More Cycling Weirdness

It will get better

by Gemita - 2024-08-21 04:09:15

Tex, firstly I wouldn’t question for too long what you are seeing on your Garmin monitor.  I would bring the focus back to you and to any symptoms that you might be getting from your sudden heart rate changes (falls, increases or static levels).  From experience, my doctors generally focus on “symptoms”, not on those heart rate “numbers”.

So did your symptoms make you look at your Garmin monitor, or make you check your pulse?  If you felt symptoms at the time of discovering your sudden heart rate changes, then your volatile heart rate changes are a problem for you and will need addressing, but if you felt no symptoms, then that suggests, at least to me, that the fluctuating numbers you are watching are not causing real harm, at least not for the moment.

You have your appointment next week.  Make a note of all of this, the time and date you noticed these changes and any symptoms you had.  Symptoms are what the doctor wants to know about.  

There are several pacemaker settings that may need adjusting if your heart rate is suddenly fluctuating or you get sudden drops and you are getting symptoms at these times?  You could ask about this during your appointment when they might be able to adjust some of your settings to correct the problem.  On the other hand, your heart itself may still be getting used to being paced and might be throwing a few sudden irregular heart beats causing these changes or any symptoms?  It is quite normal to see these teething problems at the start of pacing.

If you have a Smart Watch or Kardia Mobile and can take an ECG at the time of any symptoms/sudden changes in heart rate, that might be helpful evidence to take with you to your appointment.  Take care and good luck and please try not to worry over this.  It will be sorted

Symptoms

by Tex61 - 2024-08-21 09:03:10

Good point.  Thank you.   Yes.  Felt some symptoms that caused me to look at the monitor.  They added the third wire, moderately lowered Ejection fraction and I felt like my heart wasn't keeping up with my activity.   
 

I think that's better now.   
 

went for a ride yesterday am and hit some soft sand.  HR bumped up over 130 and fell just as quickly again when I got off and walked a short distance.    I wasn't light headed or anything.   Maybe this is the new normal.    
 

yes, I've taken some notes for sure. Thanks for the reply 

Device upper limit..

by USMC-Pacer - 2024-08-22 10:09:54

Sounds to me like you are hitting the device upper limit. If it is set to 120-130 like most of them are as default, the device will knock you back down to 70-80 which feels great while you are exercising. Just ask your EP if your upper limit can be increased. It is an easy adjustment as long as there is no reason that it can't be done with your condition. Good luck

Upper Limit

by Tex61 - 2024-08-22 16:59:20

They had put my upper limit to 140 on the first pacer 5 mo ago.  Stayed with that setting on the new CRT 5 weeks ago.  But that's a great line of thinking and I'll ask at my appt next week.  Thank you.

"Stayed with that setting on the new CRT 5 weeks ago"

by USMC-Pacer - 2024-08-22 20:32:37

Ya, they told me that too when they implanted mine. "All settings were carried over." I even asked them about my upper limit because I was constantly having issues with it before until they finally raised it to 220 :) This new device I found out once the recovery was over was set at 125bpm, lol, even after they told me they carried all the settings over <- lie! I had to go back several times before they got things right again. You really have to complain and campaign for yourself or they will ignore you and leave well enough alone... for them

Cycling

by Selwyn - 2024-08-23 12:32:47

Cycling is a real problem. The upper right search should tell you about this.

The problem is that you don't get much change with heart rate using the PM rate response accelerometer.  Holding the handlesbars ensures your shoulder are fairly fixed. Sometimes bobbing around going up hill helps. I certainly have had extreme shortness of breath on hills and sand cycling.

My pacemaker people say the only time they think the Boston Scietific PM ventilation rate response is worth while is for cyclists. 

The onset and offset for rate response can be set ( eg a quick offset will lower your heart rate after exercise  quicker than the slower setting). These parameters can be adjusted.

There is no normality. It is an individual thing as to how best to tailor the settings to the person's activity and how they perform that activity. You really need someone with a lot of experience if you want to get the best exercise ability out of your PM.  

We have certainly found personal electronic heart rate monitors to be unreliable - so many reports can be found on this club site. Just learn to check your pulse.