Any pacemaker reps out there?

Getting a pacemaker at the age of 36...WOW! For me, it’s been difficult to deal with. That being said, I am happy to have found this site.

I had a dual chamber Medtronic pacer placed on 12-2 for Sick Sinus Syndrome. My rate settings are 60-130. I was recently in the ER having fallen and broke my finger. When they put me on the monitor, I noticed that my heart rate would brady down in the low 50’s, I would have a 1-2 second pause, followed by coupled PVC’s, followed by a a shorter pause and then I started pacing. I have to say that I have not seen this before. During these quick episodes, I feel horribly weak. I still am having them. Does anyone have any suggestions?

3 Comments

Get thee to your Cardio!

by donr - 2011-12-30 07:12:46

ASAP!!!!!

If what you saw is correct, something is amiss w/ your PM. It should kick in immediately when it senses it has been too long since the last pulse. Your PM sits there & monitors the time that passes since the last heart beat. As soon as it senses that your AS Node has not put out its signal, your PM should do so.

Also - there should be a recording of that pattern somewhere in the hosp archives. Your cardio would be pleased to see it. It would back up what you report.

Don

Pacemaker & Problems

by SMITTY - 2011-12-30 10:12:42


Hello Heather,

I'll agree with Donr, the place for an answer for your problem is your Dr. In the meantime I'll try to take some of the mystery out of why your PM appears to not be doing its job.

Sometimes our heart will have beats that are not strong enough to do the job we need or they may not be strong enough for us to feel if we are counting our pulse. These can even feel like skip beats or PVCs. When this happens the heart beat while not strong enough to pump blood, it will be strong enough for the PM to detect and do as Don described. When this happens the PM will not send an impulse and we end up with an irregular heart beat which can cause us to feel weak because it amounts to heart not beating.

I went through this for a long period of time a couple of years ago and when it seemed as if my Drs were unable to solve the problem I requested and got an increase in the low set point on my PM. For me that meant going from 70 to 80 for the low setting. Worked like a charm. After I got these good results the Dr explained what and why I got the results I was hoping for. My PM was waiting for my heart to
not send a impulse but it was seeing these weak impulses mentioned above. With the lower set point the PM was not waiting as long before it sent an impulse and in effect was heading off the weak impulses from the heart's natural PM before they happened.

I had this change made in '09 and a couple of months later the battery on that 9 year old PM gave out and when the replacement PM was implanted I got the same settings for it. Frankly, I do not think I would be here today if I had continued with the old settings.

I tell you all this not to recommend such settings changes for you but to just to say help is possible when we have PM that is not living up to expectations.

Good luck,

Smitty

call your md

by electro - 2012-01-01 06:01:24

you might have had the MVP (aai-ddd) mode on. It's turned on in folks that have intact conduction. It's function is to minimize v pacing. If you are having a signal start in the top part of your heart but doesn't make it all the way down, the v lead will let that signal block once before v pacing with the next signal. Don't hesitate to ask questions about what you see on the monitor because someone may have had that same question and already gotten an answer. Call your Dr office and let them know about your weak episodes.

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I am just now 40 but have had these blackouts all my life. I am thrilled with the pacer and would do it all over again.