Most Recent Messages in Checkups & Settings

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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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Any cardiac electrophysiol place in Lexington, KY?

My Mom just had a one-week after procedure check-up today. I am going to take her to Lexington, KY with me for the next few months. I am wondering if there is any good place that she can do her 4-month check-up there. Any recommendation? Also any recommendation to a good cardiologist there?
Thanks in advance.
---Jas

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question about counters

My Mom had a DDDR type pacemaker installed (S602). The LRL is set to 50ppm as my Mom usually has slow heart rate
around 50ppm. The AsVs and ApVs of her pacer are around 50% while the AsVp and ApVp are only around 1%.

My question is whether she needs to set LRL to
a lower value such as 45ppm, so that she can use her own atrial most of the time? My concern here is that if she uses pacemaker too often, will her own atrial gets lazy?

BTW, what is the difference betwe...

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New to Site

Hello everyone,
This is my 1st posting...I am due for my 10 day pm check tomorrow and I am a little nervous. Do you ever get use to having this THING in your chest? I have constant "pulling" and it hasn't been very comfortable. My dr. told me he could put this in on a Friday and I could be back to work on Monday. Good thing I waited until school was over. I am a teacher and I could not have gone back that soon. Anyone else have problems with their pm hurting alot? How long did it take...

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1st pm adjustment

Hello,pm friends I had my guidant s603 dual chamber pacemaker put in on feb18th 2009,because of 2to1 block caused low hr 30sn40s.I had my first ep check on may26th 2009, the ep said he made some changes to let the battery last n lowered ra output; uped ra sensitivity to 0.7smv to to prevent fairfield over sensing in ra;changed av to 80/180. understood some, but a little lost. seems like before these changes i felt alot better,meaning seems like now i feel alot of extra beats lasting 30 secs or s...

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One year

Hi,

My first year has gone and I'm going for the first big check up. I make lots of outdoor sports and I don't have any problem as long as I keep my HR lower than 180. If I'm trying to go faster than 180 I miss beats. Then I need to stop for a while, otherwise my rate goes down to 100. I don’t know exactly the reason for that (?). Do you have any idea?

Although 180 is quite high, I would like to have no upper limit (my PM is a consequence of a complete AV block after an ab...

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far field r wave oversensing

during in-office PM check... I figure you guys will have heard of that. They tried adjusting things, but couln't make them go away. They finally set something to 500 I think. They made it sound like it's no big deal. So it's cool? It doesn't cause any noticeable symptoms.
Thanks in advance for the information.

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first pacer check

I went for my first pacer check today. My pacer was "installed" April 24, 2009. It was interesting. I didn’t like how I felt after the test. The tech admitted he did something to check on my heart rate, I was throwing PVC’s big time. Hadn’t felt that way since before my surgery. Is that common for each pacer check? The tech told me I was 97% dependent on my PM. I just thought it zapped my heart once a second to keep my heart rate up. Any information will be greatly ap...

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From 18 to 65%

I had a new pacemaker implanted 3 weeks ago.On the old pacer I was pacing 18% of the time.Now on the new pacer I'm pacing 65% of the time.Why would there be such a difference?
Also Since Friday I have been having times of real bad dizzy spells.Went in to the doctor this morning and rest lower limit from 60 to 70.Anyway just had another dizzy spell and do not understand what could be going on.When doctor checked the pm it did not show anything on history....but since old pacer was set at 70...

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RRRRRRRR! Oh yeah, and QOTW

Ok, so I went to the cardiologist on Friday, and this time, it was the NURSE who I wanted to slap. She treats me like I'm 5 years old! Sorry, I'm a little stressed this morning. Anyway, after about the millionth time I told her about those slow, heavy beats she finally said, "I think you are having skipped beats. Most people don't feel them, but you do." And to which I said, "You mean PVCs. Yeah, I know what they are." Then she just looked at me like I had cursed at her (which I wasn't too far f...

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A poll question regarding rates

Hi Everyone,

Would like to conduct a quick poll question please to find an average upper and lower limit rates for your PM-
What is your upper rate and lower rate?
Thanks!

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elevated heart rate & Toprolo XL

Hi Everyone,
Okay so here I go again only this time it's worse.
For the last week or two my heart rate has been elevated ranging between 103 & 125 with no exertion. I do have a few days where it is where it should be ( 70's & 80's) But what I can't figure out is that not only has it been elevated but it has been been accompanied I'm embarrassed to say by uncontrollable sweating. I don't even know if the two are related. It has been horrible.I have to shower 2 or 3 times a day.This h...

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Anything to worry about?

As you know I went for a check up a while back and my consultant said he want sto do a CT scan.
I got a copy of the letter that he sent to my GP and got a bit of a shock. He did an echo and in the letter he said:
"Repeat echocardiography showed good LV function. There was no significant right heart dilation. There was very mild tricuspid regurgitation and so I was unable to measure RV pressure. I could see flow in the vena cava from the supra-sternal view. This appeared mildly tur...

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You know you're wired when...

Your pacemaker receives radio frequencies.

Member Quotes

I wasn't really self-conscious about it. I didn't even know I had one until around six or seven years old. I just thought I had a rock in my side.