First event

I have had my ICD for five years now, and just last week I had my first experience with my device. The first shock felt almost like a shock wave hit me from behind. I went to the ground and realized fairly quickly what had happened. Although I felt pretty well after the first shock, my device shocked me an additional 3 times. I was taken to the hospital and kept overnight for tests the following day. Apparently the device arrested racing in my left ventricle. That is what it was put in place to do. My concern is that it shocked me 4 times. I am eager to hear if anyone else has receive multiple appropriate shocks and what their experience has been with the aftermath. I have a follow-up appointment with my cardiologist next week, but I would like to hear from those who have had similar experiences. I am very curious to know how common it is to receive multiple appropriate shocks and what that might mean for me.

4 Comments

ICD

by Grateful Heart - 2013-06-03 08:06:33

I've had mine for almost 5 years too, but no shocks. I'm sorry that happened to you. I hope they get to the bottom it for you.

Take care,

Grateful Heart

4 shocks

by anniesu - 2013-06-09 02:06:17

Hi yes I experienced 4 shocks one right after the other..It didnt knock me down but it hurt so bad almost like a lightning bolt had hit me in the chest and also me letting out a yelp each time...It was a bad experience ..The lifeline was called and by the time they got there I was fine and they checked it and said it was ok and I refuesed to go to the hospital ...went on with my evening then called the dr the next day...Mine was set wrong and they had to raise it to over 200 before it would kick in again...They didnt expect me to be so
active and it was set at 150 heartrate for it to kick in..I was going to have it shut off because I dont want it to happen again it hurt so bad..But,,now if the heartrate gets up to 200 It needs to kick in for sure or guess I sure could die...But, there was 4 shocks before it controled it and guess that is somthing we dont want to got thru again...But it sure could save your life.

39 shocks

by Brit50 - 2013-06-16 03:06:32

Yep 39 shocks before I was at hospital where they were able to use bigger shock to cardiovert. At each shock I thought I would soon be dead. I believe this extreme occasion caused my heart to form channels which sent electrical pulse in wrong direction/loop every now and again. Anyway, I went into VTach 3 more times. AICD was not able to cardiovert completely, but it gave me enough time to get to hospital where once again the bigger current cardioverted. They then decided to ablate the ventricle. I went through hell for nearly a year. Docs said nothing. They even suggested I might be crazy. I now realize this was merely the heart trying to get back to normal. I would presume that when they ablate they cause the heart to become inflamed and it needs time to rest. If anyone else is going through this or may be getting the op, I can help.
Even now a year later I fight the docs to stay pro active. A 48hr holter monitor showed up some VTach sustained for 34 beats. Does this mean I might need another ablate any time soon. Stats are not good for ventricle ablation.

I appreciate the input

by jaxgene - 2013-06-16 12:06:28

anniesu - thanks for your reply - i am not sure about the higher "kick-in" settting - i know that my pacemaker attempted to cardiovert me by recoganizing the vt and having my heart beat faster so the defibrillator would not have to intervene - i actually felt the pacemaker kick in, and obviously the device hit me when it didn't work - they changed the setting of my pacemaker to have it pace even faster to attempt to cardiovert if i go into vt again - the scripts i take actually doesn't allow my heartrate to go up with even extreme exercise very high - the only reason my heartrate would go high would be because i was experiencing vt - in short, the device definitely saved my life - they told there was a 64% chance that it would happen again within the next six months, so i can not drive for six months - that really sucks, but i understand it

brit50, i can't even imagine being hit 39 times - i am curious about the ablation - you said you thought it would "inflame" the heart - i am not sure why you would need to wear a halter monitor - they should be able to get all the info they need by interrogating your device - i am also very curious about your statement that "stats are not good for ventricular ablation" - please let me know more of what you mean by that

again - thanks very much for the input

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