Unusual Pacemaker firings

Hello everyone!

My name is Anthony and I am new to this forum so allow me to give a brief history... In May of 2011, I was diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure (CHF). I had an Ejection Fraction of approximately 12%, so as you can see, I was a sick man! The CHF was caused by years of uncontrolled high blood pressure. I of course went on a cocktail of diuretics, ace inhibitor, and a beta blocker. I was at that time implanted with a Medtronic single LV lead pacemaker. I watched my diet and took my meds religiously and the following year, I had an ejection fraction of 50%! huge improvement and a great relief! Moving forward, I just recently had two different cardiologists look at my heart and they have shown that my heart has also shrunk back to its normal size and my ekg's were perfect. Here is my concern, my primary cardiologist had given his blessings for me to increase my cardio training. I don't run, but I do a 3 mph walk with a 2.5-3.0 incline on the treadmill. Since I am on a beta blocker, I do half expect the pm to fire once or twice during the workout since the bb keeps the heart from speeding up quickly or too much. I feel completely fine before, during and after my workouts and no symptoms of CHF, in fact, I have had no symptoms of CHF in the past 22 months. But now that I am working out, I feel my pacemaker fire up 4 or 5 times during a two hour period when I am completely relaxed. I find this a little unusual, especially since I feel completely fine when it fires. I am wondering if I should scale back my workouts a touch or if its possible that my PM is sensing a lower resting heart rate since I am working out harder now. I am waiting to hear back from my Cardio's staff about this inquiry and wanted to post on here to see what you all thought as well. sorry for the rambling, but I think it helps to have the backgroundl.

Regards
Anthony

6 Comments

Firing?

by golden_snitch - 2013-03-09 04:03:53

Hi Anthony!

Well, a single-lead LV pacemaker is rather uncommon, but to treat CHF it should do the job. There is at least one study I have read about cardiac resynchronization therapy which showed that the the EF improved with bi-ventricular pacing as well as with left ventricular pacing only; right ventricular pacing alone does not help in CHF, on the contrary. What do you mean by "firing"? I would expect your pacemaker to pace your left ventricle 100% of the time, and that this has led to the great improvement of your EF. Or do you have an ICD, not a pacemaker, and are talking about "shocks" that you receive?

Maybe you can explain this a little better, so that I or any other member can try to give you a helpful answer.

Best
Inga

Firing

by anthonyokc - 2013-03-09 05:03:41

Thank you for your response! I may be wrong, but I think its a "cardioversion" type of pacing, which activates when there is a difference in rhythm.... its not an ICD. When my left ventricle was severely weak and enlarged, thats when my cardio decided to implant me with it. My main concern, is that I can feel its "pacing" or "firing" (tiny shocks) during a time period that is usually no more than 2-3 hours and usually mid day when I can usually be sitting at a desk and completely relaxed. I hope this helps, I am a little ignorant when it comes do describing medical conditions and terminology. LOL

Still don't understand

by golden_snitch - 2013-03-10 04:03:17

Hi!

Do you mean anti-tachycardia pacing? That's what an ICD usually does before it delivers a shock. With some stronger impulses it tries to pace you out of a potentially dangerous rhythm. A pacemaker, however, cannot do that. A pacemaker can only take care that your heart rate doesn't drop too low, and that it increases when you're exercising. With a severely weakened left ventricle, it's pretty common to implant an ICD (that also works as a pacemaker).

I have no idea what these tiny shocks could be. I'd say it's probably the device's self-test, but that doesn't take 2-3 hours, but only a minute or even less.

Can you take a look at your pacemaker card, and tell me what type it is (manufacturer, model, mode)? That could be helpful.

Inga

Firing?

by zimcocomp - 2013-03-15 07:03:39

How many people actually feel their PM doing anything? I've not noticed anything except the surface area where it is implanted. It itches sometimes. it has been interrogated twice now and the last time there was evidence of some flutter.

model

by anthonyokc - 2013-03-23 11:03:11

Sorry so long to respond...its a medtronic Sensia Sr...model # se sr 01 4092-58

model

by anthonyokc - 2013-03-23 11:03:51

Sorry so long to respond...its a medtronic Sensia Sr...model # se sr 01 4092-58

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