Most Recent Messages in Checkups & Settings

Post Message!

A lag during interrogation

Every time I go to my cardiologist he interrogates my PM. Always during this process for a couple of seconds I feel AWFUL like I'm going to pass clean out. He is a FANTASTIC doc but all business so his attitude is generally---you'll survive for a couple of seconds; buck up.

I went last month and this happened and it lasted longer and I REALLY thought I'm either passing out of dying...not sure which. It seemed to last for a very long time but in reality it was probably just a...

Read More...

Recent recipient

Posting for my 84yo Mum. She has AF, recently not under control. Higher dosages of Xarelto needed to control AF causes her HR to drop to 40, so required PM to allow proper drug treatment of AF. 

Resting HR has been set to 70. She is 2 weeks post implant and complains of heaviness in chest and throat, strong pulsing in head/chest/ torso, and tingling all the way down her left arm. 

Please enlighten me on the various settings that can be adjusted and their purpose? How muc...

Read More...

Battery

Hi to all... I haven't been in here to post for awhile  But I come in and read lots   So 2009 I got my Pacemaker "installed"  that would be 8 years ago ...I was 100% pacing at the time ..... and had a very low pulse becuz of my electrical problem...I transmit every 3 months and have a yearly check in Oct.... anyways,  I am now pacing just 4% of the time.....and doing good the battery and the leads are good...and I don't...

Read More...

Ventricular pacing change

Have had my pacemaker since 1995.  For many years, when my Dr would check it, he'd remark how I hardly ever use it.  Latest battery, for example, has now lasted 13 yrs, and they are telling me 2-3 years until replacement.

In today's check, the tech told me that I am pacing 100% in the ventricles.   What the heck is that all about?   What would cause the change from hardly using it, to 100% use?

Thanks

Read More...

Future diagnosis

Morning everyone, I'm 7 weeks post dual lead pacemaker for complete heart block aged 50. I saw the Cardiologist recently and he explained that he is unsure what caused my heart block and that 50 is young for this to happen. He is arranging an MRI (my pacemaker is seemingly MRI compatible) and another echocardiogram as he thinks there may be an underlying problem which caused the heart block. When I was in CCU they said the pacemaker would "fix" me, it has given me my life b...

Read More...

Doctor Appointment

I went to appointment yesterday to have pacemaker checked. He made adjustments and said I will have more energy. Hope this is true. I haven't wrote anything here lately but I check here almost every day to read what's happening. So glad this group is here. Hugs

Read More...

Post PM implant

I am from the uk and found this site several months ago and I have to say has helped me a great deal with information. I have a two lead PM implanted in June 2017 after 2 ablations to stop SVT. I have second degree heart block but since my implant I have been very short of breath and the extreme fatigue pm means I cant even hold up a book! Whilst I am very greatful for our NHS to carry out the implant, my life quality since has dramatcally reduced. Whilst I do not wish to...

Read More...

Pacing because of vagus nerve

I have had a single lead pacer for four years because of partial heart block due to an ablation. I have dealt with my device pacing me while i lay on my left side when my heart does not need to be paced. The nurse who changes my settings is aware of this and has changed all settings that she and the lead medtronic device representative can think of to improve this but it still continues. the theory is the Pacer is miss reading singles from my vagus nerve. I have learned to deal with...

Read More...

Annual Pacemaker Check

I just joined the Club as a member, although I have avidly read postings since my pacemaker was implanted.  Now I have a question.  My annual checkup is next month.  I have a remote Merlin device that monitors my PM, and have had 3-month interrogations.  I assumed my annual check would be with my doctor who did the procedure.  It turns out it will be with a technician, and that is my concern.  Is the process so routine that a technician can do a competent evaluat...

Read More...

Symptoms with check in

I have a Cardio Messenger Smart 30 by Biotronik, which downloads my pacemaker information every night. Usually I sleep through it, but if I am awake, I get weird symptoms - rapid breathing, palpitations, etc. For a few minutes, then done. Anyone else have this fiendish device and having symptoms?

Read More...

Good News

Had my 1st official Device Check  today (they had done one at incision check 2 weeks ago). 2 weeks ago,  it showed I was being paced 23% of the time.  Today's interrogation showed less than 1% paced! Nurse said my heart block may be very erratic,  so she wasn't surprised.  I am thrilled  to hear this and feel very relieved!  

I also learned why they hadn't  programmed my pm for Rate Response ... She said Atria controls that function (i...

Read More...

How to accommodate for different units of time between interrogations

I have been keeping a spreadsheet of my event counters since I got my Medronic Adapta implanted in 2009.  This data has been instrumental, along with some advice I got on this forum, in my case that I presented to the EPs that they had set the pacemaker wrong and it was actually harming my heart. I am now about 2 years on from when I had it reset to the settings I told them to use and thankfully my heart seems to have reverse remodeled and my % of ventricular pacing as well as my events...

Read More...

DDDR mode to VVIR mode- what it means

Hi,

Recently my pacemaker was reset from DDDR mode to VVIR mode. What practically it means?

Read More...

St. Jude Merlin @Home Broadband Kit.....

Hi Everyone.....I have received my Merlin Transmitter.....I need the Broadband Kit which I just realized...duh....  I have read from old postings that the "kit" cost upwards of $450.00...probably more now.....I have to call Tech Support and find out and have kit sent out...but does insurance cover this?   I know....contact your insurance.    Just wondering what others have done.  Thanks.

Read More...

Rate Drop Adjustments

It's been three months since I got my pacer and I was finally getting used to it. Then, on Thursday, I hade the same pre-syncopal symptoms I had before (light headed, dizzy, off balanced, hot). Thankfully, due to Skip (I call my pacer Skip), I didn't pass out. When I contacted my EP, he was concerned and said I should be paced before I even have symptoms.

A quick trip to the device clinic showed that my heart rate went from 120 bpm to 50 bpm in about 5 seconds and probably...

Read More...

Doctors don't listen Any Help?

Hi Everyone, I am new to this forum and maybe someone can give some advice. I was fitted for a dual chamber pacemaker in August of 2016 for 3rd degree heart block. Prior to this I had no events.

 I left the hospital feeling sick. I was told it was nicotine withdrawal which did make sense. 5 days later returned to the emerg with lightheadedness and an over all feeling of being unwell. I had a cigarette by then so it was not nicotine withdrawal.

 

They con...

Read More...

PM220 does not detect AFIB

Recently I spent 24 hrs in the ER. One of the things they detected was afib.  Several weeks later I had a Pacemaker (PM2210) checkup and the technician said there was no record of me ever having an afib episode. He said afib episodes are never erased. Both the technician and the cardiologist reviewed the results of the Pacemaker checkup and both agreed that there was no evidence of an afib episode. The cardiologist said he did not believe the results of the test. I am having another Pace...

Read More...

Heart had 6 sec pauses going in for adjustment

 I have an appointment with the pacemaker clinic tomorrow at 10 AM as I've been calling them off the hook. Yesterday while in clinic they caught my heart stopping for six second.  My pacemaker when It goes off it causes extreme pain and makes my BP go 115/100.  The lady at the pacemaker clinic told me my settings are for 60 and that there's no way that my heart is stopping but I told her the cardiologist has the paper in his pocket that proves my heart is stop...

Read More...

Pacemaker

any body know about a cardverstion I my need one after pm fitted any help please thanks

Read More...

Post Replacement

Did the first post PM with the cardiologist. He said, he liked the way it was going and will not make any changes versus settings from the previous PM, until November. Sounds logical, but still hoped he would entertain the thought of raising the resting and elevated beats per minute. 

--------------------------------------------------

I am ten days post replacement and have appointment tomorrow, August 16th. The Cardiologist said "we didn't change a thing from your o...

Read More...

You know you're wired when...

You make store alarms beep.

Member Quotes

My muscles are very sore but each day it gets better and my range of movement is improving.