resting heart rate seems high

[MNmom]

This has been driving me crazy- ever since I got my pacemaker 6 days after valve/root/arch replacement- my resting heart rate has been 95-105. Could it be possible that it was set too high? All I keep hearing is that my range is set from 60-150. Well, at cardiac rehab I have already hit 149 (and probably higher) and that was just going 3.4 mph with an incline of 2.5. I also hear it is because i am still recovering...but I have experienced no slowing down in the last 6 weeks. I have asked my primary PA, cardiac rehab staff, surgeon's nurse, they all just kind of shrug their shoulders and say maybe my pacemaker is set high. but it is only pacing the bottom chamber, which is happening 100% of the time. Any insight or similar experiences?
before the pacemaker my resting heart rate was in the 70s- normal.

 

[Elcarim]

I had a similar thing to you with my second surgery, nerve damage resulting in a pacemaker to keep my bottom chamber going. But I set my own rate, so presumably you do too. And at cardiac rehab my resting heart rate was 95. The nurse mentioned that it was high, but nothing was done about it. Later it was found that my pacemaker was set to drop my HR by 33% when I got above 120bpm. This only became a real problem when I got back into horse riding, I came very close to passing out in the middle of a round of showjumping! Eventually a Medtronic rep came to my pacemaker clinic and sorted out the problem. Somewhere along the way my resting heart rate has gone back down to 68bpm.

Soooo... I had the same high HR for a while, but it resolved on its own. Probably just because you are still recovering. My resting HR pre-surgery was over 100.

 

[ALCapshaw2]

You stated that your Pacemaker was set for 60 to 150 BPM.

My GUESS is that it will 'speed you up' of your HR drops BELOW 60 and it will 'slow you down' if your HR goes over 150. Anything in between is considered OK.

An elevated Resting HR (80 to 100) is VERY COMMON folloowing OHS and can take several weeks to come back down into the 60 to 80 range.

That said, ask your Cardiologist or ElectroPhysiologist, they should be able to answer your questions.

'AL Capshaw'

 

[Bina]

Postop my high HR drove me crazy immediately....so I was put on Metoprolol.
Over the next year my heart became more consistent and now I am on a lowered dose of Meto.
(I don't have the nerve to ride horsies right now)

 

[MNmom]

is that a beta blocker? I just talked to my cardio nurse and she said she would run it by my cardio and perhaps he will put me on a beta blocker... But i see him next week, so if i dont hear from her I will talk to him next week about it. I am also sheduled with the pacemaker nurse on the same day, so if it happens to involve my pacemaker, that will get worked out.
i am not having symptoms with this- it just bugs me- i feel like it is limiting the amount of exercise I can currently do. Example- at cardiac rehab, I can only get to 3.4 mph with an incline of 2.5 and my heart rate will rise to 148. What in the world?? Aparently, when the rate exceeds 150- which im sure it did during exercise- my natural rate will take over. so it is not as though the pacemaker will slow it down if that happens. It will just take over if it drops below 60. Hmmm.
For how long will I be using "recovery" as an excuse- it has been nearly 7 weeks! When will the "recovery" be a non issue???
Thanks for listening to my whine. Its just with this new, bigger (went from 23 to 25 mm) uncalcified valve- I feel like i should be running more efficiently- not less!
Thanks

 

[sue943]

Three years later and it is rare for my resting HR to be much below 80 bpm. Recently it dropped to under 70bpm for a short time and I thought something was gong wrong.

 

[camgough]

First few weeks after surgery my resting HR was about 100. About 2 months post op at the start of cardio rehab it was down to about 84 bpm. Now I am almost 6 months post op and lowered again to around 75. When nice and relaxed in my chair I have noticed it go below 60 bpm briefly, then my pacemaker brings it back to 60 bpm. My current range is 60-180 bpm on my Medtronic Adapta. Post-op my resting HR was around 60. As I recover I can slowly see it dropping back to normal.

 

[Duff Man]

I have a hard time understanding why it seems like some peoples' pacemakers are on full autopilot 100% of the time, and others just seem to work sometimes in certain situations. Why are some people's heart rates inappropriate even though they have a pacemaker? Does the sinus node still give the pacemaker its signal to fire the ventricles?