Running

I read a few messages from other runners here. I've had my pacemaker for just over a year. I survived a complete heart block on 4/28/2012. This is my first year training again and I'm not running well. I am set at 40 since my at rest is noramlly pretty low like most runners. I am beginning to feel discouraged about getting back to where I was. I was able to run 30 miles per week at peek training season. 18-20 mid season. Seems like I'll never get there. My endurance barely there and my breathing is awful. If I don't get the breathing under control..nothing will gel. Anyway, good to read the positive stuff from other runners.

2 Comments

running with a pm

by Tracey_E - 2013-06-17 12:06:27

Your lower rate is most likely irrelevant with the pm, that's a setting for atrial pacing. With a block, our sinus node (nature's pacemaker) works normally but the signal doesn't get through to the ventricles so we mostly pace ventricle. All the pm is doing is completing the broken circuit, making sure the ventricles beat when the atria does.

Two things I suspect are at play here. One, you haven't run in a year so it's not going to come back overnight. The breathing is going to take time. I really struggle with it also, have to force myself to breath slowly when I want to pant.

Two, how high does your rate get? Lower limit doesn't mean much with block, but upper limit is crucial and the limit they send us home with is generally for the average pm patient- older and sedentary- not someone active. The pm will only pace as high as the upper limit, so if your atrial rate gets up to 160 but your upper limit is 130 (a common place to start), then it will only pace you up to 130. So, not only is your rate not as high as it needs to be, but your heart is out of sync. It's an easy fix, they just have to raise the upper limit.

It is common to need the settings tweaked if you are active! Tell your dr you are having trouble running and get them to check it. If adjusting doesn't help, I've had really good luck running on the treadmill in the office so they can watch what the pm does as I exert. In my case, we found I had a secondary atrial problem that was masked by the bigger problem (block). My atrial rate plummets occasionally, when I was in block all the time we never noticed. Once they saw what was going on, it was an easy fix, now the pm kicks in with atrial pacing to keep my rate level if needed.

Hope that helps!! Don't give up. We have many members who regularly run 5k's, marathons, triathlons, etc. They didn't all get back overnight and sometimes it took some time to get the settings right, but they got there and you will too.

Tracey E....................

by Tattoo Man - 2013-06-18 02:06:33


................very wise woman !! I think that part of the problem is we run with our heads,..well apart from our hearts, lungs and legs.

It takes a little time, but for me I had to stop feeling that the PM turned me into a 'case'.

Electric Frank reminded me a while back that needing an emergency PM sure as heck evidence that my heart was not what it once was. I was in a 5k race on Saturday, finished well down but reminded myself that out of 130-odd runners, only 4 were in my 60-64 age category...now That is a Result !!...I was running with kids young enough to be ,not only my kids, but my grandkids.

Start easy , keep a log,..you will get there..just maybe a different somewhere.

Tattoo Man

You know you're wired when...

You can take a lickin’ and keep on tickin’.

Member Quotes

It is just over 10 years since a dual lead device was implanted for complete heart block. It has worked perfectly and I have traveled well near two million miles internationally since then.