Most Recent Messages in Checkups & Settings

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Who has stopped seeing cardiologists?

Who has stopped seeing the cardiologist?

Maybe I went back to work too quick, but I think I am at the end of a 40 hr week. I barely make it thru the day and I don't function well when I am at work.

At home, I can't do normal work like cooking, cleaning, laundry and the yard work I loved is too difficult.

The cardio does not seem to be helping, his offer was to increase the proamtine which has bad side effects.

I am thinking of eliminating seeing him....

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Thanks for the % pacing answers

Thanks Frank and Inga for your thoughts and the comments you gave me. Of course it helped!

Just you to know me better: my symptoms started around age 36 - my heart rate was 35, I felt weak and dizzy all the time. It went lower and lower (20) until I was fainting. They made all the tests (ECG, ECO, tilt test, Holter) and the diagnose was I had bradycardia and also SSS.

I have a (DDDR) PM that helped until now to keep a regular beat -and it was really useful, if I may say it!...

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Check up questions.

My husband goes in for a pacer check in a week.

After reading all the posts on here I was hoping anyone could help me come up with a list of questions we should ask the doctor. Things most people would like to know.

I want to find out what his low threshhold setting is?
EF %?
How often it is pacing him?

I am lost on what we should be asking. I know I am going to ask for a copy of everything.

Thanks in advance.

Wendy

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Answer about Pacing %

Hi to all!! I took a long time to contact you again for healthy reasons...but now I am back. I have a question I never understood well, related with how much Pacing percentage I am doing. In my last Quick look report it says:
Pacing (%of total)
AS-VS 87.3%
AS-VP <0.1%
AP-VS 0.8%
AP-VP 11.9%
My PM was implanted (April 2001) because I have Sick-sinus-Syndrome. Can somebody explain me what those parameters mean? I know that Pacing % depends on the condition the patient...

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Echograms

It's difficult getting answers during check-ups. Do you know about this?

My electrophysiologist requested that I have an echogram once a year during my visit to my cardiologist. I had total heart block, but also have four moderate leaky valves.

If you are totally reliant, are you having a yearly echogram as well? I'm not sure if it's because of my PM or my leaky valves.

Thanks.

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holidays

Does anyone know if i can book a holiday today only five and a half after pace maker fitted ? Have got my hospital check this Thursday but have seen a bargain and want to book it now, dare I risk it .

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PM Battery Check-up

In India, there is a practice that the supplier of Medtronic PM provides, by appointment, free of cost PM Battery check-ups and settings, as and when requested by the PM user.
How about USA/ Canada?
I am currently visiting USA and wish to undergo battery check-up, as a matter of routine.
Any advice will be appreciated.
Thanks

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3 Month Phone Checkup

I have my 3 month phone checkup on Wednesday 8/5/09. My ? is ,are there any surprises that I should be aware of? There are some questions that I should ask my Dr. concerning some minor discomfort in the top of my left shoulder at times and a brief period of SOB after walking up 3 flights of stairs which I sometimes do after my 4 mile walk and 1 hour in the gym.I think that I may be over doing it a bit.By the way ,my pulse rate averages between 62 to 72,which is up from 37 to 42 before PM.Maybe n...

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Voltage on PM

I had a PM implanted 1-1/2 months ago. I've healed up real good and I'm just about back to normal accept for one thing. Occasionally, my heart rate skyrockets. At first, when I called the doctor's office to report what had happen, they said I was most likely going through an adjustment period.

After several episodes, I kept track of dates and times and what my activity was at the time. These "episodes" were lasting up to 20 - 30 minutes at a time. I would feel a "ticking" at the...

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What is the pm doing

I have not completely understood what the pm is doing when it is checking or testing itself every day. Mine cheks (makes rather uncomfortable pounding sensations) itself every 8 hours on the dot. In addition to that, it does something similar almost every day, what seems to me at random. It doesn't actually hurt, but it doesn't feel very good either. The doctor just said that if he changed the tests to every 24 hours, there would be risk of fainting. What could the extra 'thumps' be about? If I...

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Feel ill after check-ups ??

Hi PM friends

Just had another routine PM check-up and have come away feeling worse than previously. I have a Guidant dual chamber PM and did have to undergo some complex tweaking because of twitching. However that was all sorted in February and from then until last Wednesday I was feeling GREAT. However, I went for the check-up, explained to them all about the twitching and asked them not to change any of the settings etc.
Since then I have been experiencing a horrible heart thu...

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checkups by other physicians

I may be having a pacemaker installed in a city where I have my summer residence, however I go to Florida for about 6 months. I have a physician there and have seen a cardiolgist
there also. Once this thing is installed can checkups and monitoring, adjustments etc. be done someplace else.

thanks

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another question

Hi again,
Have any of you ever been told during an interrogation that you had far field r wave oversensing? I did back in June. THe medtronic tech called his tech support person, and they tried many things, but it wouldn't go away completely.
He said it's when one lead is sensing the signal from the other, and it's not supposed to. He said he never saw one that didn't go away when they tweaked the settings...but not to worry about it. hmmmm. since I feel fine, I figure it's cool....

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**Whoa** when they play with the settings

Had my settings "played" around with yesterday for the first time and it was like " WHOA! " short of breath and quite ill feeling. The nurse said if you get that feeling again come back to the clinic as this is the symptoms of Pacemaker syndrome.
**Do any of you get that feeling during your checkup when they fiddle with the settings? ***

I was in DDDR and the cardiologist requested it be changed to AAI mode but the Pacemaker nurse felt I wasnt quite ready as I developed 2nd degr...

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a slightly lower "floor" (bpm) might help

I have had a pacemaker since 1998. A dual lead Kappa, its battery "ran down" in 2006, so since there is no provision for replacement of batteries, I got a second pacemaker in 2006.

Both times the PM was installed, I found that to avoid feeling "flushed" all the time, I worked better by having a 50 bpm "floor". It does not look like I will get the same 8 years out of this new PM battery since it "is working more of the time".

From my limited personal experience, I would re...

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Just hit my 6 weeks post-op

Hi Everyone...I'm so excited...I just hit my 6 week post-op date...Time to get back to normal now....:)
Laurie

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I need help understanding settings

I had my PM implant 4/9/09. My cardiologist had me come in today for an optimization. All I know is the techs did a heart echo while I was also hooked up to the Medtronic machine and tweaked my settings. They whispered a lot and even put paper on the side of their face so I couldn't read lips and then would look back at the screen. It made me paranoid. I don't like whispering :-)

All I know for sure, from what the tech told me is my EF is still 25% which is what it was just befor...

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Questions

I go for an interrogation of my pm in a couple of weeks and because I'm pretty much a "newbie" have some questions. since my pm in March occasionally I will feel tapping in my chest-I think it's the ventricular lead pacing as when I was in the ER and it was happening that was the pacing and when it went back to sinus and atrial lead pacing it went away. Has anyone had this experience? Also it seems that my pm has moved a little and in some positions the edges poke at the skin. I actually thought...

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Settings

My story is complicated so I will give a short version of it. I'm a 62 year old female who had a heart attack 10 years ago. I've had three cardiac arrest. I've had open heart surgery and quite a few caths. In 2005 I had an ablation and a pacer and def. implanted. I had on a few occasions, suffered from congestive heart failure. In Oct 07 the news came out about bad wires from Medtronic. My doctor felt that since I was 100% paced that I should remove the bad leads. In May of 2008 we did just tha...

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Insurance Question

Heya there, fellow pacers. I've got a general question that I'm hoping someone can shed some light on for me. Have any of you been without insurance (in the U.S.) and had to go for a pacer check? If so, was the check free?

I may run into an insurance snafu in a few months...long story. And I know my options (Cobra etc.). I'm not here to discuss all these things. I just know that when my pm implant was done 2 1/2 years ago that the total cost of having the pm implanted (over 100...

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You know you're wired when...

You run like the bionic man.

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Your heart’s electrical system has a manmade helper. A helper that only knows to do what it is programmed to do and will perform that function day in and day out, without fail. Now, go enjoy your new grip on life.