Chest pain

Pacemaker fitted 10/11/20 pacemaker is apparently working fine, I have chest pain akin to having swallowed something too big also the sighting of the wires is uncomfortable, feeling like something is a bit sharp, anyone else have these symptoms?


4 Comments

Welcome

by quikjraw - 2020-12-30 11:09:37

Hi Rhona,

Welcome to the club I'm glad your PM is working well. I also had my PM fitted 10/11/2020.

I had a lot of very sharp pains for a couple of weeks but then that all disappeared so I wonder if the sharp pains can take longer to disappear in some people. I am sure my sharp pains were from damage to nerves. Maybe views from others may help on that.

As for chest pain I also have what I can only describe as a very low level indigestion type pain in the centre of my chest I suppose at about the sternum area. It tricks me into thinking I might be tight chested but I am not sure. Again I do not know if that is normal or not until others comment.

Reading that through again, I am not sure that fully helps you but maybe when others comment it might.

John

Chest pain

by Rhona - 2020-12-30 11:23:18

Thank you John it's really reassuring to hear other people having similar issues! I possibly want everything to be working well and feel good too quickly, I'm not really very patient with my self, I must learn to give things time to settle in, thank you for your coment. 
Rhona

Chest pain

by Gemita - 2020-12-30 17:41:55

Dear Rhona,

Am just a bit concerned about how you describe your symptoms.  I would hope they are perfectly normal after only 6 weeks, but you shouldn’t have this indigestion type feeling after this time.  Has it just recently come on or did you notice it immediately after the implant procedure?  My implant was carried out under a general anaesthetic so I had quite a lot of throat discomfort and indigestion type pain immediately afterwards, but this faded quickly.  Maybe a chat with your GP or your Cardiologist/EP by phone would be a good idea and you could describe your symptoms and let them decide whether you need to be seen.  Chest pain should never be ignored.

Also you say “the sighting of the wires is uncomfortable”.  I am assuming you mean the position of the leads/device is uncomfortable since if you were able to actually see the leads, you would be in trouble.  It can be normal to see the outline of the leads "under" the skin, but if leads protrude "outside" of the skin, this clearly would need immediate attention from your clinic.

Now that we have got the serious stuff out of the way, I see John has already given you some good advice.  During implant they can easily damage nerves, muscle tissue, blood vessels as they feed leads through veins.  All sorts of sensations can be felt afterwards and can take some time to heal.  I had sudden sharp pain symptoms around device going into upper left back plus pressure type pain across collarbone into left shoulder.  I was quite uncomfortable for at least up to 6 weeks.  Some may take 3 months or longer to heal.  It is so individual.

I found sleeping on my pacemaker side impossible without wedging a pillow under my chest for support.

I hope you will soon be more comfortable 

Chest pain

by Rhona - 2020-12-31 11:11:00

Hi Gemita thank you for the reply, the leads can't be seen but are a bit scratchy under the skin, I have mention the chest pain to my cardiologist and after having my heart scanned they assure me all is ok, so that is good news. Hopefully the chest pain will settle soon, I will keep the cardiologist informed of the constant pain so I can be monitored

thank you again

Rhona

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