A pacemaker is used to prevent the heart from beating too slow, or sometimes
to restore regular rhythm to the heart beats. A pacemaker by itself cannot prevent the heart from beating too fast,
although it will allow doctors to use medications to prevent the heart from going too fast.
The heart has a natural pacemaker, called the sinus node, which is located in the top of
the right atrium. Sometimes as people age, the natural pacemaker wears out, and either fires too fast, too slow, or
back and forth between the two. The electrical system can also stop working and no longer deliver electrical conduction
from the natural pacemaker to the rest of the heart. Sometimes the heart rate does not increase as it should with activity,
or suddenly slows down or pauses. Patient may pass out, feel dizzy, or fatigued. Some people have a bundle branch
block- this is failure of one of the conduction pathways in the heart. If both the left and right conduction pathways
fail, then heart block is diagnosed, and a pacemaker is usually needed to correct the problem.
