pacemaker question

does anyone know if a pacemaker is supposed to go off every beat of my heart???I just got one a week ago and I thought it would nly help if rate went too low???

6 Comments

maybe

by Tracey_E - 2009-09-07 06:09:51

Some pace only a small percentage of the time, some of us pace every beat. It depends why you needed it and what your heart is doing. The pm will watch your heart all the time. If you have an atrial problem you'll mostly pace atrial. If it's set for 60 bpm, that's one beat per second, so if your heart goes a second and doesn't beat, it'll go off and cause an atrial beat and your ventricle will follow on its own. If you have an av block, your atria beats normally but the signal doesn't get through to the ventricle so the pm will just watch for when the atria beats. If the ventricle doesn't also beat, the pm will generate the beat. Think of the pm as a watchdog that picks up the slack.

???

by pete - 2009-09-08 02:09:12

Adding to TraceyEs comments , you can have an AV node ablation which blocks all ventricle pacing signals making you 100% dependent and the pacemaker will be running and "go off every beat" as you put it. I have atrial fibrillation so my atriums are not in synchrony with my pacemaker induced beats. Not an uncommon situation. Cheers Peter

hi there

by Hot Heart - 2009-09-11 03:09:34

I've got total heart block so I pace 100% of the time, but am still not totally sure how it works. Apparently my heart used to beat at about 38-40 bpm, but now I'm set at 60, so I think it means that the pm also kicks in if my heart rate goes too low.

HH

Thanks

by helen938 - 2009-09-12 10:09:49

I had a heart shock and after that since I did not come right back out 6 sec?? My heart rate was 37 sooooooooooooo they said I need pacemaker.
I have had it 2 weeks now.
My heart is out of rythm no blockage.
So i guess I will always be 100% pacing???

I go to have it checked next wed will let you know what they say??

Mine is set on 60 I have a feeling the shockdid something to heart??????

It was my second shock??

pacing

by Tracey_E - 2009-09-13 08:09:57

Hot Heart,
If you have an av block and your hr was 38, then your atria was probably going quite a bit faster but the signal wasn't getting through to the ventricle to keep up. The pm will not let your hr get under 60 (or whatever the min setting is) but in reality you will probably never need the lower limit.

The atria is the brains of the heart, it sets the pace based on oxygen levels in the blood. The ventricles are the brawn, they provide the strong contraction that circulates the blood, what we feel as our pulse. With an av block, our atria beat normally on their own. We don't need the pm to make sure the atria doesn't go too slowly (tho it is there as a backup in case it does, that's the lower limit) we just need the pm to complete the circuit and make sure the ventricle beats when the atria does.

Helen,
Do you have an icd or a pm? An icd can make a shock just like you'd get in the hospital if your heart stopped or went crazy fast. Think of it as a reboot. The rhythm gets crazy, the shock resets it to what is hopefully a normal rhythm again.

Sometimes after a shock the heart just goes slowly for a while. Or it could be you have a lazy sinus node and that's what caused you to need the shock in the first place. Did they give you a diagnosis? The pm will make sure it goes fast enough until it's beating normally on its own again.

No blockage means you will probably not pace ventricle very often. The pm is just there to keep the atrial rate up when it gets lazy. You can ask when you have your next check how much you are pacing. Some pace only 1 or 2% of the time, some pace all the time. There's no one number that's "normal". The pm will always give your heart a chance to beat on its own before it kicks in.

Thanks to all

by helen938 - 2009-09-19 06:09:59

My big problem was my heart was outof rythm heart shock twice, first one worked for a week.the upper part of my heart does not work too well the bottom does. At least that is what they told me. I had my pm checked last week she is going to adjust it slowly. It is pacing 100%.I dont see heart dr until oct 2nd hope to get answers then. I am feelig that the shock did some damage?????

I dont have any blockage. mostly out of sink!!!!! Thank you all for your coments I am still new at this I have a lot to learn. Only had it since August 28th

Thanks Helen

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