“When is a pacemaker advised to a heart patient?”
My father has been advised to use a pacemaker but I am still not convinced that he needs it. He does have an abnormal heart rate, at times, but it doesn't happen often enough to warrant a pacemaker. When do you think one should get a pacemaker, in your opinion?
3 Answers
Pacemakers are indicated for symptomatic non-reversible bradycardia. If no or minimal symptoms are present, then the pacemaker is likely not warranted.
Paul Tucker M.D.
Paul Tucker M.D.
The best answer is that it depends on his symptoms. There are many people who tolerate low heart rates and they all don’t nees a pacemaker. The difficult aspect however is that many people don’t realize when they have symptoms, or don’t tell others. I would be concerned with dizziness, feeling like he is going to pass out, weakness, fatigue, or lack of energy. Also, if he has a rhythm that glows fast at times, being able to treat with the right medicines, it would benefit to have a pacemaker so the medications don’t make it go to slow. An easy objective evaluation is placing a monitor for an extended period of time- two weeks to a month or more to assess if his rate correlated with his symptoms and assess how frequently it occurs. I hope this helps.
A pacemaker should be recommended when one has symptomatic non-reversible bradycardia. So make sure he’s not on any medications that could slow down his pulse, and that his thyroid function is normal. In general, older patients tend to experience more symptoms of fatigue, loss of energy, dizzy spells or even fainting spells than younger patients, so you’d have to be sure that those symptoms correlate with a slow pulse, i.e have him wear a patient activated heart monitor so he can push the button when he has those symptoms.
