Treadmill Exercise

Similar issue

by call_me_gigi - 2019-08-02 13:10:33

Hi Charlene! I've been having a similar issue to yours and when I asked my doctor about it in a visit a week ago he told me that there didn't appear to be anything wrong with the functioning of the PM and that it was likely my body just asking me to slow down a little.
I'd say to listen to your body, especially if you're not noticing anything other than just getting more tired than usual. It's still important to ask your doctor about it since they'll know more about this but until then just take it easy.
I really hope you begin feeling better soon, maybe it's just since the pacing was increased you're getting a more tired since your heart might be working a little more than what it was used to.

I hope this helps!

Listen to your body

by AgentX86 - 2019-08-02 13:16:05

But talk with your doctor and PM tech if you're not happy with your progress. You'll probably find that you're slower than you were to get going. I find the first ten minutes, or so, can be flat or even painful (legs, not chest) until my PM can catch up. I do 2-1/2hrs a day on a treadmill and the first and last 20 minutes are the hardest. I'm kinda stuck where I am now, too, so I may be PM limited.

My EP and PM tech are a little on the conservative side when it comes to the settings. They keep telling me that I won't like a fast acceleration any more than it being too slow. They also won't mess withe the upper or lower rates (lower set to bury PVCs).

Listen to your body. and give it time

by Gotrhythm - 2019-08-02 14:42:03

It's easy to assume that once we have a pacemaker, our bodies will go back to the way they were before a pacemaker was needed. I did. 

But a lot has happened in the last month. Not the least of which is that your heart is being paced in a way that is new to it.  Although I felt better immediately and was amazed at how much easier some things like climbing stairs were, still, it took several months for my stamina to return.

The trick to regaining strength is to not to push yourself to exhaustion but to find the point where the going gets a little hard, then go just a little more. There's no way to do that but to listen to your body. Even the doctor doesn't know more about how you feel than you do.

It's a funny, and frustrating, thing with heart issues, but that point of being a little tired can be different everyday. So the progression isn't perfectly steady, but over a week or two you will get stronger.

As you gain more experience living with a pacemaker, you might want to revisit some of your pacemaker's settings. In my experience, doctors and pacemaker techs tend to err on the conservative side. I have had to push for higher base and maximum rates, and faster rate response times so that my pacemaker would support what I really was capable of doing and wanted to do.

bodies

by ROBO Pop - 2019-08-03 19:19:53

Okay so you've heard listen bla bla bla but get the tech to look at your settings they might need to adjust rate response to compensate for your activity levels

exercise

by Resistance is futile - 2019-08-11 13:03:02

Post ICD, beta blockers and low ejection fraction, my cardio heart rate isn't what it used to be. :)

No way I can get to my target heart rate. The best advice I've been given is you should be able to hold a conversation. If you are too out of breath to do so, slow it down a bit.