How to phrase this.... for the ladies?

bra trouble

by new to pace.... - 2023-04-06 10:40:23

You have to remember you are still swollen.  In time the swelling will go down.  Make sure you do not keep touching the pacemaker.

Yes in time you will not even notice the pacemaker.

new to pace.

Hugs💗🌸❤️‍🩹

by Lavender - 2023-04-06 11:29:28

It's early in the healing process. How you feel today is not related in any way to how you're going to feel in a few weeks. You will notice the pacemaker much less. You're still swollen. The pressure of the weight of your breast is pulling on the tissue up to including your collarbone area. 
 

Here is what I did:

I don't wear underwires. I took two older bras and cut off the strap just where it attaches to the cup. Then I moved it closer to the left arm and resewed it on to the cup about an inch or so further from where it used to attach. Hand sewed-you don't have to be a seamstress. 
 

This kept the strap off the pacemaker area. I wore those a long time but no longer do. I'm fine now with my regular bras. My incision site is a thin white line about an inch or so long. Not noticeable. I still wear v neck tops. 
 

You are doing great, girl! Be patient with the healing. You might try a soft ice pack near but not directly on the pacemaker to help. Put a small towel between the ice pack and your skin. Only leave on twenty minutes. 
 

My neck/collarbone area pulled too as I healed.
 

Teens are always embarrassed by their elders.  🤪

Sports bra

by Penguin - 2023-04-06 13:10:30

I had some pretty nasty swelling 2nd time round and bought a sleep bra, without wires, but with very wide soft straps more like a crop top but with the right level of support for me and probably for you too by the sounds of it.  It was from a UK manufacturer - Bravissimo - who specialise in DD+ sizes and I bought two and wore them night and day alternately, as I had the same 'pulling' feeling that you describe when turning over in bed in particular.  Sports bras with wide straps are also helpful and reduce 'bounce' if you can find a good one with super wide straps. I wore one of these once the wound had healed for comfort for several months and although the pulling feeling will stop, you may find a sports bra more comfortable than a conventional bra in the first few months if only to reassure you.  

The outline of the PM - yes, I hate this too. It does get less noticeable as time goes on and the swelling goes down, but you will be able to see it.   I'd liken it to looking like half a tennis ball in the first few weeks, which is very alarming, but then reducing to more of a raised outline and hump in the skin over time. It does take some getting used to and I get how you feel about it.  Take it one day at a time and allow yourself time to adjust to what's happened to you. 

it will get better

by Tracey_E - 2023-04-06 13:37:23

It will settle as it heals, this can take up to a year. During that time, it will get more comfortable and more inconspicuous.

I got front zip sports bras to wear while healing. Now, regular sports bras are fine for working out and regular bras are ok day to day. 

Skin deep

by Gotrhythm - 2023-04-07 15:26:53

Your problems as I'm sure you have gatherered from the comments above are not uncommon among those of the feminine persuasion. What they have said about swelling, healing, and sensitivity in the area are absolutely correct. Time and familiarity will take care of most of it.

But from your description, I think there might be a little more to consider. My clue was when you said, the problem happens even in the car when you go over potholes.

Talk about a problem that's skin deep! It is! Most of the time the pacemaker is implanted just under the skin.

Skin moves with every movement. That's almost too obvious to talk about. Like duh! But it's a problem for women because the skin of the chest also covers breast tissue that moves very differently from muscle.  It's an issue because pacemakers are intended to sense and react to movement.

Pacemakers--dare I say it?-- are a little bit stupid. The pacemaker should only react and speed up you heart to large body movements like, walking. But the dumb little darlings can't tell the different between the jiggle of boobiage and taking steps. So if you have a lot boobiage, you have a lot of movement, yes, even to potholes. The pacemaker says, HMM. A lot of action going on here. I need to increase the heartrate, quick.

You are not wrong. It is the pacemaker reacting to movement in the breast tissue. It's not dangerous, and nothing has gone wrong. But it can be disconcerting and until you understand what's happening darned unpleasant.

What to do? First of all, a bra that diminishes the amount of jiggle and swing helps. Second, when you go for your pacemaker check, tell them what's happening. It might be possible to alter the settings so that the feeling isn't so extreme.

But don't expect it to ever go away totally. Even men have this problem of movement (techincally vibration)  sometimes. It's all about how your pacemaker senses movement.

Feelings with the Pacemaker

by Indyglo - 2023-04-08 13:25:55

I had mine put in on  Feb. 17, 2023.   I was pretty careful for the first month.  My issue with the breast is when in bed, if I lay on my right side I feel like my breast pulls on the pacemaker and I bundle up my blanket to put under my breast.   The other issue is when I hear the alarm in the morning and get up really fast, if feels like my breast pulls doen on the pacemaker and I hold it until I am on my feet for a few seconds.   None of that is painful...just bothersome.  Overall, I am doing well...I cut the grass yesterday, 04-07-23.   HAPPY SPRING, HAPPY EASTER !!

Thanks - AGAIN.... :)

by Echoplex - 2023-04-12 16:28:21

So when I was sent home - I was literally only told "Don't lift elbow above shoulder, play golf or tennis or swim for 4 weeks, drive after 1 week, and get back to living your life" 

How long does it take to get used to this? hahahaha!

Sorry - having a bad day today - the incision is fine but I still don't like looking at it - but when I was out walking with my kids - the constant rubbing of my shirt near the incision site and the horrible jiggling sore sensation because of the breast tissue moving, made me really miserable and sorry for myself. Its like I have this super sensitive area the size of a quarter about 2cms south of the incision.
 
I also get like prickly pin and needles sensations on and off near (but not on) the incision site.... 

.... so I've been trying to live my life - hahaha.... but what I'm learning is that that advice - while nice and fluffy and optimistic - isn't necessarily true. 

I didn't know until my checkup at 10 days the WHY of not moving my left arm so much - and that seemed like an important detail. 

I hope I haven't done anything bad. 

sigh. Thanks again for the support though - I wish my hospital had offered some, but I'm on my own now. 

Wendy

Move that arm! (and give yourself a hug)

by Gotrhythm - 2023-04-12 20:10:17

You haven't done anything "bad" by moving your arm. The data seems to suggest that leads that dislodge probably weren't put in very well to begin with. It wasn't anything the patient did. But you haven't dislodged the leads. If you had, you would know it.  For sure , there's little reason to worry now. The longer the pacemaker is in, the more scar tissue forms, and after a while removing them takes specialized surgery.

 Pickly, pins and needles around the incision site are normal. They are part of what happens when the nerves around the site regenerate and heal. It'll go away in time.

People are very different in how they heal and how they feel as they heal. With my second device the sensitivity in the area was much greater. The seatbelt was my biggest problem. I kept the seatbelt from rubbing by making a sort of bridge over the area from a rolled up washcloth secured with duct tape. The bridge principle worked also to keep my bra strap or shirt from touching the sensitive place.  In that case I used a makeup sponge tucked under the bra strap.

It doesn't take a lot or anything large to make the bridge. All you have to do is just barely keep the shirt or bra strap from actually touching the area. 1/16 of an inch will do.

As you heal be gentle with yourself. From the medical point of view getting a pacemaker is not a big deal. From our point of view, it's a major life change. Some days are harder than others.

This too shall pass. The day will come when you don't feel it at all. One day, you'll be surprised to realise that you haven't thought about it--at all--for a couple of weeks, or months.

In the meantime, if you have been moving the arm, good! Not moving it can lead to frozen shoulder which can take a loooong time to recover from.

<3

by Echoplex - 2023-04-12 20:50:33

Gotrythym, thank you!!! 

Oh, it's so good to know those pins and needles are normal, I was worried I was getting tiny shocks or something  

I do struggle with being kind to myself and not overthinking every sensation. I'm a single parent with 2 kids and I am petrified of leaving them, but I also don't want to scare them more than they've already been scared.... which also explains my impatience for wanting to just be our normal little family again  

I want to give them their normal mum back, not this deer in headlights overthinker :-P 

So thank you!!! There really should be more what I'd call "soft resources" available post surgery for the more anxious ppl like me!

Oh, and for the selt belt, I found a wee device that moves it over. It attaches to the lap belt part... it was $10 for a pack of 2. So now it sits right on the corner of my shoulder and down the side of the boobular region, but this MacGyver bridge thing sounds like a great idea too, I like a failsafe :-) 

I can relate

by SeekingSupport - 2023-04-14 18:20:41

I just got my ICD 2 months ago. I'm 38 years old. I also hate the way it looks. Everyone was saying it's so small you won't see it ! However I SEE IT ! it's like a huge baseball out of my chest !!! I've been really depressed lately and hate when I have ti get dressed or have a shower. I know what you mean about the breast pulling and tugging. I feel the same way and often hold my left breast to prevent it from pulling. I'm hoping it gets better. I wish I had advice but I'm very new to this. Just wanted to tell you I also feel what you're feeling. 

@Seekingsupport

by Echoplex - 2023-04-14 23:05:54

Yass!!!!! I'm the same. I shower as quickly as possible as that pulling sensation - it's horrible. 
I mean - yeah! we're alive and kicking  -  but the sensation is like a reminder .... and my teen again reminded me that I look weird as I'm now so used to walking with my left arm under that boob to try and minimise the jiggle when I'm walking. I did find a super supportive bra on amazon, that lifts and supports but also does the girls justice - but it's TOO supportive for sleeping in and so now I have to change into a less supportive one for sleeping and then do as Indyglo does and grab myself in the morning when I'm getting out of bed. I'm still not sleeping on my left side, and have bolsters on either side of me so i don't roll when I sleep. 

I'm hopeful that this will pass, based on the other commenters, and we will both have some normality in the coming months. 

Oh, and the salty teen also loves these bras too:
She's taken after her mum, and so is happy to find something super supportive & flattering. 

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0993637XJ?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0993637XJ?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
(hopefuly the URLs are allowed)