Any cycling success stories with a Biotronik ICD

Cycling and pacemakers

by Selwyn - 2021-07-09 07:54:47

I wonder whether an exercise test would help you? Plenty of cycle machines in hospitals for exercise EKGs. They can then see what is happening in real time, fiddle with blanking and that sort of thing, otherwise you will be back and forwards numerous times whilst everything else is trial and error ( I see you already have had two occasions of this!).

Perhaps suggest this to your cardiac  team?

Hello from a medtronic icd/pacemaker

by Pinkit94 - 2021-07-09 22:09:34

Hello fellow cyclist

A couple of weeks ago I was in exactly your shoes, getting very short of breath(sob) during my rides. Then I started riding with a heart rate monitor (used the Garmin hrm)- I noticed that my HR was very high for the intensity plus I would get sudden drops in HR causing fatigue and sob. I called my device clinic and the doctor (luckily he is a cyclist as well) was able to increase my upper limit from 140 to 165, mode switch from DDI to DDD, and start me on low dose metoprolol. After these adjustments, I feel great, my speed, stamina, and endurance increased literally over a day. The moral of the story - ride with an HR monitor (see if you pick up on patterns that might cause the SOB) and contact your device clinic for further adjustments. Keep pedaling on!

I agree with PInkit94

by PacedNRunning - 2021-07-12 17:53:19

Heart rate monitors are very useful when adjusting for exercise.  A lot of what we feel won't be recorded so they won't see what we feel.  I"m not sure why you have your PM but I use my lower lead 100% with exercise and a paced delay for exercise should be around 65-90ms.  So if your pacing at 185ms, that is way to slow.  If you don't pace in the lower lead with exercise then the 185ms won't matter.  the best is to do an exercise treadmill test to see what your heart does during exercise preferably on a bike.  I did one and it helped to program my PM for exercise. 

Follow up

by Bikerheel - 2021-08-10 12:26:43

Thanks for the input. I met with a cardiologist at Duke this morning and he has lined me up for a treadmill test. He also referred me to an EP also at Duke. He's a runner and the EP is a cyclist so I'm really hoping that things progress in a positive manner. They will work together and will not only look at optimizing my PM but also evaluate my meds. Hopefully in a few months I'll be able to deliver some good news!