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contro; afib with pace maker or oblation?

Posted by shamus @shamus, Jun 5 3:57pm

Have afib but at lower heart rate. Bing aske to get pace maker Could oblation be usedas well. Which would be preferred?

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gregkogan | @gregkogan | Jun 7 6:31pm
In reply to @jc76 "@gregkogan A pacemaker is usually an outpatient procedure and most go home the same day. Millions..." + (show)
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@gregkogan
A pacemaker is usually an outpatient procedure and most go home the same day. Millions are done. They even have programs that can monitor you movement and increase your pulsing when exercising.

Having a pacemaker and your heart rate go down means it will react and keep it steady and at the rate your cardiologist want you to be at.

I have a very low HR because of medications and would be in low 40s. So my ICD/Pacemaker paces me at 70 bpm. Why that rate. We found lower bpm I was having a lot of PVCs and we found that 70 bpm was a good rate for lowering PVCs.

I read someone posted his/her ICD paced his heart. And ICD is there to provide shock if needed with tachycardia. It is not a pacing of heart device. ICD can be programmed to try to pace you out of tachycardia. But an ICD is not a pacemaker that paces your heart continuously or comes on at a certain rhythm.

After 21 years with an ICD/Pacemaker and on my 3rd device had a lot of experience (not sure that is good) with surgeries, and how each device works. I am having my 4th device surgery in about 1 year as battery is getting low.

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@jc76
Thanks for sharing your personal experience.
I am actually mentally getting ready for pacemaker but my cardiologist did recommend to wait to see if HR eventually possible is going to recover so main reason I created the post was to see if anyone had positive experience with this matter.
Information about pacemakers is also super helpful just to get ready for it.

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wcuro | @wcuro | Jun 8 6:10am
In reply to @jc76 "@gregkogan A pacemaker is usually an outpatient procedure and most go home the same day. Millions..." + (show)
Profile picture for jc76 @jc76

@gregkogan
A pacemaker is usually an outpatient procedure and most go home the same day. Millions are done. They even have programs that can monitor you movement and increase your pulsing when exercising.

Having a pacemaker and your heart rate go down means it will react and keep it steady and at the rate your cardiologist want you to be at.

I have a very low HR because of medications and would be in low 40s. So my ICD/Pacemaker paces me at 70 bpm. Why that rate. We found lower bpm I was having a lot of PVCs and we found that 70 bpm was a good rate for lowering PVCs.

I read someone posted his/her ICD paced his heart. And ICD is there to provide shock if needed with tachycardia. It is not a pacing of heart device. ICD can be programmed to try to pace you out of tachycardia. But an ICD is not a pacemaker that paces your heart continuously or comes on at a certain rhythm.

After 21 years with an ICD/Pacemaker and on my 3rd device had a lot of experience (not sure that is good) with surgeries, and how each device works. I am having my 4th device surgery in about 1 year as battery is getting low.

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@jc76
My understanding is that my ICD is set at 40 and 140 for the low and high heart rate I assume it would shock me if the rate goes below or above those numbers. In that sense, it does pace my heart.

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jc76 | @jc76 | Jun 9 6:07am

Your ICD does not pace your heart like a pacemaker. It does not continue to pace your heart at a fixed rate. A pacemaker recipient is either non dependent or dependent on pacemaker. With dependent pacing is all the time. With non dependent it can be set to pace at certain pacing if HR drops.

An ICD is a shocking and pulsing device. What you are talking about is the device can be set for a certain pulse rate and ICD will try to pulse you out of it. IF that pulsing does not work the ICD will shock you back to normal rhythm. The device can monitor and temporary make pulsing to correct heart rhythm but is not a device to continuous pace the heart like a pacemaker.

A shock is not a pacing. The ICD will charge and sent an electrical shock to your heart. It can be programmed to try to pace you out but that is temporary and if does not work will shock you.

Talk your your doctors, especially if you have a EP and they can explain more clearly the role of each. Many people only have ICD when they have tachycardia and or rhythm problem. Some only have pacemakers to keep being paced at certain levels two ways, one all the time at a certain rate, or kick in when HR gets below a certain rate. A pacemaker will never shock like an ICD.

So you can see the differences. My device is a dual device. It paces my heart at 70 beats a minute because my resting pulse rate would be in low 40s. My ICD is set to act if tachycardia at a certain rate occurs. It will try to pace me out first and if fails will shock me. It will not continually pace me if pacing does not bring me out of tachycardia, it will shock me.

Just had a lot of experience with these devices and on my 3rd one with another coming 1 year from now. I am monitored at Mayo Pace Clinic and my device records are sent to Mayo every 3 months or anytime an episodes
happens. I go into pace clinic once a year to check wires, and programming.

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naninni | @naninni | 5 days ago
In reply to @gpspanea "Shamus, I was in similar situation. Low heart rate a-fib, tachycardia, and every other arrhythmia. Have..." + (show)
Profile picture for gpspanea @gpspanea

Shamus, I was in similar situation. Low heart rate a-fib, tachycardia, and every other arrhythmia. Have had 4 ablations since 2015, cardioverted 17 times, developed complete heart block with rate of 25 and heart stopping up to 14 seconds at a time. Got a call after Holter monitor reading at 6 am to come in for an urgent pacemaker insertion. Got to EP lab at 130pm and was on the table at 2pm. Saved my life. There were issues with programming several times. Heart rate would jump to 140 with several E-room visits and finally corrected pacemaker programming issues. Still have arrhythmia issues and on my second 4 wire pacemaker. Without out it I would not be here. Cardiologist tried to correct it pharmacology with a myriad of drugs from Tykosyn to isobromide, metoprol the works. Was feeling better then had hip replacement that got infected stem. 3 yrs and 6 surgeries later I'm still in pain and heart issues returned. I'm 74 and my quality of life kind of stinks but I muddle through it and do what I can. Was a professional athlete and its taking quite an adjustment but its better than the alternative. I walk several miles a day taking rests when needed and enjoy sunrises daily. Do what's needed to survive, try different Drs, and contribute to your surroundings! Remember your better off than most and worse than some! "Always look on the bright side of Life". Monty Python!

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@gpspanea I changed from metropotol to multaq
it didnt improve afib but I feel like a new person not tired can walk uphill no side effects it's been 3 months.

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gpspanea | @gpspanea | 5 days ago

Had to stop Multac long QR. Like I sai said everyone is built different and I'm wierd.

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