Upper limits of pacemaker

Jerry

by IAN MC - 2017-02-06 13:33:12

Your questions are difficult to answer because you don't provide enough info :-

-  I see you were born in 1937 so you are now in your 80th year .   As you get older,  your safe maximum heart rate decreases . Your Dr will use a formula such as 220 minus your age to determine what your safe maximum is , so on that basis it would be around  140 bpm .

BUT , and it is a big   " But " , it really does depend on how fit you are.

-  Would a raise in your maximum setting help you with your running ? It might do, it might not. It depends on why you have a PM. If you have Sick Sinus Syndrome , raising the maximum probably won't make  a scrap of difference . On the other hand , if you have heart-block it is possible that your PM is making you miss beats when you hit 130 bpm,  hence the breathlessness.

When you get breathless, have you measured your heart-rate at that moment .This would help your doctor.

Another possibility is that you have a  Rate Response setting which needs adjusting  i.e, your PM is detecting when you exercise and  is putting in extra beats ( but not enough extra beats )

Ideally you should persuade your Dr to wire you up while you run on a treadmill and find out exactly what is happening.

Best of luck

Ian

@#$% 220-age Formula

by BillH - 2017-02-06 14:19:00

The 220-age "formula" is suppose to calculate the maximum HR that one can reach. It is WILDLY INACURATE. Ask the doctor and they will probably agrees, but still use it.

Case in point https://www.outsideonline.com/2154271/105-year-old-frenchman-fitter-you

105 YO record cyclist, beats his record at 103 with additional training. Max HR is 137. Formula gives 105.

And I am 73 and my maximum is 170.

And that only give the maximum rate that the heart can reach during exercise. And it will vary somewhat with the type of exercise.

IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH SAFETY.

There can be several reasons to restrict the HR during exercise. The main one is that some people high heart rates can trigger serious arrhythmia. Another would be ischemia where the heart can get enough blood flow for hard exercise.

Pacemakers have several different max rates. One is tracking rate that determines how fast the lower chambers (ventricles) can follow the upper (atria).

The other is maximum rate response. That takes affect when the sinus node (natural trigger for the atria) does not work normally and the PM has to increase HR when it senses activity.

Depending on the problem you might have one or both of those maximums set.

changing upper limit

by fourkids - 2017-03-05 13:35:19

I had an upper limit issue.  After my pacemaker implant I could not excercise with the same intensity.

I have heart block and my pacemaker is supposed to just lie in waiting for when my heart rate drops below 50 bpm, when it takes over.  

When I would excercise, I was fine for short periods, but when excercising at high intesity for longer than 20-40 minutes, I would begin to drag.  I could always keep going, but slower and slower the longer I went.  Initially I was told that I was just getting out of shape, so I made a determined effort to get regular excercise.  In fact I ran a half marathon and then a full marathon.  So I was in shape, but no change in my dragging.  Took huge effort to work through all long excercise.

After a year of no help, I finally asked about the upper limit (which I didn't even know was in place for me).  Mine was set at 160.  My max heartrate when excercising was sometimes 174.

Long story but they raised my upper limit to 183 and I am happy to say....

No more issues.  Just a huge change.  Hope this helps someone else.

Rob