Does anyone ever have days where you can “feel pacing” more than any other day?

Pacer beats

by Rosenberger5 - 2021-08-04 18:07:18

Cyborgheart90 to be honest with you, I am a newbie here myself. I have only had my pacer for four months and am still learning. I have experienced the same thing. I don't know what is normal anymore since all I get from my doctor is well.. basically nothing. I have learned to live with it although some nights it is hard to sleep bc I feel it constantly. I move around trying to find positions that make it not so noticeable. Here's what I know. It isn't going to kill me. I am not much help, but you are certainly not alone. 

Rosenberger5

by Cyborgheart90 - 2021-08-04 20:12:15

@Rosenberger5

Thank you for your reply! We're new, but we're slowly learning! :)

I'm with you on everything. I've had my fair share of issues and ER visits since getting my pacemaker only to be told everything is normal. 
 

As far as what you're facing goes, have you gotten your settings adjusted? I went through a point where I was feeling the pacemaker with every movement I made and no one would listen to me until I eventually went to the ER and the doctor there happened to have a St. Jude rep nearby. She came to checkout my settings and realized I needed quite an adjustment. She also told me that I'm very sensitive to pacing which is why I was feeling it with every move I made.

I'd suggest asking for an adjustment if you haven't already!

take care!

Access to PM rep

by Persephone - 2021-08-05 00:21:39

Ah.... I think you hit the nail on the head there, Cyborg, about access to the PM rep - I think it is possible that the EP/cardiology practices that we rely on may not fully understand the capabilities of the devices we have, especially as new devices come on the market.  My EP practice would likely be considered fairly advanced (Johns Hopkins affiliate).  They are trying to plan a "Biotronik clinic" where a rep will work with each of us with a PM of that make.  The goal of this would be to "tune" each person's PM, and I know this will help everybody going forward into the future because the local staff will then be better trained and equipped to know what settings to consider tweaking, but it's still kind of frustrating that there seems to be a general lack of understanding. We'll see if this clinic actually happens.  

Reps

by ROBO Pop - 2021-08-05 21:29:44

Are you guys serious? You call that advanced? I've been at this 15 years and we've always had a pool of all device mfr reps who are present during in office interrogations and they do the programming. They also set up your device during implant. In my case a nurse practitioner handles interrogations and programming but she's as skilled as the mfr reps and when theres a issue she doesn't know they come to the office. Can't imagine otherwise.

Yes, this is what we deal with

by Persephone - 2021-08-05 23:16:28

...at least what I deal with - device reps are not routinely present - I've seen one twice over 3.5 years, once at implant and once after I asked for a stress test.  I realize that is not a bad record given covid, but no, the reps are not there on a routine basis unless specifically requested.

Manufacturer's Reps

by AgentX86 - 2021-08-06 00:57:04

They aren't around my cardiologist's device clinc but they are if I go downtown to my EP's office. The hospital is the Medtronic rep's only customer.

The locals aren't bad at all but sometimes get stumped so call the mothership at Medtronic, where they have specialists or every device.  The last time got to be a circus. She couldn't set the clock right. She got the time to match local time by setting it an hour off but DST was set  properly, too. She chased her tail for a while then called a specialist. They were able to walk through the possibilities and finally get it right (Y2K, anyone?) . I don't understand the problem completely but it was something set improperly before implant.