Posting for my mom

Hi everyone,
I am so glad i was able to find a forum for people living with a PM. I joined here because my mom who's 65, was rushed to the hospital on July 3rd with severe dizziness and shortness of breath out of nowhere. She needed up needing a PM and had an emergency procedure done at midnight.

Shes home (7/6) now but she's feeling depressed and really worried over having a PM and how she has to rely on one now. My sister and i have tried everything we can to help her stay positive and seeing how this is a good thing.

After finding this forum, we were wondering if anyone could share stories that we can show her that she doesn't have to worry and that she can live a regular life.

Thank you all so much in advance!
Ana

10 Comments

Hi!

by Gellia2 - 2009-07-06 08:07:06

Tell your Mom, while I am not quite as old as she (I'm 60), I have had a pacemaker since 1975. Haven't missed a thing! I really feel I have had a pretty "regular" life.

Sure, it's weird at the beginning, but pretty soon she will hardly know its there.

My very best to her!

Gellia

good luck to your mom

by bmom91 - 2009-07-06 10:07:39

I was only 30 when I got my pm also emergency just like your mom. I am able to work and do everything I did before. It is weird at first sometimes you can feel yourself pacing its like a car shifting into overdrive but you feel better than you did before and it sure beats the alternative. Good Luck to your mom

Mom's Pacemaker

by SMITTY - 2009-07-06 11:07:54

Hello Simplicity,

Welcome to the Pacemaker Club.

It is not surprising that your mother is depressed. She just had her life turned upside down and now thinks her living is dependant on some little manmade device that she probably had heard very little about just a few months ago. Of course I think her her depression is totally unnecessary. Let me try to explain.

I suspect she is a victim of too little information about her pacemaker just as most of us were when we got ours. I got mine at age 71 nine years ago with little prior warning and no knowledge of pacemakers. I went in one morning it was implanted and I stayed in the hospital over night. The next morning a nurse came in with a computer on its own little buggy and did something to my pacemaker and informed me it was working fine and that I could go home. I was given a list of things I could or could not do for the next few days.

The important thing is I left that hospital thinking well I now have a man made device that is keeping my heart beating. I recall telling my wife that I hope whoever built this thing didn't have a hangover the day he made mine because I was sure I would die if it quit working. I couldn't have been more wrong.

As the months went by I learned more and more abut my pacemaker of which the most important item was my pacemaker didn't have a full time job keeping my heart beating. It was nothing but a helper that pitched in and did its thing when ever my heart rate dropped below 70 BPM. (Actually my first low setting was 80 BPM but the lowered that after a few months.) The doctor didn't tell me that my pacemaker was an on demand device that did as I just said. It helped out only as needed. For me that meant I could go for several days at a time and my PM was just along for the ride. Of course it was constantly monitoring my heart and if needed it would help out.

The really important thing is that if the fellow that built my PM did have a hangover that day and the thing failed my heart beat would just back to doing what it was doing before I got a pacemaker which was beating too slow to let me do much. I wouldn't die, as I had first thought would happen if it quit.

I don't know why doctors fail to tell us all these things about our pacemakers when we get them but it is very common. About 98+% of the people have an on demand unit with the remaining 2% being what we call pacemaker dependant. In the majority of those cases these pacemaker dependant people wouldn't die if their pacemakers quit working. They would feel very poorly but most likely would be able to summon help. You see our heart has a built in back up system in case the heart's natural pacemaker fails.

I'll stop this too long message, but not before I mention that when your mother has a pacemaker checkup, which in most cases is done after a few weeks they can tell her the approximate percent of time her heart's natural pacemaker is making her heart beat and what percent of the time her pacemaker is making it beat. In my case my pacemaker was working about 1% of the time and that was all for several years. After 9 years that number is up to about 70%.

So give your mother time to get over the initial shock of getting a pacemaker as emergency treatment and gets over the soreness from the surgery and then I think you will see her depression subside. I hope so. But just remember this site as there are hardly any questions she can have that someone here hasn't asked and got an answer.

I wish your mother the best,

Smitty

Life begins after PM

by bowlrbob - 2009-07-07 01:07:08

I am 67 I got my PM almost 4 years ago. It was an emergency also. I was at first wishing I could go back a few days to when I didn't have a PM. Then I realized I was feeling awful and did not know why. So I resolved to not let the pm stop me. After healing I went back to work, still do work. Went back to my sport bowling and still bowl at a high level. I write a national bowling article and I think it is even better than before because I feel better and my thinking is more clear. I travel more and go and do anywhere, anything. Because I was given a new life and it is awesome. I feel better and my outlook on life has changed for the better. Hang in there you will get and feel better every day. Bowlrbob

smitty

by jessie - 2009-07-07 01:07:20

i am so sorry about your little dog. i know how attached we have become to our cat buford and so i am so sorry you lost him smitty. hugs condolences jessie

thanks again

by simplicity2378 - 2009-07-07 01:07:44

Thank you to Gellia, bmom91, and Smitty. Ive passed your comments on to her and she feels a little better. I guess its as Smitty says, its going to take time to get over the initial shock of all that has happened...i gotta say its the craziest 4th of July Ive ever had.

She does have another question to pass on here. Do most of you feel when your PM kicks in? and whats it feel like?

She has the dual lead model and she says that sometimes she has an emptiness feeling in her stomach and some palpatations. I know bmom91 says its like going into overdrive.

Thanks again!

MUM

by pete - 2009-07-07 02:07:07

Tell her she is not alone. There are Zillions of people who have a pacemaker. There are 3 in my road out of 150 residents. Babies only hours old get pacemakers right up tp people well over 100 years old. No big deal then is it? Getting a pacemaker is not a death sentence but is a remarkable new lease of life. Amongst the medical treatments available to the human race pacemakers surely rank as the most effective and miraculous help that doctors can give. Buy her a bottle of her favourite tipple get out the glasses and tell her you are going to celebrate her new found health. Also find someone nearby who has a pacemaker, ask your friends and get that person to give her a bit of support. She is very lucky. Cheers Peter

Normal

by Blueaustralia - 2009-07-07 04:07:17

I had my pm at 64 yrs. I came home to the Australian Bush and wondered what now.

I was anxious, depressed and felt I was the only one in the world. I found this site whenlooking for a pm support group.


I have gained confidence over the past four years. I rarely think about my pm and the ony difference is that I get more tired quickly but then I am no spring chicken.

I suffered enormous depression and anxiety before and after my pm. I think I am as well as I will ever be now and find that this site makes me count my blessings.
I give thanksfor a second chance and the opportunity to live longer than I was going to.

Bless all my pm pals. And, all the best to you.

Billie

hi

by jessie - 2009-07-07 07:07:42

i too was 64 almost 65 that dreaded summer of my life. i felt like i was going to die i felt so horrible. the people i live with didn't even know how i felt all the time as i was never sick always there. they were still all centered on their own lives. at first i felt devestated and then as time went by i rarely think of it. it is just there. i do all my own houswework because i like too. i swim, i walk i try to eat propably and we are in the fruit and vegetable belt of s.w. ontario.i was very depressed and now i am okay. i want a three wheel bike bewcause i don't have the balance for the two wheel.i am like a kid again trying new stuff. bless billie dominique and all my p.m. pals sis and pookie hugs jessie. hope your mom gets comfort that there are others.

Feeling Pacemaker

by SMITTY - 2009-07-07 09:07:27

HiSimplicity,

I haven't had time to read all the other responses, so someone may have already answered the question about feeling the pacemaker "kick in."

My answer is no, you should never feel the impulse from a PM when it sends an impulse to make you heart beat anymore than you feel the impulse from your heart's natural pacemaker when it does this. If you are feeling anything, call your doctor because some of the pacemaker settings need to be adjusted. Changing these settings takes only a few minutes and is done with a computer.

Always think of that pacemaker as being your silent partner, one which you do not even have to think about.

Now I have to go build a burial box for my little dog. So iif you find stains on this it is from tears, not coffee.

Good luck,

Smitty

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Member Quotes

A properly implanted and adjusted pacemaker will not even be noticeable after you get over the surgery.