Most Recent Messages in Checkups & Settings

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Procrastinated for far too long

Good afternoon everyone! I am new to this club, just joined up 3 minutes ago and I am very excited that this place exists!! I have so many questions and am very interested in getting to learn things here and there from people that have gone through similar things as myself. My name is Wanda, I am 33 years old and live in Florida. I had open-heart surgery in December of 2015 and soon after had a Medtronic pacemaker implanted in early January of 2016. There is a HUGE issue though and...

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Update - PM evaluation

I recently had a PM evaluation here are some notes I received. I am scheduled for the UPGRADE PM SING,DUAL,OR CRTP TO CRTD; 33233+33249 on JUly 12th. My symptoms are still post-ecertional fatigue, exhaustion, edema and, muscle loss and weakness. I am a bit discouraged in finding out the PM is functioning  properly, it means something else is going on. 

"The only changes we ended up making yesterday were that the activity threshold (how sensitive your device is in sensing...

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Pacemaker Check

Does anyone else feel rubbish after a PM check up? It's been a few hours but I can barely stay awake? 

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New settings!

I had a CAEP test today with the device rep to see about fine-tuning to improve exercise output and endurance. Mine main issue has been cycling up hills, but I also have plateaued on jogging. He seemed quite impressed that I made it to the end, with a treadmill speed of about 5 mph. He plotted my data to give a graph showing that with the new settings I am right where I ought to be for exercising. 

He made a few tweeks: increased my upper rate from 140 to 155 and turned on som...

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Data Storage

Hello Everyone, 

 

I have a medtronic pacemaker which is set up too the mycarelink app on my phone, this acts as remote monitoring. Over the past 7 months or so i have been having a few issues with non sustained vt. My doctors have told me that on the remote monitoring to detect VT it needs to be over 4 beats and 176 bpm. 

So what i am wondering is does this also count for the pacemaker interrogations at the hospital, or can they see every beat? As my thought...

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Need a new EP for Abbott Device

How do we find a new EP for an Abbott device? Really unhappy with current situation.

Made to wait 6 weeks after original insert procedure resulted in an atrial lead that detached 10 minutes after surgery. Second lead set to 40 bpm while we wait. Foggy, tired, and confused why the wound had to "heal" 6 weeks.

Medicare fraud has be suggested. Hospitals are penalized for readmissions less than 30 days. Sigh.

Trust is lost. Current EP knows we are angry and won't r...

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Question on Minute Ventilation and Cpap

Saw EP on Tuesday and he changed my PM settings.  This is the first time my settings have ever been changed.  He upped the low rate to 70bpm and turned on Rate Response and Minute Ventilation.

I have intermittent Afib but since the settings change 48 hours ago I have been in Afib a good portion of it.  My bouts of Afib are normally less than one hour.

TUES nite woke up to go to the bathroom and was in Afib and stayed in Afib until about an hour after I got up in the...

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Settings

Recently had adjustments to pacemaker due to palpitations and shortness of breath but no details. The tech just said they were “juicing it up”. No change to base rate which is 60 bpm. The same day I felt more alert but slightly stupid, thoughts disconnected, and next morning slightly disoriented. Since then tightness of muscles in head, transient headaches on exertion, slight dizziness, and tiring quickly. Looked up “coronary disorientation” on the Internet and read co...

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New Settings

Had 3 month post-implant checkup last week.  Chronic settings set and floor set at 60bpm.  Cardiologist said that the interrogation report showed some Afib and LOTS or rapid bursts of Atrial activity.  Recommended I see my EP.  Saw EP today and he did another interrogation and there were a bunch more of those short bursts of atrial activity.  He said "we're going to break the elephant down into manageable pieces" and decided to raise my floor to 70bpm an...

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Lower limits of PM

Can anyone offer an answer to this question??

My pacemaker is set to prevent my HR from going below 60 BPM

I was diagnosed with SSS along with bradycardia.

So does this mean that my PM only kicks in when my HR wants to drop below 60BPM?? When my heart rate is above 60 BPM is my PM just monitoring and not actually helping my heart beat??

My cardiologist said that my PM is simply acting like an insurance policy. Is this kind of what he meant. l

 

Thank y...

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What Questions should I ask?

I'm going to have my first big follow up appointment post-surgery with my cardiologist in a couple weeks. I'm working on compiling a list of questions and concerns in preparation. Is there anything important that I should be asking? Also, is there anything I should prepare in relation to questions they may ask me? 

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Pacing percentages and AV block

OK, I admit I'm confused. I am coming up on one year with a dual chamber Medtronic PM...Implanted due to complete AV block and since diagnosed as 2nd and 3rd degree heart block.

My 3 month transmission was sent on 4/30/2021 and I just heard from my clinic on my results. I was told that Atrial pacing - 24.5% and Ventricular pacing- 1.2%.

No arrhythmias.


My confusion is on this..If I have some degree of AV block, shouldn't the ventricular pacing be the highest pe...

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Switching my PM to an MVP mode

Hello. My EP has determined that I developed pacemaker mediated syndrome and need to consider a biventricular pacer upgrade.

Before having that procedure I had inquired about reprogramming my device to see if more pacing can be helpful,  he thought it may not be a bad idea to switch my PM to an MVP mode.

 

Has anyone had these procedures and seen benefits or problems with them, thanks in advance for your advice and thoughts.

 

 

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Dizziness and fatigue

I have had a pacemaker for about 3 months. The first two months were several setting adjustments and then I started to feel like myself again. Recently I have become dizzy, tired and feeling chest pressure after working out. I have shared my symptoms with the techs from Boston Scientific and they couldn't really adjust the pacemaker to accommodate for these new symptoms. I was told that a 44 year old active female like myself is a difficult patient to figure out. It seems like they don...

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ATS

The pacer techs are relunctant to tell me anything about check-ups other than expected battery life and I don't see doc until July to ask him. I do get an online report so I am seeking help on understanding it. 

There is a line called Atrial Tachy Statistic Percent Time in Mode Switch. On my remote check report from today it says 10%. Is this the amount of time I am in atrial fib? My underlying rhythm is sinus rhythm, second degree Type 1 block with an underlying...

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A very simple question

if you have some level of AV block from long PR interval to full heart block does anybody know how it is decided what the Paced AV delay should be set at?

Is it individual or is there an agreed optimum Paced AV in general?

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New settings following exercise stress test

Hello All,

Well today I had my exercise stress test and download.

I was hoping my block was not present during exercise but unfortunately it was. The AAI-DDD mode was not really working and probably explained some of my symptoms. In fact even though AAI-DDD was suppose to minimise pacing (it actually only intervenes if 2 or more Ventricular beats are missed in 4 atrial beats) I was still at 80% pacing.

I must have been constantly switching between AAI and DDD. I suspect that...

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questions about the medtronic monitoring app

Pacemaker implanted this April 7. Medtronic tech called me Friday April 23 and wanted me to get this app from Apple for my iPhone or iPad for communication with Medtronic and the cardiologists. I don't have an Apple ID and so have to wait for Apple to give me a log in to proceed. So I went to the App store and read some reviews of this heartcare app. Really scary. Around half the reviews were quite negative and most had the same range of complaints... serious connectivity problems... from...

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no insurance no device interrogation

i want to know if im at life risk i have not check my pacemaker in almost 8 months due to no insurance i want to know if i should be ok so far i check it every 6 months and always no issues i want to know if the tech just checks or do they change settings.

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pacemaker checkup

When i was at the Pacemaker  Checkup this morning.  Everything was good.

Had changed to another Heart Dr's office.  Asked about the problem i had with the "talk to TV remote".  Said that incident did not appear.  Said i might try it again but this time sit down first.  In no rush to try again.  All though it was easy.  Except the voice did not always understand  what i said and there certainly cannot be any back ground noise.

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You know you're wired when...

Your device makes you win at the slot machines.

Member Quotes

The experience of having a couple of lengths of wire fed into your heart muscle and an electronic 'box' tucked under the skin is not an insignificant event, but you will survive.