US News article

Last week Blake passed along a request to interview from a reporter at US News. I was just wondering if anyone else here ended up in the article. I didn't recognize any of the names/stories, but it's hard to tell since most of us don't share a lot of personal information here.

7 Comments

curiousity

by Tracey_E - 2014-09-16 01:09:06

I was mostly being nosy ;) The last story is me.

Curiosity

by WillieG - 2014-09-16 03:09:57

I recognized your story quickly! She did a nice job writing a basic story on pacemakers, I thought. I still find it to be perplexing that you had complete heart block for 20 years before getting a pacemaker and I had occasional symptoms during strenuous exercise and they put one in me in 3 weeks without much prior explanation. I was upset after reading that excessive ventricular pacing is not good for your heart and they had me at 69%. I go for a follow up appt at the original institution next Tues and wonder if it will be awkward to say I had settings changed elsewhere. I will also be curious to learn the pacing % this time. The AV Search + was turned on and minute ventilation (under rate adaptive pacing) was turned off. Still hoping to find a print out on settings. I ordered the book titled "Pacemaker Owner's Manual" by Jo Ann LeQuang. It was interesting but did not have much info on settings. Would be nice if someone just wrote a short pamphlet on what each setting means. And what the normal milliseconds are, etc. Still learning!!!! :)

Wilma

numbers

by Tracey_E - 2014-09-16 04:09:29

Mine is congenital. When it develops it later, the body often can't handle it. When you're born with it, the body adapts and compensates because it's all it knows. I was diagnosed when I was 5 and held back from anything strenuous after that. Any exertion made me dizzy. A kid born now with my symptoms would have been paced immediately, but in the early 70's pm's were only given as a last resort.

Unnecessary ventricular pacing is hard on the heart. In our case, it's necessary. With av block, they don't have us at any particular rate. That's atrial pacing. With ventricular pacing, the pm steps in any time the atria beats but the ventricles don't. It's reactive, not proactive. I've paced nearly every beat for 20 years now. My EF hasn't changed and no signs of myopathy. I guess there's a chance some day it will, but the benefits far outweigh the possibility of complications down the road and it's not like I can do without the pacing. Don't lose any sleep over this or the pacing numbers. It is what it is.

JoAnn stops in occasionally. Her username is pacemakerwriter.

Article

by brushmore - 2014-09-16 06:09:37

I was in the article as well, I was the first person mentioned.

Here's a link to the story

by admin - 2014-09-16 10:09:34


http://health.usnews.com/health-news/patient-advice/articles/2014/09/12/so-youre-getting-a-pacemaker?int=98e708

Article

by WillieG - 2014-09-16 12:09:36

Hi Tracy! I responded and answered questions for Lisa. My story was called Pacemaker Surprise. Let me know if you need any other info.

Wilma

Thanks

by Moner - 2014-09-20 10:09:40

Thanks for the heads up, I can't wait to read this article.

Moner

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