Tweaking worked!

My 4 week check up after tweaking my settings was today: no episodes were recorded ( there were 19 previously during the first 6 months.) and my ventricle is only 37 % paced ( down from 100 %)! my atrium increased to 8.4% from 3.7%. Best of all, I feel great with the new settings. All the NP did was add 150ms to how patient my PM is.
I asked about my top pacing set for 120- she said my HR never went over 105 and I am very physically active. She mentioned that she would not want my ventricle going faster than that.
Does anyone have any thoughts on that?
She did say that if I needed it increased in the future if I start doing something very exerting she would. I guess that's the upside of always having a low HR. Even now with my PM it's in the 50's. So it looks like I'm 50-120.
Inga, I did ask about the lead placement- I checked out the article about right ventricular apical placement and potential problems and wanted to know. It wasn't in the surgery report!
I am e-mailing my cardiologist so he can check the x-rays and tell me what the placement was. The article mentioned that this problem was apparent a while back and my implantation was just recently done, so hopefully the surgeon followed best practice procedures.
Sigh.
In the meantime, I will just continue to enjoy feeling good with BLIP patiently waiting for my ventricle to step up to the plate.
But I am still slightly frustrated about how much I still don't know.

4 Comments

Upper rate

by Selwyn - 2014-05-20 02:05:39

If it is not broken don't fix it !

I gather you are happy as you are.

Leave well alone unless you have problems. Your settings suit you- another person's may well not suit.




Your PM....

by KAG - 2014-05-21 12:05:04

is just that, it is uniquely yours. That's why tweaking to optimize the programming is important. The driver for that is how you feel. How do you feel at rest, mild activities and during any strenuous activities.

If you feel fine then the program settings are correct for you.

Get on with your life and enjoy it!
Kathy

Peak Activity

by PacerRep - 2014-05-22 02:05:55

105 makes perfect sense to me if your upper rate is 120 because you have what's known as a "break point" in your sensor that will linger right around 100. Once you get to 100 it's very difficult to drive it up higher. So the real question is, how do you feel when your exercising, if your getting pooped out when you know you shouldn't be, then the upper rate needs increased (which will in turn raise your break point). .

In simpler terms, if your settings are 60 for the low and 120 for the high. The pacemaker will drive your heart up to 100 very easily, but to go from 100-120, you really have to have an aggressive workout.

A simple way to figure out what it should be set at is this.

220, subtract your age...and then multiply by .8

Peaking tweaking

by BLIP - 2014-05-23 12:05:57

I did the formula and I got 130 as my upper rate. As for seeing how I feel during strenuous exercise, I will have to wait to test that one out. Two weeks ago I took a tumble and have a sprained ankle with a tiny hairline fracture. I am hopping around in one of those incredibly unfashionable boots and even bough hopping around is marginally cardio, it is by no means strenuous.
Since the reset, I do have to say ( even with the boot) I feel less fatigued, and seem to have more "consistent" energy levels as the day wears on.
PacerRep, thank you for the 'break point' explanation. Now I really feel bionic!

You know you're wired when...

You have the perfect reason to show off your chest.

Member Quotes

The pacer systems are really very reliable. The main problem is the incompetent programming of them. If yours is working well for you, get on with life and enjoy it. You probably are more at risk of problems with a valve job than the pacer.