Pacemakers, anyone have one?

[colly]

I'm away for a few days atm so no riding. It will interesting to hear what the pacemaker clinic has to say.

 

[Drago]

I'm away for a few days atm so no riding. It will interesting to hear what the pacemaker clinic has to say.

A pacemaker clinic?

Nurse. "Im sorry Mr Colly, but you've caught a dose of pacemaker again."

Colly. "Blimey, what'll I tell the missus?"

 

[stephec]

Trouble is, when your main sport is cycling and you are not interested in 24/7 data collection it makes the device little more than just a watch.

I also found other shortcomings in the Garmin system eg it kept automatically recording me as having afternoon snoozes and you couldn't disable that detection and couldn't delete the snooze events from the Garmin Connect record. (I don't snooze during the day).

How do you manage that?

I'm top class at being lazy but my Fenix 6 Pro has never shown me as having a nap, no matter how long I sit still for.

It does occasionally record a cycling event when I've done an hour of gardening though. 😂

 

[stephec]

I have a bedside device which speaks to the pacemaker. It's got a dingle which sends the data. I'm not sure how much information it collects or how often it transmits it though.

You keep your dingle to yourself thank you very much. 😂

It sound a bit like my lad's, every couple of months a light on the base unit will flash when the clinic want a download, and he has to sit next to it for a few minutes until it completes the transfer.

 

[ColinJ]

I was reading the manual for my sister's electric chainsaw this afternoon. It had warnings about the significant risks involved with getting body parts too close to active chainsaws (really?!! ), but what I didn't expect to see was a warning that electromagnetic fields from the chainsaw motor might adversely affect implanted medical devices such as pacemakers...

 

[ColinJ]

@colly - any word about getting the upper HR limit set to something vaguely realistic?!

I will put off the Garforth forum ride for a few weeks to give both you (and me!) a chance to prepare for it. If you can't make it this time though, don't worry - I will do it again in the autumn.

 

[colly]

@colly - any word about getting the upper HR limit set to something vaguely realistic?!

I will put off the Garforth forum ride for a few weeks to give both you (and me!) a chance to prepare for it. If you can't make it this time though, don't worry - I will do it again in the autumn.

So I am out cycling and to be fair its going ok. I did 40 miles on Monday and it felt really comfortable most of the way. One place where I has a sense of being restricted but I can recognise the signs and rather than press it I just ease off.
I'll be calling them in the morning to see what gives from the 24hr monitor I had.
So make arrangements to suit you and ill fit in with your plans.👍

 

[ColinJ]

So I am out cycling and to be fair its going ok. I did 40 miles on Monday and it felt really comfortable most of the way. One place where I has a sense of being restricted but I can recognise the signs and rather than press it I just ease off.
I'll be calling them in the morning to see what gives from the 24hr monitor I had.
So make arrangements to suit you and ill fit in with your plans.👍

That sounds promising - I'll get back to planning. I want to do a ride longer than 3 hours before Garforth - that's the longest that I have ridden since November so I want to make sure that I am okay for about double that.

 

[colly]

Just an update seeing as I've just had a 1 year review.
My pacemaker was adjusted to not interfere until my pulse hits 181.
So it is set at 180bpm. When it hits 181 it will ......quote....'drop like a stone'.
Well around 14 years ago I tested myself and determined my max heart rate was 185. So 14 years on I very much doubt I can get anywhere near that even if I tried. And I have no intention of trying.

At the moment Im riding just fine with no issues. I do run out of steam but that's the years catching up. ☹️

 

[ClichéGuevara]

 

[colly]

View attachment 824890

Wouldn't be the same though would it?

 

[MotivationSeeker]

Great update, glad the new setting means you are riding without issues now. The detail about pacemakers being tuned for the average person and struggling with cycling being a smooth activity was really eye opening.

 

[ColinJ]

Just an update seeing as I've just had a 1 year review.
My pacemaker was adjusted to not interfere until my pulse hits 181.
So it is set at 180bpm. When it hits 181 it will ......quote....'drop like a stone'.
Well around 14 years ago I tested myself and determined my max heart rate was 185. So 14 years on I very much doubt I can get anywhere near that even if I tried. And I have no intention of trying.

At the moment Im riding just fine with no issues. I do run out of steam but that's the years catching up. ☹️

Brilliant! I was wondering if they had sorted it out yet. I couldn't get close to that HR nowadays. Mid-160s causes me problems so I try to avoid pushing myself much beyond 155.

I will nip over to that Garforth thread and give you my update about our planned ride there.

 

[kingrollo]

Two years ago while out for an early morning ride and making for home, I woke up, on the grass verge, confused and dizzy and wondering what had happened. Long story cut very short, my heart had missed a beat, probably several. From my Wahoo readings I was out for around 4 mins or so. But wouldn't you know the battery in my chest strap was dead so I have no recordings of my pulse at all.
I went through A&E and had every scan known to man, Cat Scan, MRI, another one I can't recall the name of, echocardiogram, umpteen ECG readings, but no real evidence of much amiss. I went home the folowing day with a 7 day HRM fitted.
So after the results were in It was suggested I may need a pacemaker fitted. I do have raised BP. The suggestion was that the signal from the top of the heart was not being sent effectively to the bottom chamber. As a consequence the bottom chamber wasn't beating in co-ordination with the top one.
The solution I was told was a .... pacemaker!
I was reluctant tbh. I spoke to the consultant and he was understanding and wasn't at all pushy about me accepting I needed one. However I had another spell of dizziness while at home and realised it clearly wasn't a one off event. It also, I realised, had an effect on my mental state in that I was riding far less often and was prone to finding excuses not to ride.
Anyway last November I had a pacemaker fitted. No issues with the surgery at all and after I had healed I was given the all clear to carry on as usual, including cycling if I so wanted.
In the New Year I was back out and it was all ok. No worries about keeling over and even though I had lost a good bit of fitness I was set fair.

Up until April that is.

I was out and climbing through a village up a short sharp climb and seemed to be like bloody hard work, I mean like it was 25% rather than the 9% that it was. I glanced down and saw my HR was in the mid 60s. Pulling over it felt like the end of a long days hard cycling. I was whacked out. I made for home.

I was given an appt. at the pacemaker clinic first thing the following morning, where the settings on the device were altered. Twice more I have been back so the settings can be adjusted to try to stop this happening. Then last week, after the third visit, I was given a 24 hour hrm to give them a better idea of whats going on. I was asked to go on a typical ride and make a note if anything similar happened again. (i'm not sure it did). I'm awaiting the results now.

What it seems to me, to be happening (as it did yesteday morning), is that when my body is calling for a greater heart rate the pacemaker is keeping it artificially low, or letting it climb and then suddenly restricting it. Plodding along on the flat I'm fine, but sometimes, not always, when it comes to a climb maybe even a gentle rise I begin to struggle.

To say its disconcerting is putting it mildly.

If any one here has had a similar experience I would be please to hear what your solution was. If any.

Edit: On my last visit there were two medicos, the pacemaker guy and I think a cardiac surgeon. He said that pacemakers in general are made for 'the average person'. Runners, cyclists and people who are active in later life are not 'average'. There are pacemakers that have in inbuilt motion sensor which can tell if a body is jogging etc, but cyclists pose a problem there too because the motion sensor won't pick up the motion because cycling is a smooth activity.

I guess it pays to be 'average'.

I know Facebook isn't everyones thing. But I would highly recommend joining the FB group cardiac athletes.

I've switched to an e bike after my HA which I would highly recommend. It just flattens those hills.

 

[colly]

I know Facebook isn't everyones thing. But I would highly recommend joining the FB group cardiac athletes.

I've switched to an e bike after my HA which I would highly recommend. It just flattens those hills.

Thanks for the recommendation. Facebook though .......................plague territory, I avoid it like the .......................err, plague?