Most Recent Messages in General Posting

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Firefighter fights back, With the help of brother firefighter.

I thought I was invincible, but 4 weeks ago the Department Doctor took me off the engine because I was missing a heart beat, Slow heart rate below 30 BPM, and then it would race to 144 BPM. On a Friday night I got a call, (Friday afternoon 4:30 PM) from my new doctor who said I needed a pacemaker and he would be doing it next Monday. To say the least I had a lot of questions and did not have time to get them answered ,the most important ones would I ever ride an engine again (32 Years on the j...

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Ablation

Hello All!

I just came home from the hospital after having an AV Node Ablation. I went in for an EP Study last week, and nothing was found to ablate, but then on Wednesday night I had one of my episodes of fast heart rate and it didn't slow down on it's own like usual.
I called my doc first thing Thursday morning and she wanted me to go to the hospital for treatment and observation. When I got to the hospital, I was taken straight to Diagnostic Prep where my doctor was waiting f...

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some can...

So a man went to jail, and he was in his cell, when someone said 34, and the whole hall erupts in laughter. The man asked his cellmate what was so funny. he answered, '' Well, weve all been here so long, that instead of telling the jokes, we numbered them. try it.''. so the man says ''72'', and everyone is silent. the man asked his cellmate what was wrong, and he answered '' well, some can tell 'em, and some can't''.

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high ventricular rates

Hallo,
I received a copy of the EGM yesterday that my pacemaker recorded. It was recording for 32 days. It showed 8 episodes of ventricular rates between 125 -133 pm. All of them fell into the same time period of a few days, and they happened in the evenings. Strange thing is that I never felt any of them.
I have sick sinus syndrome and have a pacemaker for bradycardia, but I never had tachycardia until after a ear surgery on Jan. 16th.
At that time my cardio put me on Metoprol...

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PM motion detector in 1 year old

Our son is about to have his motion detector turned on in his PM next week. Currently he has CHD which required pacemaker implant at 10 mos of age after two open heart surgeries at 4 days and at 4 mos of age. Over the past month he has not been very active when awake and we think that it is because his active heart rate has been between 80 - 100 bpm. His current PM is set to respond at 80 because he went bradycardic when he slept.

Is there anything that we should be aware of from...

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How to read EGM

Hallo my pm friends,
I had my cardio appointment today. Thanks to all the great posts on this site, I was able to ask him a lot of questions and he spend more time with me as usual.
when i was hosptialized end of January , the techs turned on the EMG function of my PM. It was read a month later, but nobody explained to me what it meant or how to read it.
If someone has some knowledge about this, could you please sent me a private message. Perhaps someone can help me figure it out....

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Positive renforcement

Hey guys! I know everyone is tired of hearing this, but I just absolutly LOVE this site! Everyone here has their own interesting story and we have all survived an almost certain death. So if there are any doctors or nurses out there, I just want to say thank you. Oh, I am still looking for quote "donations", so if you have any good ones, please drop me a line (no pun intended). Here's one to ponder:

"Know the true value of time; snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it. No idelnes...

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Peter Nash

Just had to tell you you must be so proud of the twins! The picture of your planes! I just love them! Great Job!

Take care,

Amy

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nervous and anxious

I just got my pacemaker 2 weeks ago. I am nervous and anxious about going back to work because I am surrounded by office machines. Any suggestions?

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Stressed

I am so stressed because I am so afraid my ICD will go off. I have had it for 3 months. Any ideas on how to relieve this stress?

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ICD fired

I am ok I wanted all to know. Just got home from the ER with a new med and new settings. must sleep now. Thanks jessie, plumer and saphire for your late night chat!! your all great.

Tammy I will tty be calm, sisters, now go to work.
Tiara

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Sales donations to other countries, not the U.S.

I'm rather upset. I was checking out "two lives saved" in the latest news box on the right of the page.
It says how a Pacemaker Club donates a portion of sales to Heartbeat International, a non-profit charity who implants pacemakers and defibrillators free-of-charge in patients from developing countries. Developing Countries? What the heck is wrong with helping those who can't afford PM or defibrillators right here in our own country, United States of America.
Don't get me wrong, I'...

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Welcome!

I wanted to welcome all the knew people and ask that you would post your birthday and pm/icd birthday or private message me with it.
I have not been on much lately but hopefully soon my energy level will get back up to par. Has anybody heard from miss Valerie lately?
My thoughts and prayers are with you all.

Blessings and love,
Tammy

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Talk about attitude!

Thanks to all those who sent welcomes and encouragement. Talk about terrific attitudes! It's a relief to be able to talk about how things "really are" rather than joking and reassuring family, friends and co-workers so that they are not freaked out.

Just when I think I'm back on track, I'll have a day where I feel "off" or tired again. My husband tries to understand exactly what "off" means, but as you all know, it's a concept that's pretty much indescribable to those not battery oper...

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Electrolytes

I take diuretics & potassium to control my edema due to Congestive Heart Failure. When my potassium & sodium levels are out of balance, I get really bad cramps and have to go to the hospital to get balanced out. Has anyone else experienced this?

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Atrial Fibrillation research study

The Los Angeles Times several days ago carried an ad which said that Cardiologists nationwide are participating in a research study to determine the safety and effectiveness of a single investigational procedure for the management of Atrial Fibrillation, People are eligible to participate if they have been diagnosed with symptoms of irregular heartbeat and medication has been unsuccessful. The phone number for Pacific Heart Institute is given as (866) 629-4466
or www.cardiofocus.com

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Guidant

Hi Anyone

Just read Carol's posting about her rep for the PM. Does anyone know if there is a Guidant Rep and whether they have the same knowledge.

Would just like to get rid of the odd heart beat and maybe a rep from Guidant would know.

By the way really pleased for you Carol. Fantastic.

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Thanks for your prayers and wishes

Hi PM Pals

Thank you for your wonderful messages and prayers. About two hours ago I arrived home from the hospital with Brian. He looks heaps better although his legs are still an awful site. The initial diagnoses was Henoch Scholein Purpura. Brian became very confused and had a raging temp on Sunday so we took him to emergency. They did four biopsies from various places on his leg to find out what was wrong as they were not sure what the problem was. He was lapsing in and out o...

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pacemaker for 31 years

I just wanted to post here and see if anyone had question about having a pacemaker I might could help...Im a 31 year old mother of 2 and have had a pacer since i was 1day old...
I done not know life without it... but I do know how to live with it...I had 9 pacer replacements...(some due to broken wires..oops)
I started old school style with a soap dish on my side.... then when I was in hight school i was able to get the smaller on my shoulder. I can not go without it. Im 100% dependen...

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My Medtronic Rep....Priceless!

Hi all,
I began this journey on October 1st last year having had a Medtronic Dual Lead PM placed rather unexpectedly as many of you have. From the beginning I felt lousy....with symptoms that were very much like what I thought PM Syndrome would feel like (after much Googling on the subject). I couldn't walk 50 steps before feeling short of breath, palpitations, irregular heart beats, hot flushes, etc. I repeatedly contacted my Dr.'s office and Nurses in the PM Clinic. Mind you, I was al...

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