Thud on right hand side

Dear all,

I had a dual chamber pace maker fitted a fortnight ago (thank you for all the messages of support beforehand - they made a genuine difference in keeping me calm).

I have two questions that I would be grateful for any comments on.
(1) Over the last 24hours, I've noticed that when I lay on my right hand side I get an occasional 'thud' on the right near the top of my ribs - it doesn't hurt, just like a little thud/ kick from inside. Could this be pacemaker related?
(2) I'm on my third day of a phased return to work and surprised at how tired I am. It's a fortnight since the op and doing four hours in the office. How long have others found post op tiredness has lasted?

Thank you,
Nicola

2 Comments

tired

by bluebowtye - 2014-09-11 10:09:08

Hi Nicola,

I do not know about the thud you are experiencing, hopefully someone else might have an idea.

Not sure how long a "fortnight" is but I was still really tired for quite some time following my implant. I went back to work after 2 1/2 weeks and those first few days were really hard! I get up early and 2 days before hand I set my alarm at my normal time and forced myself to get up and take my shower and stuff so I would be fairly used to it when I did have to start work again. Each day got a little better as my body adjusted. The best advice I can give is listen to your body and get lots of rest when you feel tired. I tried not to overdo it and after about a month I was starting to feel more like my old self. I still have some bad days where I don't feel that great, but I'm not sure it's always because of my pacer.

Good luck to you and hopefully you start feeling better soon!

~Sheila

Educated guess

by PacerRep - 2014-09-11 11:09:12

That "thud" is probably just ventricular pacing. There is no way for us to answer this for you from where we sit. When you lay on your right side, you maybe angling your heart just enough to where the sideways beat of ventricular pacing feels like a bit of a "flutter". At your next pacemaker check, have the technician pace your ventricles and lay on your right side and see if you can replicate it.....I'm sure everything is fine, about 10% of patients can feel Ventricular pacing.

You know you're wired when...

You fondly named your implanted buddy.

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