Hi Everyone
I had a pacer put in last december 07 the last few weeks i been getting what i think might be shocks in the tissue around the pacer. when it starts its kinda like a spasm flutters and varies in length each time. My cardio dismissed it as nothing but it is something bothers me greatly I was wondering if anyone else had this problem?? Any information is greatly apprieciated.
Steve

 

 

Pretty frustrating when you can't convince your Dr to take issues seriously isn't it. They seem to like to call this stuff phantoms. Yeah right. I experience these too, and suspect it's something like leakage current from my device charging up to fire. Maybe Smitty or ElectricFrank can answer. Suggest you check the book on your device and/or contact the techs and see if they can explain.

Good Luck

 

Hi Steve

I too have a medtronic which was implanted in November 2007. From day one until January 2008 I had three “pings” around the can area, like little electric shocks in the pec muscle, these were as regular as clockwork every three hours day & night. Have you timed yours?? My technician was in denial about them and said it was not the pm. Usual crap.
Then in January it suddenly got a lot worse, the spasm around the can was continuous, much more severe and in time with my heart beat which had risen drastically even when resting.
Eventually a visit to the A & E or ER as you folks call it & I did get the problem sorted. They turned the leads from unipolar to bipolar and the problem stopped immediately, including the 3 hourly pings. Apparently the unipolar lead uses your body tissue to return the current to the can from the heart and is not well tolerated by most people. They use unipolar as it uses less power than bipolar (which uses the wire to return the current) thus extending battery life.
The technician still denied that the 3 hourly pings had anything to do with it even through it was obviously connected as it stopped immediately, as did the muscle spam.
I don’t know whether your problem is the same but it is worth an investigation. If you get no joy from your doctors it may be worth contacting the Medtronic rep and asking advice as I believe they are a lot more knowledgeable that the technicians and EP’s.
If you go to the search function (situated in the grey strip on the top right of the page) and type in “3 hourly” you will be able to pick up my thread from January and also the help I received from Electric Frank & Smitty (The fountains of all knowledge here. LOL)
Hope I have been of help. Feel free to private message me if you want to discuss it further.
Chrissie

 

Hi Steveo67,
About 2 months ago, I started getting electrical sensations on my skin surface of my left shoulder - it extended down the front to about the top side of my PM; over the top and down the back side about 2-3 inches; down the outside about 3 inches. They were random in occurrance and duration.
Then, about 3 weeks ago the electrical sensations stopped and the skin in the area became numb. I'm not sure this is anything like what you are experiencing.
My GP checked me out and could not find anything. So, he referred me to a neurologist with whom I have an appointment this coming week.
I hope that I get some good information that I can share with you.
Take care,
Richan