a few questions

hello everyone,

my questions are---how does it feel to be "shocked"?

how can you tell if your pm isnt working right? or if a lead isnot in place?

i was told i would be as good as new after this, but i am better than i was, but not as good as new. i had 2nd degree heart block, brady, &was at risk for sudden cardiac arrest. my heart was in the 40s, and getting slower.

is anyone here also diabetic ? i was wondering if maybe this was the reason i am not recovering so fast, or why i am not feeling as good as new?

well thank you very much. when i first got this put in about a month ago, i searched everywhere for more info and this was the site for me.

i am so thankful you are here with me.

helen s

thought i would put an s at the end of my name because i noticed there is a couple of other helen's here.

4 Comments

shocked

by verger - 2008-05-31 05:05:13

i can only speak from my experience, but it was as scary as the heart attack i had 2 years earlier. i had 3 shocks in a row, first one (i was in line at a supermarket) i had no idea of what had happened, i yelled, threw up my arms to get rid of the groceries. i headed as fast as i could for the exit, then the 2nd shock came, of course i yelled again (EVERYONE got the hell out of my way) and i realized what had happed. i managed to get outside and blam, once again and this time i fell to my knees, a little cut up. by now there was a crowd, so it wasn't long before the ambulance came, but i was shaken, wasn't sure if i was going to make it, and thankful for the life saving shock at the same time.
as far as physical pain, it's like getting hit in the chest with a bat and an 220 v electrical shock at the same time. i actually had the pain in my chest for a few hours after. that was easy to get over.

the hard part is to recover from the anxiety and fear that the thing may go off again. that happened 6 months ago, and although i've progressed a lot, anytime i feel a heart flutter, my kness get a little weak. it took me a long time before i built up the courage to go to a supermarket alone again.

i'm borderline diabetic and i don't think that has anything to do with your symptoms. i think you will start to feel better with a little time, my heart was also getting in the 40's and i had a pm put in a month ago. i still feel crummy much of the time, but because of the pm, there are days i even feel close to normal, they raised my beat up to 60 and it made all the difference in the world.
my advice, try and forget the thing is there, eat well, exercise as much as you can and always doubt your doctor, unless he/she has experienced what you are experiencing.

good luck

pacemaker or ICD?

by Pookie - 2008-05-31 06:05:51

Hi Helen S. and welcome to the club.

If you have a pacemaker you should never get "shocked", as that is not what they are designed to do. If, however, you have an ICD, then that is a different story.

If your pacemaker is not working correctly and/or has moved or a lead is not working, all of that should be discovered during your next pacemaker check-up visit. Are you due for a checkup soon?

Since you have only had your device for about a month, I think you should give yourself a bit more time to feel "normal" again. In saying that, however, we all heal at different rates. It took me several months to completely heal.

Good luck, and again, welcome to this wonderful site.

Pookie



Shocks

by dtread - 2008-05-31 08:05:54

Hi, I was in the hospital following aortic valve replacement surgery and experienced what they called "heart pauses", where my heart would pause for several seconds, then start up again. I would get dizzy when this happened, and they moved me to ICU. They also put defib pads on me that would shock my heart, and I was shocked many times. One of the nurses asked me how I felt, and I indicated that the shocks felt to me about like the shock that you'd get from a doorbell cord, which is around 15V DC. They indicated that the shock from the defib pads is around 16V DC, so I was pretty close. My pacemaker does not have a defib function, and I can hardly tell when mine kicks in. If your pacemaker has a defib function you could check with the manufacturer to see what the voltage would be if it was to shock you. 220V sounds way too high to me. House current is 110V, and that is a pretty good jolt as anyone who has ever been shocked will attest to. When I was in ICU getting shocked by the defib pads, it was about like a getting a mosquito bite. Certainly nothing like what you see on TV where somebody is putting paddles on somebody and going "clear" and then the body lifts up off the gurney when the shock is administered. Perhaps that's a different jolt of electricity, but its nothing like what I experienced.

FYI, I recently contacted the manufacturer of my pacemaker (Medtronic Adapta ADDR01) to inquire what would be the consequences if I was to get shocked by house current. I do a lot of home repairs, and figure that sooner or later I might get zapped, and it would be good to know whether that would fry the circuitry in the pacemaker or not. Their response was timely and complete:

Thank you for contacting Medtronic Patient Services.

Our tests indicate that our heart devices are extremely resistant to outside electrical interference. Heart devices have a titanium case around them which guards against many types of outside electrical interference. Additionally, Medtronic has designed filters into our
heart devices that also block out many electrical interference signals.

A shock from a household current will not affect your pacemaker.

I encourage you to visit our web site to learn more about your heart device and electromagnetic interference (EMI) at: www.medtronic.com/brady/patient//emi.html
and www.medtronic.com/rhythms which includes educational EMI articles in the Rhythms of Life patient newsletter.

We appreciate the opportunity to help you. If we can be of further assistance, please contact us again. Our toll free telephone number is (800) 551-5544 x41835. We are available Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Central Time.

Regards, Julie / Patient Services, Medtronic, Inc.

I hope this information helps; good luck. -Dan

my shocks

by YellowMonkee - 2008-05-31 11:05:17

I have an ICD. I can tell you, when I got shocked (two times in a row) I thought I was going to die. I was at my company picnic. They had a karaoke contest and I was up. I was in the middle of my song and BANG! It felt like a mule had kicked me in the chest. I grabbed my chest and fell to the ground. Then it shocked me again. This was two years after the ICD implant. For several nights after I would wake up with phantom shocks. I started suffering from major panic attacks. A counselor has helped with the panic attacks, and I haven't had any more shocks.

As far as the leads being messed up, my ICD is programed to beep at me if anything is wrong with them. If a problem is detected the ICD will beep every day at 8:30 AM until I go in to the doctor to have it reset. The doctor or technician can set the time to whenever is best for you.

You know you're wired when...

Your pacemaker receives radio frequencies.

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