taking deep breaths

Hi Everyone,
I am at safe mode now and going to get my PM replaced on May 1st.
I have been feeling a kind of shortness of breath as though I have to take a deep breath every few minutes. It is not like running out of breath but rather an uncomfortable feeling even when I am sitting down .Saw the cardiologist , he did not seem very concern.
I thought it was my allergies acting up but anti histamine or the albuterol inhaler is not helping. Have any of you had this kind of feeling at the end of your battery life?
thanks

8 Comments

yep

by Tracey_E - 2014-04-23 01:04:07

If your pm has switched modes, it's no longer pacing like it did before. Rather than go up and down as you need it, now it's pacing at a steady rate. You're safe but if you pace a lot, it doesn't feel too good. Can you get it replaced sooner? Stress to them how bad you feel, that you have trouble breathing.

Here's a thought

by Terry - 2014-04-23 06:04:52

Your heart may be able to keep up if the pacemaker lets it work normally. Please check out PacemakerPatientAdvocacy.com to see why and how to get the best and physiological ventricular contraction.

All the best,
Terry

thanks

by EB - 2014-04-24 02:04:03

I am so grateful for finding this site. A bit background:
I have congenital complete heart block and this would be my third pacer .I had the first one put in 1994.and the current one I have since 2003.more than 10 years,,,
I pace 100% of the time with dual chamber Medtronic PM , but I use the atrial lead only to sense as I have good sinus node rhythm.
Do you guys think that the urge for deep breaths is due to A/V chambers not talking anymore since low battery turned off the communication between upper and lower chambers. I was at the beach on vacation last week and I felt even worse and I don't know why???? as I was just relaxing and not doing anything. Is it perhaps b/c my resting heart rate need to be lower than this set 65 safe mode rate??? I think I had a 50-150 range before it went in to safe mode. Also the safe mode kicked in about 3 weeks ago but I have not felt well since beginning of March . Is it likely that PM was not working as well as the battery was depleting?

On the other hand, my cardiologist thinks that I may benefit from a biventricular pacemaker to prevent future heart muscle weakness due to my 100% pacing need. My echo last week showed EF of 45-50. Since I am ONLY 46:) I rather wait and watch?
Has anyone gone from single to BIV pacemaker with complete A/V heart block ? any suggestion?
thank you so much

HIS Bunddle pacing

by EB - 2014-04-24 04:04:58

Thanks to Terry I visited the pacemaker patient advocacy site and when I asked my cardiologist at Kaiser about it he was not aware of it being done clinically.
I live near Washington DC , Has anyone heard of the success rate of this procedure and knows a EP that has performed this procedure regularly . My doctor says that placing a lead on HIS bundle directly would be near impossible due to the location of the HIS bundle in the heart. He thinks this refers to placing the lead on the right ventricular outflow which is near HIS bundle.

How is HIS bundle pacing or RV outflow better or compares to CRT?

His bundle pacing is here to stay...

by Terry - 2014-04-24 05:04:30

...now that there are implanters who have been doing His pacing for the last 15 years, facilitated by catheter introduced leads that according to last summer's meeting of the Heart Rhythm Society in Colorado, the implant time and fluoroscopy time is comparable to "conventional pacing." Studies of biventricular pacing compared to His bundle pacing suggest that His pacing provides a better patient outcome (see the Q & A Page of PacemakerPatientAdvoccy.com. Of course pacing at two sites in the ventricles is better than one, but I think thousands of sites of stimulation. due to the His/Purkinje system is better. If not, your doctor should get a biventricular pacemaker.
I know doctors in the eastern part of the country who are following hundreds of His paced patients for years.
Remind your doctor that the MOST Study of 2,010 patients found that the rate of heart failure hospitalization and death was 10% higher for conventional pacing compared to those who were not paced so much.
(I just got the "Contact Us" page working again - please give it at test - ask any question and I will seek an answer.)
Terry

pacing

by Tracey_E - 2014-04-24 12:04:12

The pm works at full function until the minute it switches to EOL. All sorts of things are turned off at the EOL, so that could account for a lot of symptoms. If you had symptoms as early as March and know you were not in EOL at that point, I would check into it further before making a decision on the CRT. If the lower EF is causing your symptoms, then CRT could be a good option.

I have CCHB also. I figure most of us will eventually end up with CRT's. As long as I'm active and feel good, I plan to leave well enough alone. As soon as I can't do what I want to do and be active, bring it on! Don't suffer when there's a fix.

For His pacing, in addition to Dr. Hoyt

by Terry - 2014-04-25 01:04:43

...and many others, I like Vijayaraman, Pugazhendhi, (Dr. Vijay) MD, FHRS, Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center, Wilkes-Barrie, PA, They are following hundreds of His paced patients whom they have implanted over a period of many years.

Terry

Biventricular pm

by DMJ - 2014-05-14 03:05:13

I had complete 3rd degree block and was given single side Pm, after one year I felt like I had before PM. Turns out it had caused damage to my Left ventricular. I had EF of 25 at this time. I had a Medtronic Biventricular Pm with ICD put in and I felt a lot better. Save all the muscle strength you can, your young your heart needs to last!

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