Short circut

Hi I'm Ruth H and have had my pacemaker for the past 5 years. About 2 years ago during the night i got a sharp jab in my side. Didn't know what or where it came from. But since then I've had this pain occurring more frequently lately. Just seen my heart Dr recently and he said it could be that my lead from the pacemaker is actually way down in the corner of the ventricle and when it sparks it shorting to my diaphragm which in turn is causing the bang I'm feeling. Said it could be fixed by going back in and inserting a new shorter lead that would spark in the side wall between the lower heart chambers. Has anybody experienced this sort of a problem? What did you do to fix it? This is driving me a bit of the tracks would love some help, Ruth

2 Comments

Same

by Duke Heart Patient - 2012-04-07 02:04:17

I've had my PM since Dec 2011. 36 M , I have noticed a few times I've had a "thud" like feeling on my outside chest wall under my arm beside my left elbow. It happens once in a great while. 2-3 thuds or "hard poundings" like muscle Spasims ...... I have a single lead PM Medtronic.

See my post just a few up from this asking a question .......

What did the doc tell you ????


Bad wire

by Shortcake - 2012-04-10 09:04:39

Hi Ruth,
Several years ago and several pacers ago, I began having this horrible pain in my right arm (pacer is on right side). It was horrible as it began with a bang and never let up. It traveled through my abdomen and shot down my right leg. It seemed so much worse when I was walking in the cold (the freezer dept in the grocery was off limits), after months of test, They even sent me to a neurologist thinking I was coming down with the symptoms of MS. Could find nothing, my leads checked out fine, then my pm battery shut down and immediately the pain stopped. I emailed my doc with the news. When they changed my pm, he found a lead with a tiny erosion that was sending current into a main nerve. It was repaired, did not have to change lead and the issue was gone. They first thought it was the position like you were stating, come to find, as my son-in-law stated, I just needed a little electrical tape. :). Just be sure they check this out thoroughly before they jump on lead changes. Hope things go well with you!
Susan

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