Rate dropping

Hi, I have had my 3 lead Medtronic Pacemaker for 4 years. It is set at a rate of 60 ....I run at 60 almost every day. 

Lately I have been running around 59 ( Sometimes lower)

I notified my doctor about this and she she said for my pacemaker it is normal (????) 

This has only been happening within the past couple of months. 

Has anyone else ever had this happen?

I would be appreciated of any information. 

Thanks for any help. 

Lorraine 

3 Comments

Yes it happens to me often

by Gemita - 2021-10-04 18:43:53

Lorraine, a beat or two below the set minimum base rate is actually quite normal according to my pacemaker technicians.  It happens to me all the time.  For example I am set at 70 bpm and quite frequently I am pacing around 68-69 bpm, particularly in the presence of ectopic beats or any other rhythm disturbances.  The most important thing is how we feel.  Are you getting troublesome symptoms like palpitations, breathlessness, dizziness?  If not I wouldn't be concerned.

What are you using to record your heart rate?  Some home monitors in the presence of an arrhythmia may not be accurate.  My blood pressure monitor often errors in the presence of ectopic beats or other arrhythmias

Normal!

by Tracey_E - 2021-10-04 19:06:33

Lots of things can make the count be a bit off.

Small beats between the stronger beats can be missed

Monitors can be inaccurate

The pacer isn't actually set at 60bpm but rather 1 beat per second. Over the course of a minute it'll be close to 60 but not exact. 

Running slow

by AgentX86 - 2021-10-05 14:53:20

I just wanted to add the the widget you're measuring your heart rate has the same problem as your pacemaker. It likely uses the samemeasurement scheme.  That is,  It measures the time between beats and inverts it. Depending on the way the numbers work out, it can be one off. Think of dividing two numbers, like 4/3. What's the answer? One, or two? Now, both your pacemaker and the measurement device make this same calculation and depending on the exact timing,  one may come up with one, and the other two.

The same thing happens if you count your pulse yourself but you're averaging over a longer time.  The calculation then becomes 4.00/3.01, say, and we know that the answer is one.

You know you're wired when...

Friends call you the bionic woman.

Member Quotes

A pacemaker completely solved my problem. In fact, it was implanted just 7 weeks ago and I ran a race today, placed first in my age group.