2024-06-14 17:28:20

If they changed the settings, the battery life will change because the estimate is based on the settings at the time of the interrogation. Turning on rr will make it go down, yes. If they turn it off, they can tell you if it went back up again.

It's possible the patch on the lead isn't working. An insulation rupture will also cause a faster than expected drain. They can also tell that from the report. 

Battery

by piglet22 - 2024-06-15 05:12:48

I wouldn't be too concerned about one reading change. See what the next one looks like.

Obviously, battery lifetime is critical in something like an implanted device.

It will always be an estimate.

The battery or more correctly the cell starts with an initial charge. This is measured in milliamp hours (mA hr) or something larger like a car battery, amp hours.

The pacemaker will have a main processor chip that incorporates a battery guage or it might be a separate chip.

Charge is measured in Coulomb's which is a measure of current used in each second.

Some chips therefore have chips called coulomb counters.

One characteristic of batteries is a period of recovery following a significant drain. The measured voltage will initially fall, then rise which is the recovery.

A pacemaker is unlikely to draw a constant current and battery life is going to be constantly recalculated.

If your sort of drop is repeated then that would be a good time to ask some questions.

As for the damaged lead, if there was damage to the insulation rather than the protective sheath, then there could be additional charge leaking locally leading to additional drain.