Can too many leads cause symptoms?

I have not felt well since I had surgery for a lead fracture 2 months ago. The doctor did not remove the fractured lead and just added a new one. I now have 3 leads for my dual chamber pacer. 2 active leads and one not. I have yet to bounce back from this surgery and feel completely exhausted. I get a lot of fullness in my chest and a lot of palpitations. My heart seems to be going a lot faster than usual and even races up to 170 bpm's when I am asleep. I read the surgical report and there were multiple issues with getting the new lead in. There apparently was a lot of difficulty getting the lead passed certain parts. I was wondering if this tight fit could be why I have felt so bad since surgery?

1 Comments

Hi

by Gellia3 - 2012-08-11 07:08:35

Has your dr "tweaked" your settings since your surgery?

I also have an abandoned ventricle lead. When it was capped and sutured into place the sutures broke and it dropped forming this huge loop in my ventricle. Many of your issues could be that you need new settings. I found that out the hard way caused by a serious issue with "cross talk". Be sure your settings insure you from getting it. I believe they can fix this by turning the ventricle safety to the "ON" position and increasing the blanking phase slightly.

Also, the fullness feeling. Because the extra wire was a tight fit, have your dr check you for vena cava syndrome (Ultrasound with Doppler). Many times a tight fit causes the blood to have a harder time getting through those spaces in the vein. This causes a "back up" of blood and the feeling of fullness can occur along with the more serious problem of blood clots. Your arm would swell and ache. It could also turn a dusky blue if a clot is present.

I've had my three wires since 1982 and once we took care of the cross talk problem, it's been fine.

GOOD LUCK and I hope they can resolve your problem as easily as mine was.

My best to you,
Gellia

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