Home from surgery

I made it back home from surgery yesterday after they took out my single chamber pacemaker and put in a double. Yesterday I felt horrible with nausea and dizziness but today I am a little better. I can acutally sit up today. What I noticed in the hosptial was if I was laying still I was pacing at 58-60 but if I got up or did the smallest thing my rhythm quickly jumped to juntional at around 90 then would slow down when I quit moving. I was hoping that when they added the second lead it would improve things but that was not the case. I also did not think I would have this much pain since it was just a pacemaker change with an extra lead but this one does look bigger. I am scheduled for an av node ablation jan 16th so I hope everything will be ok til then!

2 Comments

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by golden_snitch - 2012-12-07 10:12:56

Hi Daisy,

glad to hear your surgery went well.

Why did you expect that a second lead would help with the junctional rhythm? That is what the AV-node ablation will most likely do, but without this ablation, a ventricular lead alone will not be able to deal with the junctional rhythm. As long as this rhythm is faster than the pacemaker, it will take over, no matter how many leads you've got.

However, if your heart rate jumps to 90 whenever you move that might very well just be due to the new pacer's rate response. Medtronic pacers usually have a so-called "activity in daily life" rate programmed, and this is typically, if not changed, 90bpm or 95bpm. Plus the sensor the Medtronic pacers use, the accelerometer, responds very quickly to any kind of exercise when you start moving. So, maybe what you are feeling is not the junctional rhythm, but a faster rate response.

Best wishes for your recovery!
Inga

rate

by daisy0388 - 2012-12-07 12:12:04

I didn't think it would help my rhythm but was kinda hoping for a miricle. The reason I know my heart rhythm was in junctional cause in my room they had me on the monitor when my rate would increase I would look and I had no p waves and it was in junctional rhythm. I wasn't just assuming that just cause it was fast it was junctional although that seems to be my case, when my rhythm is being paced its normal and I have no palpatations, then when the juntional overrides the pacemaker I have horrilbe palpatations and this has been confirmed on an ecg. If I do have a faster rate response that might be why I am having more palpatations when I'm up and moving so right now I just have to wait it out til my ablation.

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