Greetings: 66 year old with good health history. On 31 Aug I had my first PM implant. No history of heart attack, but a slowly declining stamina with shortness of breath over the past two years. Four days prior to implant, I detected a steady pulse of 37 and reported to emergency. They admitted me to hospital, made the dual lead implant, and released me the next day. Since coming home, (I know, only three days) I cannot walk as far as I did before surgery without exhaustion. Two hundred yards is a marathon with pounding pulse. I know the PM is working since my pulse goes up, comes down, etc. Is it normal to experience greater limitation AFTER surgery and if so, is it just a process of starting exercise as if I were a brand new athl...

 

Hi all,

I was wandering what is a safe time to leave it before I begin to drive again following pacemaker insertion?
Karen

 

had my ablation,resting now over the weekend ,they could not finis it all,because my blood pressure was to low,they did get most what they bcan get,then gave me carioversion,question, is is any bodies stomach rock hard ag=fter the surgery

 

Hi
I had a pacemaker fitted on fri, I have the normal pain I would expect but also keep getting lots of internal heart pain and pressure I was wandering if this was normal after surgery?
many thanks
karen

 

hello wonderful friends
.i have learned so much from this site. we do have many kindt and knowledgable friends who share our journey and i have learned a lot..
6 yrs ago i had mitral valve replacement via davinci robot and i.
continued with atrial fib til 4/15 when admitted to hospital for chf. it seems no one knew what to do with me. my heart rate in the er was at 170 but i always could easily cardiovert at home by increasing my toprol. i had several cardioversions in the hospital prior. but i needed help this time. i waitied 5 days in one hospital and then was transferred to another hospital to be where EP did ablations and pacers.my doctor and the cardiologists all agreed i would need a pacer as my hr was still carryin...

 

i go aug 25 for my 2 atrial flutter ablation,in rochester ny. they did ekg,now showing both tacy,and flutter,any body have both

 

thank each and everyone for their output thanks to smitty andcarolyn from texas i will see my dr on wed and will go into the hosp iam 71 years old and very active but had to slow down ,because of the tireness and and short of breath and lots of other symptoms that i ignored for a while . ilive in new york andi do like to move around is this the proper way to answer you i'm new to the club and i like it again thankyou mae

 

It has been 8 months after the implantation. but i don't feel any big difference. what kind of "big difference" do u have? i , don't feel more energetic like most people do. Just that there is no more headache after i wake up from sleep. just that. why?

 

Hi. I think I may have discovered the reason for my low blood pressure (85/50). It occured to me today that my blood pressure dropped as soon as I'd had my ablation 18 days ago. Also, the dizziness started then. And I was put on Colperdogil
straight after my ablation! It's an anti-platelet drug as I'm allergic to aspirin. Well, today I've been researching the side effects of this drug & they include lowering of blood pressure, dizziness & fatigue!! I have been exhausted this week, in addition to the low blood pressure & dizziness. I'm on this drug for 6 weeks & I've never taken it before.

Has anyone else been on Colperdogil (Plavix) & what side effects did you get?

I can put up with the side effects (if the drug ...

 

and maybe 2.5 months since discharge.

In the past 2 months, I walked 75 miles. Longest single walk was 6 miles, but I was listing like a drunk sailor for the final two miles. I'm still not sure what to do about hills. I did go up one very slowly from 0 to 360 feet.

Resting pulse and blood pressure are good, but new meds will drop blood pressure, and I will go back to being dizzy. Actually, I already am dizzy most of the time.

Had a longish discussion with the nurse today about a safe upper pulse while walking. She first said 90. I pointed out that, at 90, I'm barely moving, and my slow-to-medium march takes me to 100-110. I walked from home to the dr'soffice 3.5 miles in 70 minutes, and felt completely comf...

 

I am a recent PM guy. I was told not to lift my left arm over my head for 6 weeks.

My tip to all while sleeping is to by a lanyard at the drug store or at Walmart. Loop it around your left arm before you retire for the night and clip the clip to your PJ's or whatever bottoms you sleep in, works for me and it prevents the arm from going behind your head while sleeping. Works for me!

If you sleep in the buff, maybe you can attach it to your belly button ring or some other part of your lower anatomy?

Malltura Myrtle Beach, SC

 

Hi all. Firstly, just to let you know how my appt went yesterday with the Occ Health nurse who upset me SO much last year. You may remember I was worried about seeing her & was going to take my husband with me.

Well, my husband did come with me & amazingly the nurse was quite happy for him to come into my appt with me. She was very nice to me this time (as my husband was there I think). She said I can return to work on 23rd August, on a phased return at first. So I'm working just mornings for 2 weeks, then my normal hours after that. Great news!

So now my employer can't keep threatening me with dismissal if I'm not back by Oct 1st...as I'm going back this month. HUGE relief that worry & stress is finally over.

click to read more...

 

Hello....I just had my first pacemaker inserted one week ago. It is killing me that I cannot blow dry my hair!! I was told to wait 2-3 weeks before lifting that left arm above my shoulder to hold a brush. Does that seem about right? The last thing i want to do is dislodge a lead.
Also, when is it ok to resume sexual activity? Is it ok after one week if i am really careful?
I understand that these are really trivial items when considering the big picture....but i am asking them because they are on my mind and i am embarrassed to ask my doctor.
Thanks!!

 

Hi All,
My surgery took no time at all and I was home pretty fast. It took about 20 mins. I had no medications and no IV at request as I didn't see a point. The IV hurts worse than them going through my neck and numbing it. Everything for now looks as good as it can be.
My vena cava is narrowed by 40% they said that if my pressure was above 5 they would need to do open heart and reconstruct the vena cava. My pressure was borderline but at t his time I will not need open heart but at some point I will. It could be some time though.
Thanks for all the thoughts.

Blessings,
Tammy

 

Hi Friends:-)

I was wondering if any of you ladies out there that have had to have open heart surgery for one reason or another might be able to offer some tips. What type of shirt did you find to be the most comfortable during recovery? I assume bras were out of the question for a good while but was curious to hear what others experiences were like.

I know, of all the things to be worried about I am worrying about undergarments!

Any other tips that may help recovery go a little more smoothly?

Thanks!!

Bryna

 

I was getting ready for my surgery and discussing my pm with surgeon. The procedure they planned to use would interfere with device (pm) function, so we were discussing what to do. I suggested they call Medtronic and/or my cardiologist (who is not in the same system). After 2 hours of trying to find someone, they got the anesthesiologist involved in the discussion as they are in charge of heart function while under. Oh, what a winner!!! He wanted to know what prompted the device placement and I told him my dx, high grade av block. He said that wasn't good enough, "high grade av block is a fluff diagnosis - I need more information." When I told him it was intermittent and they couldn't label it 2nd or 3rd, he got angry with me, telling me I...

 

I was planning on sending out a post as soon as I had a chance but hadn't been able to get on yet. Thanks for all of the thoughts and prayers. I go in for surgery on Wed it shouldn't be too big of a deal at least I keep telling myself that.
They will only be checking to see if they will need to place a stent or not. I'm lacking a lot of energy but doing very well so am hoping that this will not be anything big and I won't need more surgery.
I appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers. Thank you so much! I will attempt to keep everybody updated as soon as I can.

Blessings,
Tammy

 

Hi Friends!

Just giving a quick update. To recap for those who do not remember me, I developed superior vena cava syndrome after my fifth ablation for inappropriate sinus tach. I was supposed to get a pacemaker during the last ablation but the EP was able to keep me from going into a junctional rhythm, so for the time being I am pacer free. However a few weeks ago I started to have sinus pauses; I will be getting a pacer after all.

Since my last post I made the decision to head to Cleveland Clinic to see a specialist here in regards to intervention for the SVC syndrome. Things are complicated even further by the fact that I will be needing a pacemaker, which will have to be put in epicardially. Before this visit I had...

 

Pacer Chicks and Men,
I need to complain so if you don't want to read this I understand. I am very frustrated at the way things have been going with my health. It seems like it is completely up and down. The people that know me well on here through the years know my story by now.
Last week at my regular Dr's visit I went in not feeling well and not only got told that I had a sinus infection but that he also could hear that my heart was not sounding right. That he could tell that scar tissue was developing back. Which means the likely hood of more surgery is very very high.
I am taking the coumadin and was hopeful that would be enough to prevent me from developing more problems. I have been having so much chest pa...

 

Hi
I wrote earlier about whether or not I should get a pm. Thank you for all of your comments. I finally made the decision and am going to get it this summer. I was originally supposed to get it on Monday, but they want to put in an MRI compatible pm so they are waiting for it to arrive from Europe. My appt now is Aug 31st. They are going to put it under my breast in order to hide it since I'm only 22. Has anyone else had this? I start nursing school about 10 days after the implantation, do you think this will be a problem? Will I be feeling ok after a week and a half? Is it a harder recovery since they're hiding it? Also he said that the anesthesia team will be with him that day, so they'll put me right to sleep, is this ne...