100% paced

I went back to my dr today for a recheck after he put me on the verapamil. Not only did I not tolerate it but it didn't seem to slow my juntional rhythm down any. When I was on the med it lowered my blood pressure so much it made me very dizzy and nauseated. We have been talking back and forth about doing an av node ablation. He is unsure of doing this cause he's not sure I will be able to handle the feeling of being 100% paced so he is having me do a little trial..he upped my lower rate to 80 and my uppper is at 130. He also changed the timing between the 2 chambers to something like 10 milisecond so right now its like he is pacing me 100%. At first I did feel a little different but now its like he never changed anything. I have still had some episodes of the juntional rhythm which he was hoping maybe that would disappear . My question is..should I still be having the juntional? At least I seem to be handling the change is setting good!

2 Comments

Of course

by golden_snitch - 2013-01-22 03:01:15

If the junctional rhythm runs at a rate higher than 80bpm, then you can of course have more episodes of it. Anything that's faster than the pacemaker inhibits its function.

When you first posted in November you had had the issues with junctional rhythm for two weeks, you wrote. So, to go through ALL drugs and end up with AV-node ablation would take you, if your EP agrees to do the ablation now, about four months. That is very, very fast! I can understand that your EP hesitates. Normally this is something that's done after years and years of trials with different drugs. You still haven't answered my question about Flecainide and Propafenone. Again, both have - alone or in combination with betablockers - bought me quite some time, and I'm usually someone who's very sensitive to adverse effects, especially blood pressure drops. But those drugs worked well. Amiodarone was great, too. This is definitely no long-term solution, but a drug to buy you some time.

Inga

Junctional Rhythm

by Pookie - 2013-01-24 06:01:57

I was diagnosed with that a few yrs ago after having my pacermaker "installed" in 2004.

I was almost headed to having an ablation to correct the Junctional Rhythm when the PM Tech and my new EP had just got back from a refresher course put on by Medtronics in Minnesota - long story short: they said they had been told that in a very small group of patients that SOMETIMES if the Optimization feature is turned OFF it will help elimate the Junctional Rhythm....well, in my case it did and I might feel it once every 3-4 months now.

My pacemaker is a Medtronic Enpulse (dual lead) and I only pace is the upper chamber.

Perhaps this is something you can discuss and maybe get them to change that setting before going ahead with an ablation - just to see if it helps you as it did me.

And I am not on and heart meds, nor have I ever been.

We are all different, but sometimes when we share information - it may make a difference - I'm just hoping that a simple setting adjustment can help you avoid an ablation.

Optimization is part & parcel of the Rate Response feature.

Take care,
Pookie

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