Heart rate

Your bouncing heart rate sounds like mine !

by Gemita - 2020-10-14 07:08:07

Hello CMH22567,

From your comments, I presume you have a dual chamber pacemaker which can stop tracking a fast arrhythmia in the atria like AF, Tachycardia, Flutter when it occurs by switching the pacing from atrial pacing to a non atrial pacing tracking mode.  This switching can happen multiple times a day with arrhythmias such as ours and this switching for me really does cause symptoms.  However it is a safety mechanism, otherwise tracking the very high rates of the atria could push our ventricles too fast.  On cessation of our arrhythmia, the device switches back to atrial tracking mode.

I see you have tachy/brady and a leaky mitral valve.  I do too.  You need a review of both these conditions.

Four months to see your pacemaker team is too long to wait.  I would contact them to let them know what is happening.  If your heart rate bounces quickly from 83 bpm to 136 bpm for a few seconds, this is perhaps tolerable, but surges to 160-170 bpm is clearly not and should trigger an alert of a high heart rate on your records.  Are you being monitored from home?  Can you download data and transmit to your clinic automatically?  If not, I would make an appointment to go in to see them.  Perhaps they will adjust your settings, or review your medication.  You could also discuss what other options could be available to treat your symptoms/arrhythmias?

Unfortunately it is something that I am learning to live with.  My only other treatment option would be an ablation and at the moment with other health conditions this is not practical

Thankyou

by CMH22567 - 2020-10-14 07:17:19

Dear Gemita

THankyou so much for your commentsand understanding. Your comment was perfect. I received the home monitor ladt week, so Ill see if they contact me, otherwise, Ill run it past cardo. Thanks again. X

No glasses

by CMH22567 - 2020-10-14 07:18:07

Sorry for typos, cant find glasses. 

Breathlessness

by Shana - 2020-10-14 10:47:21

Good morning.

Sorry you are seeing such fluctuations. 

I can't speak to why you are bumping up and down so much, but am curious if your pacemaker cap is in the 160-170 range? Once it hits the cap, it likely moves to a asynchronous rhythm (to intentionally prevent run-away-tachycardia). When mine does this it feels like I'm hitting a wall. I'll be at 165 bpm one minute and 80 bpm the next for the same exercise level. It's very uncomfortable and hard to breath.

For my tachycardia, I now take a very small dose of a beta blocker at night to help with my morning workouts. Generally works. 

I did not have tachycardia until post implant. 

Good luck!