Sorry you're having a rough time of it. It can be rough and depressing if you let it get the best of you. All I can advise is to keep pressing your Cardiologist and/or Electrophysiologist to investigate other options for you. One new one on the market is a drug called Entresto. They've had some incredible results with that and rushed it to market because of the results they were achieving in the study. Still, no guarantees, didn't work for me. FYI I'm in the same boat and have been for far longer than anyone expected so you can do it too.

My guess is that your device was implanted primarily for a low EF and the risk of Sudden Cardiac Arrest. What that means is that the pacemaker is almost certainly set to pace your heart on demand. Therefore it's idle most of the time and your natural pacemaker takes care of the beats. My point is that situation the pacemaker function is not going to make you fell better, the device is there for safety backup. Sometimes the medical community oversells these things. I have a CRT-D, which is what you have on steroids, and I am paced 100% of the time.

I walk as often as I can and when I reach my limit sit until I recover sufficiently to move on. Like you I am short of breath, light in the loafers and struggle daily with even simple tasks. May I suggest you check into Mended Hearts. It's a volunteer group of heart patients who provide support to one another and just a shoulder when you need it. It's great because it's peer to peer support. They are located all over the US and in some regions of Canada.

Good luck and if ever you have any specific questions let me know.

Thank you so much for the info. My heart beats too fast thats why they gave me the pacemaker to help so it down but they dont think it is helping. But I do tell my self all the time that it could be worse. I was also told a few weeks ago that I need to stop working its not good for me. I did apply for disability. But got denied. So we will see how that all goes. Thank you again and have a great day.

So are you talking about Tachycardia (fast heart beat)? and is it in the Ventricles or atrium?

Yes they said the left side of my heart beats too fast that is why they gave me a pacemaker so that the left side and the right side could work together but they say that they don't think the pacemaker is doing its job like I said I have 70% of my heart that is dead tissue and that's all on the left side

Okay, I realize you are new to this and don't understand all the vernacular but what you are telling us is shall we say confusing and not adequate to decipher what's going on.

I'm going to make some guesses and this could be lengthy, but hopefully help a bit.
Based on your comment about 70% dead tissue, I suspect your EF (Ejection Fraction) is 30% which would also make sense since they put in a defibrillator. The Ejection Fraction is the percentage of blood that gets pumped out of the left ventricle of the heart and to your organs. It gets confusing but that does not mean 70% of your heart is dead tissue. A normal heart can only pump between 55% and 70% of the blood out of the left ventricle. The actual amount varies by individual.

The Heart is composed of 4 separate chambers. The two top chambers are the right and left Atriums. The bottom two chambers are the right and left Ventricles. The left ventricle, which is usually the one doctors talk about is the chamber that pumps oxygen enriched blood out to the body's organs to feed them and keep them healthy.

Now if the fast heart rate is in the Atrium (upper chamber) then it is either Atrial Flutter, or Atrial Fibrillation. Again this can be uncomfortable but generally not dangerous. The big risk there is blood clots, and generally dealt with by blood "thinners" and or cardioversion. Cardioversion is when they shock the heart, stunning it momentarily then it goes back into a normal rhythm, called sinus rhythm.

I suspect the problem you have is Fast heart beats in the Left ventricle, which are called Ventricular Tachycardia. (Tachy meaning fast and Cardia meaning the heart) Not only is this uncomfortable for most people but there is the risk that it will cause the heart to go into Fibrillation. Fibrillation is where the heart just quivers, the beat is not strong enough to push blood out. The patient loses consciousness quickly and the heart stops which is called SCA (Sudden Cardiac Arrest). Only a small percentage of people who experience SCA survive without a defibrillator. So that is why they implant defibrillators.

There are several models of Defibrillators and some variation in what they can do. An S-ICD is a "subcutaneous implantable cardioverter defibrillator. This device is relatively new on the market and has limited capabilities, that is it cannot pace you. An ICD and it's big brother CRT-D (also known as a bi-ventricular icd or three lead device) have full capabilities including pacing.

Again I am just guessing based on what little information I can gleen from your post that they are using a feature known as ATP to control your fast heart rate. ATP is anti-tachycardia pacing and is just a fancy way of saying they are overdriving your heart to cause it to go back into a normal rhythm. In other words they pace it faster than it's beating then the device stops and hopefully your device will go back into sinus rhythm.

Okay that being said, ATP doesn't always work. In fact it never did for me. There are other options but it's a time consumming process to sort out what is going to work for you. One option is medications. Some people respond well and medication controls their irregular rhythms. Then there are Ablations. Its complex but basically they impede or stop the electrical flow from the node causing the problems.

I've probably confused you enough for awhile. May I suggest you visit either St. Jude's or Medtronics web sites and watch some of the videos they have to help you understand what's going on...it'll make it much easier for you to understand and communicate with your doctors.

Good luck to you.