Fell Flat on My Chest

One week ago, I took a hard fall. I went down on my knee caps, my arms flew out so I did not break the fall, and I landed flat on my chest. The following day, I had some discomfort to the left of my pacemaker, towards my armpit. Each day the pain has become greater and has now traveled towards the center of my chest. It is painful to cough, laugh, sneeze, blow my nose, reach with my left arm, and take a deep breath. At first it felt like someone punched me. Could I have damaged the muscle that the pacemaker is attached to? I have an appointment with my cardiologist in a few days, but my hubby wants me to go to the ER or urgent care center. I am less likely to hit the panic button, but I don't want to be stupid either. Does anyone have a similar experience/pain? Thanks.

3 Comments

I would go to urgent care or to ER

by Gemita - 2020-07-05 15:23:57

hello IZZY'S MOM,  

I would say your hubby, on this occasion, is absolutely right.  Don't try to be brave.  If you came down heavily and landed flat on your chest you should be evaluated by doctors in ER for any potential bone fractures, muscle or other injuries.  They will do any imaging necessary and hopefully not find anything serious needing intervention but if they do, the earlier treatment is started, the better. For peace of mind and for your own well being, please consider going as soon as possible.

Your cardiologist, with due respect, is not an appropriate doctor to see about a fall unless you feel your fall was somehow related to your pacemaker/heart condition ?  If this was the case, you would still benefit from an ER visit first.  When you see the cardiologist in a few days you will hopefully have a diagnosis from ER and it will then be for your cardiologist to see whether the fall has caused any other damage to your pacemaker or leads.  I wish you well

Check your pacemaker

by Protimenow - 2020-07-06 22:29:34

I can't tell you no to go to the E.R. This would be irresponsible in case anything more than sore muscles are involved. 

I suspect that your muscles and tissue are probably sore from the fall. This stuff takes a while to radiate out, which sort of explains the radiating pain. 

What you might want to do is take your pulse - fingers on wrist work, but fingers on neck may be even better. If your heart rate is close to (or exactly) what your doctor set the PM to do, you probably haven't damaged the PM or the leads. 

If multiple pulse tests are consistently lower than your PM settings, it's possible that you may have damage to a lead - or it got pulled out 

If you don't go to the E.R., it'll be interesting what your cardiologist has to say about this when you see her.

cracked rib

by dwelch - 2020-07-08 01:12:12

Could be a cracked rib I had that once and it got worse over a few days and got to where breathing hurt so bad I couldnt do much of anything, so went to the E.R.  They couldnt fix it but I probably got some pain meds.

its a bad year to go to docs, but if it is getting worse it is getting worse, gotta do something.

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Member Quotes

I'm 35 and got my pacemaker a little over a year ago. It definitely is not a burden to me. In fact, I have more energy (which my husband enjoys), can do more things with my kids and have weight because of having the energy.