Pacemaker Club: BPM settings

BPM settings

by rebeccaanne
2019-03-04 20:30:55
Checkups & Settings
1612 views
4 comments

This is probably not important but my PM BPM is set at 70 (low) and every few days it goes down to 69 BPM. the settinga are 70 to 130. I have a fitbit which is why I can monitor it. I assume this is normal and flucutations are expected. Thank as usual for all the good advice.

4 Comments

BPM fluctuations

by steppingstones - 2019-03-04 23:06:33

My pacemaker is set 70-120 BPM and I increasingly see a bit of a fluctuation in the numbers on my Charge2 fitbit. So I have asked my EP questions about the changes and I was told it has to do with the heart beats that are PVC's and PAC's. The fitbit does not detect them up as they are not full formed beats. Also, I just purchased an Apple Watch and it also misses the PVC's and PAC's.

Heart Rate

by AgentX86 - 2019-03-05 09:18:38

No watch (or any other device) is going to always be exact. For one thing, there is the quantization error (59 and 60 are the same number). You're obsessing over you heart rate. Don't.

Watches use an optical sensor to look at blood flow. They're not going to see PACs or PVCs. Even Kardia Mobile won't identify them, e en though they can clearly be seen on the (one lead) EKG. There are regulations on medical devices that they have to abide by, in addition to technical issues.

Agree about watches

by Jmiller - 2019-03-05 10:22:11

I agree with the comment above. I to have an optical HR watch type device. My PM is set at 60 and it will drop to 58. I have a fir amount of PVCs and I notice I get the slight drop in HR when I'm having them. No worries. I used to track my HR all the time the first year after getting my PM, but you grow to realize the things do there job and do it well.

Use fitbit too

by karuss12 - 2019-03-16 21:58:19

I use my fitbit also and see variance with low rate below my pacemaker setting. What I really like about fitbit is digging into the details of my heart rate. Ie when it goes up, what happens with exercise etc. I don't get overly concerned re data, just find it interesting.