Exercise after pm implant for total A/V block?

Hey all, this is my first time here. I received my pacemaker on August 1st this year, after being hospitalized with level 3 A/V block, suspected to be caused by Lyme Carditis, though I do also have Fabry's Disease, and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, so it could be any of those.

Anyhow, my pm is set at 60bpm, and is a dual chamber. Whenever I am doing any activity where my heart rate gets up (I'm not sure of exact bpm, it may vary?), my heart feels very strange, the beats are very hard, and just dont feel right. 

Does the pacemaker not intervene above the set bpm? I was under the impression that it would fire the lower chamber if it wasnt doing it on its own, and I suspect this feeling is A/V block... I assumed it would correct the issue even if I'm at 90bpm for example. Waiting to hear from the hospital to do a halter monitor, but in the mean time, it would be nice to hear from experienced people. 

Thanks a ton!

1 Comments

how av block works

by Tracey_E - 2018-11-15 20:24:59

When we have sinus problems, the pacer will jump in when we get too low and pace the atria faster. When we have av block our sinus node (in theory) works normally but the signal doesn't make it to the ventricles (that's the block). The pacer is playing follow the leader, making sure the ventricles stay in sync with the atria. So, it's not really setting the pace, it's completing the broken circuit.

Write down the day/time you have symptoms. When they interrogate, they can see what the pacer was doing at that time. It's common to need to fine tune the settings a bit. They send us home with a good guess, but no two of us are alike so adjusting is normal. 

You know you're wired when...

Bad hair days can be blamed on your device shorting out.

Member Quotes

My pacemaker is intact and working great.