New Pacemaker

New PM

by AgentX86 - 2020-07-25 21:33:54

Welcome to the club (that you have no interest in having become a member).

Yes, these sorts of sensations are perfectly normal.  From your description is't kinda hard know exactly what's going.  What you say describes so many things it's hard to know exactly what's going on.  However a few of them...

It sometimes takes a little while for the heart to get used to being paced.  Sometimes PACs and/or PVCs are common for a while.  Spasms in your shoulder/colarbone/upper arm are also a common occurance for some days.  You've juse been cut open in a place where there are a lot of nerves going to your shoulder and arm.  Often these are damaged and take some time to regrow.  You'll find some of these sensatoins in the weeks to months ahead.  Just chalk it up to an adventure.

A bit of housekeeping, please fill out your profile so we know something about you when you have questions.  Putting information in your profile avoids having to copy the same information when you ask questions.

Welcome to the pacemaker world

by Gemita - 2020-07-26 06:43:37

Hello James,

I would say it is very normal to have a few noticeable palpitations following your pacemaker implant.  I would actually go as far as saying it would be very unusual not to experience these disturbances following your procedure.

My heart was very angry at first and I experienced a worsening of my ectopics and other more significant arrhythmias but after a short period everything calmed down and my heart seemed less troubled.  A pacemaker implant for some of us can be traumatic and it can take time to recover and heal from the procedure and for our hearts to get used to being paced.

Do speak to your doctors though if your palpitations are really uncomfortable and worry you, or last for a long time.  They may decide to monitor you for a short while or to start low dose meds to see if this might help.  No doubt you will have the usual post implant pacemaker check soon when you can discuss these problems with your doctor/technician.  Good luck and I hope everything turns out well for you.

Yeah, it's normal

by Theknotguy - 2020-07-26 09:57:16

As the previous two post say, what you are going through is normal.  Things you should be looking for are unusual hot spots in the incision area, being too hot or too cold.  (Sweating or hands feeling like ice.)  Then you may have an infection.  Doesn't happen that often but it does happen.  

At the implant time they keep the voltage on the pacemaker higher.  I'm one of the more sensitive type people and would sometimes feel the tickle of the pacemaker starting a heartbeat followed by the hard thump of my heart.  At or about 90 days out they dropped the voltage and I only occasionally feel  something now.  You can check with your EP and see if that is the case for you.  

My heart didn't like being told what to do by the pacemaker.  Only way I can describe it.  I had had an irregular heartbeat for years and it felt really strange to feel a steady, regular heartbeat.  So my heart decided about six weeks out to have a temper tantrum and went into afib with RVR.  Another trip to the hospital to get that fixed.  After that my heart settled down to the new reality.  I say it this way because I (in my mind) didn't mind the new, regular heartbeat but my heart sure didn't like it.  Now, at almost seven years out, most of the time I don't even notice what the pacemaker is doing.  

After the surface incision heals there is additional healing of the underlying tissue.  Some people report feelings like "ant bites", others will have unexplained sharp pains that last for up to a couple of minutes, and some get really bad itching.  All normal as the underlying tissue heals and the nerves regenerate.  I work in a charity wood shop building furniture.  I'd be OK as I was working but the next few days it would feel like someone had wrapped my pacemaker in sandpaper and scrubbed it around in the pocket.  And that was nine months out.  So you may experience something like that.  But as long as you aren't running a fever, probably everything is going OK.

Welcome to the club you didn't want to join.  Hope your adjustment to your pacemaker goes well.  
 

Reactive pacemaker

by AgentX86 - 2020-07-26 12:19:07

Since no one has commented on this. Even though I'm pacemaker dependent, my pacemaker will only trigger a beat only if my heart doesn't start it on its own. It's the way they work. The difference is that your pacemaker ony supplies a small percentage of beats,  where mine produces 100%, give or take a PVC here or there.