I Had a St Jude dual chamber pm implanted sub pectorally in November of 2009.

Recently I have experienced frequent and rythmic pectoral muscle twitching and I noticibly feel the PM go off with pretty good force. It does not hurt. Should I be concerned or is this common?

Amie

 

 

I don't think you are supposed to feel your PM working no matter where it is placed. Mine is in the front of my shoulder in a pocket. I am on my 2nd & never had the twitching you describe. I sure would call my doc & ask.

Good luck,

Janet

 

I agree with Janet. You're not supposed to "feel" your pacer working no matter where it is placed.

I have had my pacer placed above the pectoral muscle AND now it's placed under the muscle. Both places I did not feel it working, and you should not feel you pectoral muscle twitching. You are well past the recovery time and the pacer should be well established in it's pocket, I would imagine.

I'm wondering if you're feeling palpitations, which can feel quite forceful at times as your heart reestablishes it's rhythm.

Angelie

 

I don't just FEEL the pacer going off, I could actually SEE the left pec moving in rythmn with the pulses-- one crazy boob! Quite the freak show! Again, it does not hurt. It is a very strong thumping -- like a finger flicking the pec from behind the muscle.. Even though I joke about it, it is embarrassing and I am not amused. it doesn't happen constantly - thank goodness. But several times a day and not necessarily when I am moving about. My regular cardiologist is out of town and the doc on call has not responded to my msj yet. I called my surgeon's office. He will see me on Monday. The office said it could be a number of things -- displaced wire. PM polarized too high.... I guess I will find out next week.

 

I'm on my third. It's in the pocket above my left pec. I've never had this problem. It sounds like you may have a wire exposed, which I've been told can happen through repetitive movement of the left arm moving the collar bone and essentially putting ware on the leads. I'd definitely get it looked as soon.

 

Thank you for your imput!! The cardiologist's on call had me come in to see a St. Jude rep. After running a few tests he found low impedence on one of the wires which appeared to be due to an exposed wire or a defect in the wire itself. They turned off the faulty wire for now -- apparently I didn't need it. Hopefully that solved the problem for me.