Pacemaker moving around

Getting the position right?

by DampDog - 2016-09-30 06:11:28

I've had mine in for a little while (Implanted 2/3/16) so just turned 6 months. I struggled to find a comfortable sleeping position for many weeks, I slept surrounded by all sorts or pillows, cushions and rolled up pajama tops. In the beginning I simply could not bear weight on my left side let alone sleep on it. Like you there was this feeling that the device had a life of its own and moved about a little on my chest. I still have days when it feels like that.

Though they are not heavy 80g or so, it does take quite some time to become used to the weight shifting as you move into different positions. At the moment I can manage a 3/4 roll onto my left side without discomfort and sleep better. I think it just takes time to get used to having the device, by time I feel months or more rather than weeks is the norm. I am reasonably skinny so in the beginning the "bump" where the device was felt and looked huge, but as it's healed and swelling has settled it's not as prominent as it was. Mine is pretty superficial anyway, I can see where the leads run and dive under may collar bone and that is still the area where it becomes sore.

Give yourself time to heal and get used to it. 6 months on I am just getting to the point to where I forget about it. What I do find is when I try to jog it becomes sore within 3-4 minutes so I end up stopping and cursing it because I used to enjoy jogging to try and keep fit. Likewise when in the garden if I do anything vaguely like real work it can become sore again for days at a time which is annoying. I guess you don't get anything for free so it's a mater of learning to live and adjust to the discomfort. Not sure how much truth there is in it but I was told if you have a slight frame and are on the skinny side they can be harder to live with than if you have a bigger frame and the device can just disappear beneath the flesh.

By chance I mowed the lawn the day before last and mine has been pretty sore since. How long it takes before you can do “normal” things before not feeling it I have no idea. I guess as we are all different there is no set-answer as to whether we even get there.

Thanks!

by jjjxhhh - 2016-09-30 10:25:03

Such helpful responses. I can't thank you enough! I just started light exercise again last night and I feel it today--bad. so reading that you're 6 months out and still figuring it out is reassuring (though I can understand frustration, too!). 

Motion

by Cabg Patch - 2016-09-30 19:31:26

Any good surgeon will make a pocket and suture the device in place. They leave extra length in the suture so that you moving your arm will not tear it loose or cause excess pain. So some amount of movement is normal. My first device was in 9.5 years and up to the day it was explanted it was slightly sensitive to touch at the gaping festering pus filled wound...

Oops got carried away. Some sensitivity is normal...relax

movement

by Alma Annie - 2016-09-30 20:21:50

Had pm 5 years ago.  It is constantly moving at night as I (or my body insists) on lying on left side or stomach.  It often flips on end then flips down again.  I am somewhat thin so yes I can feel outline of pm and the leads stick out.  EP says not to worry as it is working well, I am 100% paced in atrium. Yes, the leads are often uncomfortable, but there is nothing I can do about that.

Alma Annie

Doh!

by DampDog - 2016-10-02 09:47:07

Having sort of gotten to the point where mine was comfortable for the majority of the time. I mowed the lawn mid week in a bit of a hurry to beat the rain. Since then my implant site has been pretty sore and has still not settled.(if anything it feels like it's getting worse) It does annoy me that I get to a point where I can forget it, then do something "normal" only to have it sore as hell for days at a time. How on earth do people manage to do anything that is even close to a normal level of activity without them becoming sore. I used to like jogging, but can't ever see me getting back to even a modest level. I'm really fed up with it at the moment, it feels like 1 step forwards a 2 steps back every few weeks.

pacemaker moving around

by fox30 - 2016-11-13 14:40:18

My BI V  PM  has over the last year ( one year old this month)  seeminly moved from a more subpectoral postion to one in which the top is clearly visisable and palpable under the skin. MY Ep not sure what that happened but I did have a pocket hematoma occuring late, one week after implantation. He said as long as it is not too uncomfortable and there is no infection  best to leave it along.But if it is too uncomfortable he will reimplant it. The risks of doing that is are simiar  to the original surgery mainy risk of infection , and pocket hematoma.  IT WILL HAVE TO BE QUITE UNCOMFORTABLE TO HAVE A REDO FROM MY POINT OF VIEW.The post op pain was bad,i developed a pulmonary embolism then a hematoma and then brief episode of atrial flutter.