Connect
← Return to Left Bundle Branch Block (LBBB) life expectancy?
Discussion
Left Bundle Branch Block (LBBB) life expectancy?
Heart Rhythm Conditions | Last Active: Oct 31 9:57pm | Replies (19)Comment receiving replies
I have a LBBB. I'm 58 now and have been on meds (also Entresto and Coreg) for about 8 years due to low Ejection Fraction (EF). I've been at 25-30 Ejection Fraction for the past few years. My cardiologist has been pushing for a couple years now to get me into a pacemaker because of the EF. I understand that I need a pacemaker but am active and don't experience any symptoms while exercising, or really any time. I am worried about being limited in what I can do (my EP said basically no upper body weightlifting or anything that repetitively works the shoulder joint, like swimming, because it could loosen and break the wires). I don't want to not get a pacemaker and damage my heart further, but I'm nervous about the life change after getting a pacemaker. Your story gives me optimism.
Replies to "I have a LBBB. I'm 58 now and have been on meds (also Entresto and Coreg)..."
Connect
Davidok,
Do the research on the QRT. They only last a few years and are not like pacemakers for AFIB. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26740015/ The National Institute of Health has good information about His-Purkinje system where the LBBB originates from in the heart. The latest QRT (left ventricle pace maker) information is there but the reading is difficult. I had to use a medical dictionary.
I am no doctor but I would get a second opinion.
It appears to me that those QRT's are for people who have been rejected for a heart transplant and want 18 months to 3 years more to live. If you are doing well, wait. You can always do it later. With the QRT, when the leads come out of the heart, the heart muscle is damaged. The spot that the QRT shocker wire has to be implanted is like a the size of the head of a ten penny nail. If that breaks well??
Easy for me to say: My ejection fraction varies from 35 to 39. I like you have Idiopathic Myocardiopathy (heart failure with no known cause). LBBB is very rare without any underlying cause. Two cardiologists say I had a virus that caused this but the virus isn't the viruses they tested for in me. I decided against the catherization procedure at the EP doctor in July 2024 because I frankly don't know the risks of having those electrodes put into my heart muscle to do the testing for the exact locations of LBBB.
I am on Enalapril as I am allergic to the "inert" ingredients in beta blockers. If I could take beta blockers my EF would be higher. It is good you can use beta blockers successfully.