Reduced voltage to leads

I had my first PM check (5 weeks after implant) the tech said she as reduced the power to the leads by a small amount. I'm worried it will effect me as i've been feeling so good since the implant. As anybody had this done and what was the effect. Thank you for any help. Graham

5 Comments

No effect

by wenditt - 2010-10-23 05:10:06

Hi,
The same thing happened to me and I was told it was standard procedure after your implant. They keep you at a certain setting for a bit, then take measurements to see how much time and how well your own heart can receive the impulse. Based on that information they usually lower it.

The goal is for your heart to be beating as much as it can on it's own. Doing as much work as it can on it's own. So they minimize how much the PM sends a signal but only to the point where your heart can still receive the signal well enough.

I'm sure more experienced members will help me explain, but you should be OK and most likely will not notice a difference.

Good luck

normal

by Tracey_E - 2010-10-23 05:10:20

As Wendy said, it's perfectly normal. They always start them up high until the leads get grown into place and your heart gets used to pacing, then they cut it back to conserve battery power. You shouldn't feel a difference.

voltage

by butfreddy - 2010-10-23 08:10:52

My ep is always changing my pm Forwhat ever reason he upped the voltage and now I have pac and pvc feelings I am not happy Guess I will have to go back and be reset when something is working well why do they have to mess with it

completely normal

by Pookie - 2010-10-23 10:10:18

Tracey and Wenditt were right on the money.

butfreddy -- just ask if you can have your old settings back because you felt better that way. You're the one who has to live with the feelings. I have been feeling really good since my last check up which was in April, then I went in on this past Thursday and I told them NOT to change anything....and they didn't.

Pookie

Heres's the scoop

by ElectricFrank - 2010-10-24 01:10:45

The voltage they are talking about affects the amount of energy that the pacer applies to your heart to produce a beat. There is a threshold level where a beat is just produced. Anything less will not pace the chamber. Anything more has no effect (sort of).

During an office check the computer tells the pacer to reduce the voltage in small steps for each beat until you skip a beat. It then increases the voltage until pacing resumes. This is the threshold. Since this threshold can change slightly over time they calculate a safety factor (generally 1.5-2.0 times the threshold) and set the pacer to this value.

This voltage gives reliable pacing and also best battery life. Setting the voltage higher than this will shorten battery life, and may actually irritate the heart wall increasing the likelyhood of PVC's. It can also cause twitching muscles.

frank

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It may be the first time we've felt a normal heart rhythm in a long time, so of course it seems too fast and too strong.