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Hi Pals

Hi everyone. Especially all those who are new and a little confused and uptight. I often wonder what we would do without this wonderful site and all the good answers we get to our questions. I wish to thank you all, especially Smitty and Electric Frank whom I find a great comfort.

It has been so hot here. Not as hot as where Kay is. We have been gardening. I am putting all my pot plants into the garden for nature to look after them during the winter rains. My family are not gr...

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Two and a half weeks post PM placed

My incision wound reaction appeared to originate from a severe allergy to the steri- strips(which were used in place of sutures)over my incision. The blistering around the incision was like a first degree burn. I do not think the cardiologist had seen this before. He put me on prophalactic antibiotics for 2 weeks. I was to clean the area with normal saline and to keep it dry. This appears to be working. The blisters are drying up, the reddness is disappearing, there is no discharge from the site...

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Why do some Doc's keep you awake?

I'm just wondering why some doctors seem to keep their patients concious.

When I went in for my initial EP study and ICD implantation, I Was out cold, which is what I prefer. I'm going in for an ablation in a week and a half and I need to let my new Doc know that expect to be out cold.

I know that general anesthesia is more dangerous than milder drugs, but I'm not interested in being aware of someone tugging, slicing, or exciting a 300+ bpm vtach in me.......

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Peter Nash

Just noticed that we havent heard from Peter Nash for some time.I do hope he is OK...If you read this Peter just let us know you are still with us.
Kay

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Chat

Anyone wanna chat?

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ICD&Advanced Medical Directive

Here is an interesting one:
What are the implications of having an Advance Medical Directive that specifies Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) and having an ICD that does exactly that. I realize that the the defibrillator used my EMT's is more powerful and therefore different than the ICD. I'm thinking more about intent. Could medical facility conclude that since the person consented to the ICD that there is a question about their intent and decide it was better to resuscitate and ask questions late...

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Just a suggestion

I love this site and have found much help and information here. What is missing are just a few little things. These things would help us all to enjoy the site much more in my humble opinion.

1. New messages -- I am always checking and no one ever sends me a personal message. You don't have to be a close personal friend to send a message. I don't need a boyfriend, a husband, anything from you except being a PM buddy. That is all.

2. Chat -- I go in there all the t...

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pacing

Will someone please explain the feeling when you say you know your pm is "pacing"... Does it mean aware of heart beat or the feeling of afib? I would really like to know. Thank you aldeer

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Chat room

Okay, where are all the people who want to chat?

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This is for Rick (Hotform)

Thanks for you comment. But considering I do not have a Medtronic POS Pacer your statement does not apply to me. I have heard from my pacer rep that I should stay away from the alternator of a car because it can interfere with my pacemaker. So yes I had the guy at the parts store who was more then happy to take my New alternator out to my car. Now i'm sorry that I was unaware that the alternator had to be hooked up to actually interfere. But since I am not willing to mess up my nice brand new $6...

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Hacker and our pacers

I have studied the recent research article on pacemaker hacking and done some of my own. To start with the following article on frequency use in the world shows that there are radio stations in Europe of1 million watts or more on the frequency band mentioned in the hacking article.

(155 to 281 kHz: This is another AM broadcasting band in Europe and parts of Asia. In Europe, there are numerous high powered (1,000,000 watts or more) stations here. These stations are capable of coverin...

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memory loss

Have had my PM for over 2 years - has anyone ever suffered memory loss., since PM inserted?
Thanks for all the advice

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Diaphragm contractions

Hi. I received a dual chamber PM 2 days ago (my first) and during the second night of sleep had "chest contractions" which were strong enough to wake up my wife. The contractions were infrequent but I decided to go to the emergency room at the hospital. It was determined that my diaphragm was picking up an electronic single from the cardiac pacemaker and causing my diaphragm to contract. Has anyone heard of this condition? Can it be resolved by changing programming settings in the PM? Are...

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long term effects of having a pacemaker

Hi,
I'm a 49 year old woman that has had a dual pacemaker for a little over 2 years now. I was told that I have 3rd degree heart block. I just had an it checked yesterday and the nurse said I was pacing 94% in my ventricals. I asked if that was a bad thing and she said well, over time it can be because ventrical pacing that high over years is not a good thing.
She told me to ask the doctor more about it when I see him in June. She aslo said that because of my condition (heart block...

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Pulling Leads Loose

Does anyone know how common it is for someone to pull leads out of place after surgery by doing too much with the arm too fast? Has it happened to anyone here?
I'm just scared to death I"m gonna do that, and wondered if I did , would you even know if you weren't PM dependent?
Christina

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Hackering IMD's! What???

Have anybody heard this on the news or read about it on the web anywhere? It's horrible and scarey!!! But I think it is worth sharing... Here are some of the sites on the computer that are carrying the news: secure-medicine.org/icd-study/icd-study.pdf, schneier.com/blog/archives/2008/03/hacking_medical_1.html, nytimes.com/2008/03/12/business/12heart-web.html?_r=3&oref=slogin
Just a little bit spooked at the moment...

pacie

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Not necessarily a death wish

I've noticed that every time someone says anything about wanting a pm/icd removed or wishing they'd never got one, people seem to think that's the same as saying they don't want to live. People have varying degrees of needing or not needing their devices. Some of us never had a serious life threatening emergency, just indications of that being a possibility. Kind of like everytime you drive a car, you risk having an accident. I know people who had a car accident, and never drove again becaus...

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Hello!!!

Hey guys, I know you are tired of hearing from me, but I think this place seems desserted any more. Hardly anyone posts comments, although you may prefer to email an answer instead. A LOT of people have left, and I don't understand why. They say there are problems with others, but I have resolved all my issues. On a more positive side, I am thinking of publishing a book of qoutes, so if you know any please let me know! Bye! Remember, "It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see." -...

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lead replacement

i had bi-valve and defib device implanted feb. 18. before they sewed me up in the operating room, the pacing was working. i thought i felt perky when i came back to regular room. however, next morning test and x-ray showed one lead had shifted. a followup clinic visit showed the lead migrated ever more and was not "capturing," whatever that means.
i go back in march 18 for lead replacement. dr said the lead problem is not something he or i did. just happens. he's going to give it another sh...

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What is this?

So I go for my 5th PM check, just had my little buddy installed 12-15-07, and I am told that they are going to turn on my ECG recorder beacuse I have several, more then 10, atrial tachy episodes of more then 260 bpm - OH MY GOD!! I feel little hick ups here and there but I thought it was just PVC's or something. Any one else with a run away atria? What do I do? What questions should I ask next time? They are checking me in 3 months again to see what it shows, should I wait that long?

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You know you're wired when...

You prefer rechargeable batteries.

Member Quotes

Hi, I am 47 and have had a pacemaker for 7 months and I’m doing great with it.