Min heart rate setting

With my first pacemaker, 1997 Medtronic I had a resting pulse of 80 and no problems for 9 years until I needed a new battery in 2006. Got a St Jude and now my resting pulse is around 62. Here's my problem, I frequently have episodes of what I call pulse pauses, pauses happen 4 to 6 times a minute, where the next pulse is a bit late, but immediately returns to normal again for awhile until the next pause. This is very annoying and quite uncomfortable and goes on for many hours. Seems to me if my resting pulse was at 80 as it was with my previous pacemaker, I might not feel or even be aware of the pulse pauses. Does this make sense? Any downside to having minimum pulse set at 80?

3 Comments

settings

by Tracey_E - 2009-04-29 07:04:16

80 is a bit high but if you feel good with it set there, it doesn't really matter how everyone else is set. I'd call and ask to be checked. See if they can catch what is happening and discuss turning it up.

Have you had it interrogated?

by SaraTB - 2009-04-29 08:04:10

I ask because I was experiencing exactly the same feeling, after my second pacemaker was implanted in March. Initially it was giving extra beats, and after the adjustment in the settings to eliminate those, it started skipping beats. None of these issues were with me - all were pacemaker induced, and were simply resolved with re-programming. As I anticipated, it took several visits to get it right, but this sounds like something you should be raising with your EP doctor.

Thank you for your comments

by Tennisnut - 2009-05-02 11:05:12

My doctor makes me feel like I'm pestering him for nothing important about which he seems not able to fix. I need to be more persistent to get this fixed and your comments help. Thanks so much.

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I've seen many posts about people being concerned about exercise after having a device so thought I would let you know that yesterday I raced my first marathon since having my pacemaker fitted in fall 2004.