Most Recent Messages in Checkups & Settings

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Too fast?

My Titanium-Terror (pm) is set for 60 to 130bpm.  I notice that I feel uncomfortable if I've been active suddenly and my pulse is close or at the 130 when I sit down.  Would it make any sense to ask the techie when I go for my November check-up, to drop the higher limit to say, 115bpm. 

Otherwise, the pm is just wonderful. Anyway, at age 81 I'm not too active and don't need to be,  or perhaps I should be my age and not move suddenly, b...

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Atrial Sensing & ventricular 100% pacing plus Rate Response turned on

Hello

I have a dual lead Medtronic pacemaker and am pacemaker dependent . At my last settings checkup rate response was turned on and since then I have not felt right including more tired. Surely if the top part of my heart is working ok it should be pacing the bottom extra when I am doing more and I should not need rate response on? So why have they turned it on? - is there an advantage in having it on? Thanks

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Light headed and dizzy

I just had a Medtronics dual chamber pacemaker installed for second degree Mobitz 2 heart block 10 days ago . I am a 55 year old male. 

The pacemaker has gotten rid of the skipped  beats and the Terrible palpitations I was having at night as well as keeping my heart rate very stable while sleeping . This is a big relief  

On my checkup a few days ago the doctor said everything is normal and he was happy with the settings despite my complaint that I was experiencing...

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Settings

I got my BPM 5 years ago.  I felt terrible, could not get out of bed, and my blood pressure which is always low dipped to very low.  I kept calling my EP and he ignored me.  I finally raised a ruckus and he promised he would do something about it.  NADA!  Still no calls, no action.  I had  my yearly appt with my Cardiologist and told him how bad I felt and how my EP was doing nothing.  He did a ton of tests.  My EP's nurse called the very...

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Transfer of care /monitoring

I had a bi-v St. Jude’s ( Abbott) pacemaker inplanted 1 year ago. I have the Merlin home monitoring system and follow up regularly with primary cardiologist and ECP annually. I just changed companies and insurance, now I am setting up care with cardiologist in new insurance network,( Kelsey Seybold). I’m curious as to who and how monitoring of my device will be changed. I’m still fairly new to all of this and was not expecting a job change. I have had one fairly long episode...

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Pacemaker rate

Hi everyone,was wondering if anyone had any info,my baby is 4 months old and has congenital complete heart block,he had a pacemaker fitted one month ago and the rate was 120 since then the doctor has turned my sons pacing rate down to 60bpm and if baby’s asleep it will drop down to 50bpm,my son struggled with a heart rate in the forty’s,does anybody understand why the doctor keeps lowering it,thanks

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My pacemaker story

Hi all, i am fairly new here, i had my pacer implant in 1998.  I had some episodes of AF and when i would go back in NSR my heart rate would drop to almost a flatline for a few seconds, I didn't black out completely but did feel like I might, this was caught in my doctors office, he sent the findings to my EP and was told to go to the hospital immediately for a pacer.  i was told that i had bradycardia, the pacer was for when going back into NSR (the low was set at 50) i wo...

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Kardia Mobile--Is it for me?

I've looked at the Kardia Mobile from AliveCor several times, wondering it I should get one. I've been put off by two things

1. the ads stress it's usefulness in A-fib which I don't have

2. the ads specifically state that it's not for use by people with pacemakers which I do have.

The reason I want the device is that I have some sort of arrythmia that has started up in the last couple of months. It doesn't feel like anything I've had before. It mi...

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Pacemaker speeding you up when not needed.

I've had an ongoing issue probably since day 1 and I'm starting to push my electrocardiologist and the techs to come up with some kind of explaination.

I periodically experience what I call "unwanted pacing". My pulse rapidly shoots up to 130-135 (135 is my max rate) when I really dont need it to. This is most often seen when in a car usually as a passanger but sometimes as the driver. It seems to be a combination of speed, road roughness and the harshness of the Cars...

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Pacing Counts

Hi Folks,

I recently completed my annual pacemaker check and whilst all was satisfactory I couldn't help observing that my (on demand) pacing had reduced from 99% to 98% meaning that now 2 out of every 100 heart beats was taking place naturally and without the pacemaker. This prompted me to ask whether there were instances of people who demonstrated major improvements in pacing and lesser dependency on the pakemaker. The Biotronix rep mentioned he had come across a few people whose...

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What happens at first check-uo?

I had my PC fitted nearly  four weeks ago,  Since then things seem to be normal,  a bit of early tiredness which is much better and thanks to the photos  posted on here my scar etc seems normaL

What  will actually happen at my check up in three weeks' time?  I asume the  doc will read my PC remotely. At the moment  it is set between 50 and 130. What would  any readjustment be based on? What else will happen? 

What cou...

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Auto mode

Hi could anyone explain the auto mode on a DDD bi ventricle pacemaker in basic terms.  I have had mine turned on and off.  It is much better when it is off but I do not fully understand what the mode does.

Thanks 

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Heart pounding symptoms

I am 79 almost 80 and I had a St jude pacemaker fitted 3 weeks ago today for blocking, It was set up within a couple of hours after surgery by a technician accompanied a trainee and there seemed to be some difficulties in getting it right but after spending some time they went away saying that seemed to be alright but I had the impreession that they were not fullly satisfied with the results they had obtained. Any way I had to contact the hospital again within 2  o r3 days as m...

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Exercise..... I cant walk across the room.........

I read these exercise posting with a bit of envy. I had my pacemaker defribrilator implanted over a year ago, and I cant walk across a room without feeling a lack of oxygen to my brain, and an auto response of gasping for air. I use to be like the energizer bunny before my implant but the A-fib I experienced almost killed me. The ablation fixed the A-fib, and the implant landed me on the couch.

Upon reading other postings I have come to realize: My Dr. set my rate at 61 BPM, and didnt t...

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Heart rate

I've had my pacemaker for two years now and have generally felt really good.  Last week I saw my cardiologist and he interrogated the pacemaker and said everything was fine.

I mentioned to him that I was going to Machu Picchu around October or November.  And we talked for a whilel and he said he wanted to tweak my settings just a tiny bit.  He said I wouldn't even notice the difference.  So he had the Medtronic lady come in and change the settings a...

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High Blood Pressure? read about PM Programmable Hypertension Control (PHC) therapy

Hello all!

My first day in the Club. Looking for information about Blood Pressure controlled by PM, found this study, from Dec 2017.

http://jaha.ahajournals.org/content/6/12/e006974

Many patients requiring a pacemaker have persistent hypertension with systolic blood pressures above recommended levels. We evaluated a pacemaker‐based Programmable Hypertension Control (PHC) therapy a sequence of variably timed shorter and longer atrioventricular intervals.

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12 month pacemaker check

This week I had my first 12 month pacemaker check. Everything was fine according to the assistent and she informed me that the pacemaker activity in my upper chamber was 22 percent and nil percent in my lower chamber.

Is that good?

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First Scheduled Check-up.

My big day was today. Eight weeks scheduled pacemaker clinic appointment. It was great to hear my unit is working as it should. It's doing 92.5% and should go another nine and a half years before renewal, along time to wait for my paper weight!  My next routine appointment will be in six months time.

I had been to clinic weeks ago as something was not right. At that time it was reset from 60bpm only to 60 to 130bpm range.  That was fine but I always felt a little unco...

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Rate Response Turned Off Today

My EP had Rate Response turned off today.  Pacer implanted Nov of 2017.  Right side implant due to mastectomy.  Initially my heart rate spiked whenever I used my right arm.  I could do weights with left arm and no increase.  Right side would spike.  EP tweaked it and it improved some.  Could use arm, but repetitive motion caused it to spike.

Today he suggested turning the rate Response off, so we did.  I’m set at 70 bpm and it showed 68% atr...

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Home monitor and cell phones

Hey, folks. I have a Medtronic home monitor for my nice new PM. Very handy; it downloads nightly. The manual says not to use it within 6 feet of a cell phone. The tech said she'd never heard of that, but hello? there it is in the instructions. My monitor is on the night table right next to my bed; the next closest place is on the edge of the 10 feet of distance they don't want you to exceed. Too many words here: bottom line is my cell phone is my only phone, and I&...

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My ICD/pacer is not a burden. I still play tennis and golf.