Higher heart rate post pm

Hi all
I had my dual pacemaker fit in August. I have noticed when exercising now that my h/r goes higher quicker for less effort than before my pm and takes longer to recover.
Has anybody else experienced this?
The pm was fitted for heart block and bradycardia snd and pm kicks in at 40. Not being paced for anything else
Thanks

2 Comments

pacing

by Tracey_E - 2015-10-30 10:10:47

If your sinus rhythm goes under 40, it will pace you atrial.

Bradycardia is simply a heart rate under 60, more of a symptom than a diagnosis. Basically, you are being paced for av block.

If your atria beats but the ventricles don't follow (such as when you are in av block), the pm will kick in with ventricular pacing. It's irrelevant what the lower limit is in this case, it's just keeping the heart in sync at whatever rate the heart wants to go, follow the leader. It's very likely that your atrial rate always went up normally with exercise, but because you were in block, the ventricles never kept up and you were out of sync with a very low pulse. This is a good thing, you want your rate to go up on exertion.

One thing to ask is if rate response is turned on. If the atria doesn't go up on exertion, the pm can step in and help out. They may leave it turned on thinking it's there if you need it and irrelevant if you don't. However, it can compete with our natural sinus rhythm so if it's on, ask them to let you see how you feel with it off.

Pacing

by Ironheart - 2015-11-08 08:11:08

Thank for you reply. I will ask if im switched on. I realise that I am being paced for the block, and that my heart has probably been treading through treacle whether exercising or not.
As a competative sportswomen training with h/r monitor It is just that i have noticed that h/r is now consitantly higher and doesn't return to slower rate as quickly as pre PM.
Could be that heart is just trying to find its own normal now we have taken the severe bradycardia ( dropping into low twenties at worst) out of the equation

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