Nerve Pain Around Pacemaker

I'm scheduled to see my cardiologist in September to discuss my pacemaker replacement. But I'm having so many issues with nerve pain around my device. Last year, they had to up my voltage due to one of my leads being old and not working properly. That in itself is uncomfortable, but the nerve pain started in December and has steadily gotten worse. At this time, it hurts to touch the pacemaker area (especially under the collarbone where the leads are implanted in the vein), lift my left arm and the nerve pain is in my neck and runs down my arms. Has anyone else experienced this? I've had a pacemaker for 17 years and never had this issue, so I'm assuming it's the higher voltage. I've also been more physically active lately. I usually walk and do yoga, but have recently started jogging and lifting weights. Maybe that is contributing? Is this kind of nerve pain normal or should I call my cardiologist about it? I don't want to overreact, especially since I'll be going to my cardiologist in a few months. 

3 Comments

"Focused on the body"

by AgentX86 - 2022-06-29 14:59:28

Lavender,

Your intuition was right.  Find a new cardiologist.  A doctor should NEVER scream at a patient.  If he can't do any more for you, he can always fire you (just as you can fire him). If she's so concentrated on the body that she can't see the person, she has no buisness in medicine, at least the human face of the profession.  Let her be a surgeon or an administrator os something but she has no business seeing actual patients!

Your point about being your own advocate is right on.  Even the best doctor can miss things.  They're not you, they've not been on the other side of the pacemaker, and they don't live your life 24/7.  They can't know you as well as you do.

My cardiologist didn't do anything about dizziness episodes I had every month.  He simply didn't have an answer.  It went on until I collapsed in a full-on siezure. He was all over himself for not seeing it but he was looking for heart issues.  He doesn't deal in brains. It was likely caused by clots from thrown because of AF years before, though.

Doctors aren't perfect but there is no excuse for them yelling at a patient.

Nerve pain and pacemakers

by Selwyn - 2022-06-29 16:23:26

You may want to read the survey of our members with regard to pacemaker pain. 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5rlm7ot7squtkb2/Pacemaker%3AICD%20%20Pain%20survey.pdf?dl=0

There is no saying your pain is due to your pacemaker. It sounds that it has a mechanical origin, perhaps from a trapped nerve in your neck?. Worse when you lift your arm etc.

I think I would see someone about your neck before making a connection to your cardiology.  There seems to be little point in suffering further by a wait for a cardiologist, especially since you have had a PM for 17 years without problems. I proper medical examination should easily establish the origin of your pain.

 

 

Nerve pain/soreness/stretching around pacemaker site and arm/shoulders

by Mtwills39 - 2024-07-23 11:58:59

I have come to this site 8 weeks post pacemaker insertion and I am grateful for the results in the survey above - thanks for sharing Selwyn. So many of the symptoms and comments ring true with me. I am still experiencing pain and despaired with the NHS advice that this should only last a week (2-3 years later, the advice is still the same). I have sought guidance from a number of sources but this is the first time that I can see that I am not alone or abnormal. 

You know you're wired when...

You get your device tuned-up for hot dates.

Member Quotes

The pacer systems are really very reliable. The main problem is the incompetent programming of them. If yours is working well for you, get on with life and enjoy it. You probably are more at risk of problems with a valve job than the pacer.