PACEMAKER READINGS?

Could someone explain what I was told at my one-week interrogation with the PM representative?

He said the lead to the bottom chamber of the heart was at 100% and the upper chamber of the 36%. The heart rate had been between 60-80.

Then he reset the PM to 60-140 range. Next checkup with him is in 3 months.

Am I figuring this correctly? Does this mean the 100% on the lower chamber means it didn't have to work at all?

Does the 36% on the upper chamber mean it was working around 8-hours a day?

Thanks.

2 Comments

numbers

by Tracey_E - 2010-02-25 07:02:04

He said it a little vaguely, but it sounds like your are pacing 100% and 36% of the time, so you are pacing all the time in the ventricles and about 8 hrs a day in the atria. I don't know what he means by resetting the rate. If you're going between 60 and 80, then your lower limit was already at 60 so I don't know what he would have changed.

If you ask for a copy of the interrogation report, we can explain it better for you. The report will say what percentage of the time you're pacing (pm pacing) and what percentage you are sensing (pm watching) so it would be more clear if you are pacing or sensing at 100%. It will also show your upper and lower limits, though it sounds like they are now at 60 and 140. Lower limit means the pm will not let your heart go lower than that number. Upper limit is as high as the pm will pace you, your heart may go higher on its own.

TraceyE

by Madelen - 2010-02-28 01:02:57

My best understanding from what the PM rep said and how I rephrased it back to him was this:

"It's good that the lower chamber is at 100%. Does this means it didn't have to fire?" The answer was yes.

"If the upper chamber was at 36% of the time, does that mean it was firing around 8 hours out of 24 hours?" The answer was yes.

I had heart rates below 40 due to the sinus pauses. He set it so my heart would not go below 60 beats per minutes, not giving it a chance to go back into a sinus pause.

Then because the doctor felt I was too young to restrict my activity level, he raised the top heart-rate from 120 to 140 with a range of 155 if needed during exercising.

The PM rep also explained this would not keep me out of A-Fib, but it would keep my heart going above 140 beats per minute, even in a-Fib. So it controls how high the heart rate can go if you are in A-Fib, but it cannot control how often you have A-Fib or how long you might be in A-Fib.

I'm taking Cardizem to keep the A-Fib under control. No one has been able to tell me how well this med works controlling A-Fib, so it's a wait and see type of thing.

I had asked my cardiologist if the PM rep could interrogate the PM when I was there last Monday. He said that wouldn't be necessary. It would seem you could have approved interrogations of the PM when you needed, but I guess you can only have these if the doctor orders them.

Thanks again...Madelen

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In fact after the final "tweaks" of my pacemaker programming at the one year check up it is working so well that I forget I have it.