Pace maker for syncope/bradycardia; what to expect if the battery is really running low?

What does your Mom's cardiologist suggest?  Is he/she okay with your Mom's desire not to have a new pacemaker battery put in?  The procedure is done as an outpatient surgery and the person usually can go home a few hours after the battery (and any wires) are changed.

What does the cardiologist say about how the new battery or new wires or new pacemaker will affect your Mom's "end stage congestive heart failure"?  Will a new battery make your Mom more comfortable the last days of her life?  Why does your Mom not want a new pacemaker battery, does she think that it will prolong her life (and prolong her "misery and/or suffering")?  Does she think that if she does not get a new pacemaker battery that she will die sooner?

You need to talk to your Mom's cardiologist and get more information about how her pacemaker is affecting her life currently and how a new pacemaker battery will affect her life in the future.  If your Mom's heart is not responding to the pacemaker's electrical impulses like it should, then it might not help to have a new pacemaker battery inserted.

This is a difficult situation and I hope that you can assist your Mom to choose an option that will allow her to be comfortable during her remaining days.  {{{Hugs}}} and Prayers

My aunt has Parkinson’s and is on hospice. Her doctor advised she replace her battery as it would cause a more difficult death....not an earlier death if she didn’t. Please speak to her cardiologist before making this decision. A new battery does not keep her alive longer.

Do u realize what it means to have a battery put in. She will need to be opened up to put a battery into the pacemaker. Then closed up again. There will be some discomfort. Maybe Mom doesn't want to go thru this.

I agree though, that a talk with her dr maybe good. My daughter has had patients die and you can hear the pacemaker clicking.

Pacemaker battery and BP have nothing to do with one another. The low BP likely due to CHF medications. Why doesn't she want the battery change? It is in and out surgery. It isn't anything like when they put it in and had to place the leads. It is a simple cut, take out the pacer, slip in the new one and off she goes. My partner just had his third change, in a 7 and out at 12 noon. Is she saying she actually WANTS to die now, and this is a way she feels to get there?
As to the life left in the battery are you her POA for health care. A quick trip to MD office will measure exactly how much life is left in the battery.
As to what happens if she doesn't have it. That depends. If she takes a lot of meds that slow her heart rate, atenolol, beta blockers, digoxin (which almost no one takes anymore) and etc. then her heart may slow so much that it cannot sustain her and she will slip away. More likely is that, unless she had a profoundly slow rate, she will go on. Syncope is difficult to assess as to what causes it and frankly it is usually low blood pressure from medications. My partner got his pacer to enable him to take meds he needed to slow his rapid atrial fib without slowing his heart to a stop because he had a slow beat anyway.
I would explain to her first how EASY this surgery is. I would ask her if she is WILLING to or WANTING to die. It would not be a terrible death as death goes.

My mother doesn’t have doctors anymore as she is on hospice. (I did mention it in my above question). She takes minimal meds. Lasix and Metazolone for her edema, metoprolol and magnesium. She has a nurse twice a week, and a CNA to help her 2 times a week. Also a social worker and a spiritual advisor. I found her card from when she had the PM surgery and it was almost 10 yrs ago. Jan 2020 will be the 10 yr mark). She also has persistent afib, valve problems that are probably getting worse, end stage macular degeneration (very bad and limited vision) and her mobility is not as good anymore.

She signed a dnr when she first went on hospice. At that time, she couldn’t walk 2 feet without running out of breath. While she is a little better now due to comfort care, she says she has had a good life and she misses everyone who passed before her. She is not depressed. I just don’t know what to expect when the battery starts to really run down. Maybe it is and I just don’t recognize this. I wanted to find out if anyone had experience with this situation. I plan on continuing to let her make her own decision about it. If she wants to do it, I will accept her wishes and bring her to the doctor for assessment. If she gets the PM, she will be dropped from hospice as hospice sees this as treatment. But they can pick her up again if she declines further - even after the PM replacement.

The only way to check the pacemaker battery is for the cardiologist to perform a "battery check" in his/her office.  Just because the pacemaker battery is 10 years old does not mean that it is running low.

Have you talked to your Mom's cardiologist about your concerns and asked him/her what the signs are of a pacemaker battery failing and how it will/might affect your Mom?