cycling pacing

What is your pacing mode?

by crustyg - 2024-07-06 03:46:10

And what's the primary diagnosis that led to you needing a PM?

Sounds as though you're paced AAI so when your HB kicks in, your vent-rate drops due to 2:1 HB.  Which implies that you don't have an active RV pacing lead.

There are quite a few road cyclists here with Medtronic devices, and (as they're posting here), not very happy with their device for *road-cycling*.

You are absolutely correct that few EP-docs/EP-teams have a lot of experience with paced athletic seniors, which is one reason why there's a lot of exchange of information here for this group (of which I'm a member).

Cycling

by piglet22 - 2024-07-06 05:35:30

I was always a cycling fan from Triang tricycle to drop handlebar road riding.

It was my main form of exercise

I doubt that I would ever be good enough for club or organised road racing and in any case, preferred my own company.

I did manage London to Brighton in a respectable 3 hours.

I had a Medtronic Ensura DDDR and another Medtronic before that and never experienced any problems.

That was with Mobitz type 2.

I certainly never had any special settings and I presume I got the standard issue of settings.

If you are at a higher level of cycling, as crusty says, you might struggle to find someone to fine tune you, or even a device that could accommodate specialised settings.

I used to be a fan of the Tour de France which is about as hard as it gets, but I never heard of a participant with a pacemaker.

My exercise tolerance has gone as VE kicked in and I have just had to accept that my old style of cycling is over and more gentle walking is the order of the day.

I still manage 4 million steps a year.

You might, in Canada, get more individual tweaking, but here in UK it might be beyond the capacity of the NHS to fit you in. Paying to see a specialist might be more productive.

upper limit

by Tracey_E - 2024-07-06 10:08:23

If all you have is av block, that implies your sinus node works normally and you only need the pacer to keep the ventricles in sync with the atria. Ask what your upper limit is. It sounds like it might be 120. If it's 120, when you hit that it might be putting you into an artificial block which means pacing every other beat, so you suddenly drop in half. Been there, done that, it feels like hitting a wall. This is a safety feature for afib. When this happened to me, I have no history of afib so they simply turned it off.

The second half of the problem- hitting the upper limit- can be fixed easily also, by raising your uppper limit. 

When you hear of cyclists struggling with pacers, it's usually ones with sinus dysfunction which means they need the pacer to get their rate up on exertion. 

I wouldn't push too hard until you get it figured out. The sudden drops, and pushing beyond what your rate can handle, is not good for you. Hopefully it's just a matter of adjusting a few settings. 

HR Tracking After PM Impland

by JHCOON - 2024-08-05 13:06:21

I am new to all this, but have found that neither my Apple Watch Ultra nor my Polar H10 heart rate monitors give reliable readings after implant. I was told at my last "adjustment" that this is just how it is and most HR monitors are no longer reliable after implant. Have others experienced this? I am 70 and have exercised 6 days per week since I was 25 years old. I rely heavily on HR Zones for training. 

Garmin

by Tex61 - 2024-08-11 14:19:42

JH, I used a Garmin HRM Pro Plus.   Seems to work well 98% of the time.   The 2% it either reads crazy high or low but very seldom