Heart Rate Changes

About 2 weeks with my bundle-of- joy and everything seems to be going well. Went to see Dr. EvilLaugh for my well-baby check. The wire (stitch) is out, steri-strips coming off, I'm of the opinion that things are progressing nicely. I do have concerns about my heart rate. Arrhythmia doesn't seem to be the problem. I'll go from a steady 72 bpm up to a steady 90 bpm and then back to the 60s. BP is great, nothing else seems to be going on. Is this normal? Is the PM just arguing with my sinus rhythm trying to figure out who's boss? I was used to my heart rate doing this 49 years ago when the Mean-Old-Woman and I were much younger. I'm not sure I need this much excitement these days. Is this fluctuation something I should be concerned about ?

God bless, hug someone, I'm just.......
FallinApart

6 Comments

It would help

by KAG - 2013-08-10 01:08:13

to know what you have your PM for and do you know some of the basic settings? Like Mode, Upper and Lower rates. Does it have Rate Response (RR) On? Also what are you doing (exertion?) when your HR raises to 90?

When I first got my PM for total AV block if I'd exert myself my HR would rise, hit a wall and drop like a rock to the lower rate setting. They raised my Upper rate and that seemed to do the trick. The PM senses the sinus node pulse and waits for the AV pulse for a period of time and if it doesn't see it then it fires the ventrical. (all these are adjustable settings in the PM) That keeps it from conflicting with the sinus. My RR is Off.

Could be you need a PM setting adjusted.

Kathy

I Dunno

by FallinApart - 2013-08-10 01:08:48

Got a partial printout from the hospital before I ran away. Gave that to Dr. EvilLaugh when I saw him. The only setting I remember is lower limit is 60. Don't know the other settings. Heart rate jumps after mild exertion, climbing stairs, etc. Go back on September 3 to see Medtronic Man. I assume I need to tell him about this, right? Will he give me a copy of the printout if I say pretty-please? Thanks for your insight.

God bless, hug someone, I'm just........
FallinApart

Well, DARN!

by donr - 2013-08-10 02:08:23

You were holding out on us! I guessed pretty well, didn't I?????

A partial printout when leaving the hosp means nothing. Not enough data to really make a decision on.

What were you doing in the hosp? Nothing but lying about sucking down the good food left over from the Korean War! You never really did anything to get you a normal HR Histogram for you. And - how long were you in there? A couple days at the most. Just stick that one in your pocket for safe keeping.

Don't get excited about HR going up after mild exertion - & BTW, climbing stairs is NOT really MILD exertion. I'll give you the data my Cardio gave me after getting out of the Hosp in May after a 12 day stay for being eviscerated. At MY age (77) I can expect to spend 4 days for every one day that I was essentially immobilized recovering to normal. Now, you were probably in sad shape pre-op, so that time also counts as "Immobilized." Then you lazed about keeping the Lazy Boy from running away for a while after the implant for a week or so. Expect it to be a while before you don't pant after climbing the stairs. Be a bit patient before birthing that Texas Long Horn Steer over your HR.

Don

With what you told me...

by donr - 2013-08-10 02:08:34

...I'd say that you are obsessing about your HR! You have to tell us what the missing data is that Kathy asked about. THEN we can make intelligent guesses instead of UNintelligent ones!

To illustrate why I said this, I'm going to assume that you have a lower (Base) rate set in your PM of 60. Why? Because that is a common number for a base rate.

Given that, you will ONLY get near that when zonked out running your lung-powered chainsaw on the couch w/ the surf-board clutched in your hand & the TV blaring out Judge Judy or American Idol.

As soon as you shut off the chainsaw & clear your eyes, your HR will increase. When you've had your new little buddy long enough to get a printout of its download, you'll flip a couple pages into it & look at your HR Histogram that tells you the % of the time that your HR resides at which rate. You will be surprised to see that you spend a fair amount of time at rates of 90 & above. Any physical activity will cause you to be operating above that magic base rate.

No argument at all. The PM is boss. Your heart's Sinus Node doesn't function on time according to the parameters stored in the memory, the PM issues a command for the heart to do it.

The key is how well you feel. As long as you feel OK & there are no arrhythmias, you are in fine shape. You will get a chance to see that when you have your first download.

Don

Dunno

by Zia - 2013-08-10 02:08:37

Kathy and DonR are both right about your HR. I just wanted to add that the Medtronic man should give you a copy of your printout. If you're in the USA, the HIPAA law requires any holder of YOUR health information to provide you with a copy of it. One of the few good things our gov has done in the past few years.

Heart Rate

by Grateful Heart - 2013-08-10 04:08:08

Your HR will go up upon exertion. It sounds like the PM is doing it's job. You are probably not used to your heart working this well in awhile, so it feels different.

My HR jumps when I climb the stairs too....it's supposed to. Go by how you are feeling.

Do get a copy of your printout as the others have said.

I enjoy your sense of humor!

Grateful Heart

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