New 2nd pacemaker/ battery life low?.

I am due for a replacement of my 3 leads CRT biv-pacemaker, on september 1 battery life was 2 months left, I have to see cardio for a pre-op appointment but he is not in hospital whole month of september so I have the appointment for 30 september and then I get to hear when I get a replacement. On september 30 I have just 1 month battery life left. I find this a bit late and strange. Some years ago my pm technician said they did not wait for last months but now they do leave it late. Question is how long is the battery- backup when the battery goes?

2 Comments

timing

by Tracey_E - 2014-09-14 06:09:34

They usually have a range of time left since they can't predict exactly when it will go so 1-2 months is a conservative guess. Mine last report said 18-24 months left. That's usually when they think it will got to Elective Replacement mode. ERI lasts approx 3 months and it's still fully functional. At the end of that time, it goes to EOL (end of life) and has limited function. It'll keep you safe, but the extras are turned off so if you pace all the time you may not feel well at this stage. That also lasts approx 3 months. You're not really going down to the wire, there should be a 3-6 month cushion built in.

You can ask them to confirm whether or not you are if you are in elective replacement mode now, they should be able to look at the last report and tell you. Even if you are ERI now, you should be fine to wait a few more weeks.

never heard Elective replacement/EOL

by jobecky33 - 2014-09-16 02:09:14

Makes me wonder when they told me I haven't paced in four years, if they know what they are talking about. I looked at my report and it said I was pacing about 3% of the time. There's a difference between no paced beats and 3%.

I was told if it was less than 600,000 bmp or 3% it doesn't count as pacing. Makes a big difference if your debating to have battery replaced or removed (a MD even asked me if I wanted it removed). What if the 3% paced was all in one day.

I never heard of Elective replacement or end of life EOL. I'm one of the unfortunate ones that feel every paced beat and I did have one day where I paced all day. I had one doctor tell me that you can't feel the pacer work, bull.
I noticed that younger patients do feel the paced beats. It's like a willyworm (caterpiller) is going 500 miles an hour in your chest. Does anyone else feel this?

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I am 100% pacemaker dependant and have been all my life. I try not to think about how a little metal box keeps me alive - it would drive me crazy. So I lead a very active life.