Pacemaker

Don't worry about pacing rate effect on battery life

by crustyg - 2021-02-01 03:18:22

How often your PM paces your heart has very little effect on battery life. There are other factors that are the real reason for shortened battery life. If you don't have any of these then you should get the manufacturer's expected life out of your battery - typically 7-8years for a standard model and 14-15years for the larger, extended life model.

pacing

by Tracey_E - 2021-02-01 10:39:06

If  pill would fix it, they wouldn't have given you the pacer. That's what they do, pace when our heart gets too slow. As crusty said, how often it paces is only one of many factors that determine how long they last. I pace every beat. I got this one in 2015 (I'm on #5) and I still have 9-10 years left. 

Raising heart rate when sleeping is pretty hard to do

by jds66 - 2021-02-01 11:05:10

Unless you want a pattern of steady bad dreams, or a caffiene or adrenaline infusion, your heart rate is not going to often raise when you sleep. You actually would not want that, it probably would keep you awake for hours on end. 

If your pacemaker lower rate is set to 50, then naturally when you are sleeping, it may want to go below 50, which cant happen anymore, thanks to the pacemaker. I am sure you already know that. 

I had my first pacemaker for 9 years, had maybe another 6 months of battery life left before it was replaced a couple months ago. I  had similiar situation to you, my heart rate always wanted to go below 50, or even 40 when I had it set at that low rate years ago, and the battery lasted as long as that model was supposed to, 10 years in my case. 

I know that there are some mode that a pacer can be set to deliver different thearpies and monitor events that can drain battery life. 

Your doctor gets a report right as they interrogate your pacemaker at each office visit. Ask them right there how much battery expected life do I have. 

I would suggest you get a copy of each interrogation report and keep your own file on yourself. You can see trends yourself that way, and learn what questions to ask as you understand your reports. 

Philosophy of pacemakers

by Gotrhythm - 2021-02-03 16:49:21

Many factors affect the life of the battery, but, oddly enough, how often it supplies a beat doesn't make a big difference. I'm paced 100%, meaning the pacemaker is supplying every single beat at 70 bpm. The pacemaker is ten years old, and according to the latest estimate, has 1.7 years of battery left until elective replacement. Given that it started with an estimated life of ten years, that's pretty good.

It sounds like your heart is still doing at lot of its work on its on. But whether you're being paced 10% or 100%, you need for your pacemaker to work as much as you need for it to. There really isn't any payoff in trying to squeeze a little more life out of the battery. Settings that are less than what you need will only result in you not feeling as well as you could.

The best way for you to get as much life as possible from your pacemaker, is to not waste one second worrying about it. The pacemaker will work exactly the same whether you worry or not.

So forget about it. Get out there and LIVE the life the pacemaker is making possible for you.