Mayo Take the Wheel

@ted3
The normal life expectancy of pacemaker or ICD/Pacemakers is 8-10 years. Of course the amount of time is really based on do you get shocks, how much pacemaker is having to pace and do you have exercise mode turned on, etc.

I am not sure why you are concerned that your battery life is 8.7 years. That is completely normal. I am on my 3rd ICD/Pacemaker and I have 3.4 months left of battery life on my present one. I have my pacemaker pacing my heart continoulsy at 70 bpm minute as if not because of medications it would be in 30s.

You mentioned your's pacing your at only 50% of the time. What is your pacing rate set at? Are you saying you heart only falls below what is your pacing is set at only 50% of the time. That is good not bad. Means you have good sinus rympthm and heart beating on it's own and most of the time at a rate your EPs says okay.

If your pacemaker is not pacing right and only works 50% of the time to pace you that is another matter. At the rate your pacemaker is set to because it will flow below that on it's own should be around 98% of the time. Of course if you are not falling below the set rate then is not going to pace you as you are at that rate on your own.

You are running 1-2 miles. That is great and should bring comfindence in your pacemaker and your doctors by being able to do so.

I posted the above on my now 20 years of experience on having a ICD/Pacemaker and on my 3rd one. I have been to pace clinic and EP doctors so many times with test and consulations, questions, fine tuning, changes I would not even be ablt to give you that number.

Going to your manufacturers web site for information is great. I alwasy recommed that when I post. You can put in your model and get great and thorough information on your device. I am not sure if Metronic gives you the ability to submit question to them like Boston Scientific but I do that all the time for specific feedback on something. Look into if they offer that.

A Medronics Azure PM's battery life is more like 12 years. So 8.7 is a surprise. But then again there's not a lot of data. While in the hospital I was told that my sinus rhythm is normal but because I have a 2:1 block, I should expect my PM to pace me almost all the time. So when I was told that my both chambers (I have a dual chamber PM) are only pacing 50% of the time I was surprised. That means that 50% of my heart beats are done without the PM. My PM has three zones: resting or sedentary; ADL or activities for daily living; and exercising. My resting HR is set for 60. There is a ramp up to when the ADL plateau is reached. Then there is another ramp up to the point where the upper limit is reached. My UL is set for 145. Since your battery life is nearing it's end, I trust that you have a replacement procedure scheduled. I also assume that your next PM will be Boston Scientific.

@ted3
I have 3.5 years left on my device. For me that is a long time. I am 78.

Mayo Jacksonville put all 3 of my devices and does my remote home and in office checks of my device. Mayo Jacksonville does remote monitor home test every 3 months with a device called latitude. I go into office for more extensive testing every year unless prolems are seen from remote test. Do you have this type remote device equipment with Medtronic?

My remote and office visit device reviews are sent to my patient portal. I have access to those device checks and comments by the EP who reads the device. I can also sent questions to my Pace Clinic and EP and get answers via Mayo portal.

It appears your device is doing a lot more different exercise things above mine. When you had your first device check what was your battery life? That gives you a base line of your battery expected life.

My EP gave me gave me the norm for ICD/Pacemakers was 8-10 years. I am sure as devices get more modern and upgraded that battery life gets better just as the devices get better. I can already see the change in mine from first one as is smaller. I am on my 3rd device.

The life expectancy of my battery is going to depend on how many times my ICD/Pacemaker charges, shocks me, and the amount of impedience resistance on wires that develope over time. I have had the same wires since 2006 almost 20 years ago. I don't see by your post that you have a ICD/pacemaker device just a pacemaker? Is that correct?

I do not have the exercise mode turned on on my device. I do not like the feeling. I exercise without issues. I was really impressed with your device doing so many different things but from that seems would be using more battery life to do all that it is programmed to do.

I am sure your pace clinic is on top of your battery and would tell you if something wrong. Not sure what the 50% means. Are they saying you only need it 50% of the time as your heart is responding on it's own. I know my device pacing is at 92% and they like it to be 98%. But my pacing is at 70 bpm and is constant as my resting pulse rate is down in 30s.

@ted3
I am new to this board, having just gotten a PM on January 10th of this year. I was experiencing bradycardia with SOB and feeling dizzy. I also had a history of PVCs which was diagnosed in 2019. My pre PM diagnosis was
Mobitz type II and 2:1 second degree atrioventricular block.
The reason I decided to respond is that I also have a Medtronic Azure PM, and and it seems, a similar diagnosis .
I just had a monitor check at the device clinic two weeks ago. They estimated a battery life of 14.3 years.
The ventricular lead is pacing at approximately 99.2% and the atrial pacing at approx. 9.1%

About 3 days after they put in the PM , I had a really bad feeling arrhythmia and so I sent in a strip from my medtronic ap. to the device clinic and it showed repetitive nonre-entrant ventricular atrial synchrony (RNRVAS). So then, to prevent the RNRVAS, the PM was reprogrammed to pace only when my pulse got down to 50.
I really don't have all the details otherwise as to how it is programmed.
I have had several other device checks and each time their estimate is a little different as the life of the battery. When I went in to have it re-programmed 5 days after putting the PM in, the pacing was estimated
at 5.1% atrial and the ventricular pacing was 59%.
Shortly after that visit, I developed atrial tachycardia and so was started back on Metoprolol which I think accounts for the big increase in Ventricular pacing two weeks ago.

It took me about 3 months after having the PM put in, before I started to feel really good. I think having several different arrythmia pop up to sort out, may have slowed down how well I felt. I also have R.A. and that always complicates things for me too.

@ted3
I am definitely not a EP but on my 3rd ICD/Pacemaker and have had one for almost 20 years now.

Most of the time a pacing level is set if your heart is not beating from normal sinus rympthm at a certain rate or not at all in some cases. Thus if your heart is beating at an acceptable rate your pacemaker is not pacing your heart.

With me my pulse rate is down in the 30s because of medication. Thus my pacemaker paces me all the time to get it to 70 bpm which was set at that rate as to what I wanted and EP thought was best for me.

I think this may explain your 50% pacing. Mine pacing rate comes back at 92%. They want 98%. Now what keeps me from getting to 98%. It is PVCs. I have hundreds of them and they interfere with my pacing. I am on medication to lesson them.

So if your heart is being paced normally 50% of the time as a rate your PM does sees as okay then that could be your 50%. Asked your pace clinic or your EP about this.

Your PM has many functions for exercise and when not exercising. Again I could feel that happening when they turned mine on (after having almost 20 years) and did not like it at all.

I am not sure they told you that when a person gets a heart transplant their heart beats at 80 bpm all the time. Some I am told do marathons so like me my lower heart rate has not influence my ability to exercise either.

Definitely similar with the diagnosis of AV 2:1 block and PM. Because my sinus node behaves normally, I expected my pacing to be similar to yours (not much on the atrial side and closer to 100% on the ventricular side). So the fact that for now I'm pacing about 50% on both ends, is a good thing I think. What I take away from your situation is that patient conditions change and the PM has to be changed in response. I hope that you're feeling good which is the ultimate goal. I'm not too concerned about battery life as I think it will vary as it is measured over time. I feel so fortunate and grateful to benefit from amazing science, technology and medicine. All the best

Yes, I have a monitor on my nightstand. It connects via Carelink which is a monitoring service provided by Medtronic. Mayo is interested in monthly data so I don't have to take the monitor with me when I travel. My estimated battery life is at 8.7 years but that projection is after just 3 weeks of usage. I expect the estimate to change when more data is sent.
I only have a PM.
My heart is able to beat on it's own roughly 50% of the time. It will be interesting to see how that changes over time.
All the best