Shortness of Breath after Pacemaker Placement

I had a pacemaker placed 36 hours ago due to possible sick siuns syndrome. I had never experience shortness of breath before (only dizziness and close to fainting), but now I am experienceing shortness of breath. Is this a problme I should get checked out immediately, or is it just my sytem getting used to the device? Thanks for any feedback you can give me.

8 Comments

Call your Doctor

by MSPACER - 2009-12-13 03:12:10

Please call your doctor. The pacemaker probably needs adjusting. It could take a few adjustments before the settings are set correctly for your particular needs.

Shortness of Breath......

by Pookie - 2009-12-13 04:12:24

Hi, welcome to the club, but if I were you, I'd be getting your butt to the ER as fast as I can.

Shortness of breath after a pacemaker could possibly be that your lung could have been punctured...anything is possible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Better safe than sorry.

Let us know how you make out.

Best of luck.

Pookie

shortness of breath

by dottodot - 2009-12-13 04:12:44

If you never had it before contact your physician right away or go to the ER for a chest xray. One of the complications of pacemaker insertion can be a collapsed lung. It may be nothing but better safte than sorry.

Get it Checked

by Pelelives - 2009-12-13 06:12:20

I had two episodes of collapsed lung also known as pneumothorax. One right after the surgery and one three days later. Very short of breath; painful breathing, very scary. Go get the chest x-ray as soon as you can to confirm whether or not that is it. If not, see Dr. re: adjustment of PM. You can "live" with one lung working while you wait for the x-ray, but it is not fun and it is very frightening.

probably ok but

by Tracey_E - 2009-12-13 08:12:28

still go get checked out, esp if you've never had that problem before. I think you'd be more than a bit short of breath if a lung collapsed. Most likely it just needs adjusted, but you need an xray to be sure the leads are where they're supposed to be.

Doesn't sound good

by swty562@excite.com - 2009-12-13 08:12:40

Hello, I'm thinking you should really go see a doctor ASAP........ That doesn't sound good...

Lung

by annaelliott76 - 2009-12-15 07:12:21

I have SSS brady /tachy. Don't let it go, call the doctor!

My lung collapsed in recovery after placement. I started coughing uncontrollably as if I swallowed something the wrong way. Took several xrays before the lung showed up. Also after I finally got out the hospital and was moving around more, I had a lot of tachycardia. That can cause shortness of breath, hot flashes, mild dizziness, etc. It has been 4 wks. now and we're just getting eveything controlled. When I feel this, I take my vitals every 3 min until it passes (a trick I learned from my EP). Usually I will see a dramatic change in HR & BP with it restablizing quickly. Keep a diary of this to show your EP or cardio. After a year, I've gotten very used to this situation. The more info. you can give the doctors, the better they can treat you. Also, try lying in a dark quite room for a couple minutes to see if it stops. Stress can exasterbate everything.

Anna

CHF

by 60bpm - 2009-12-15 11:12:37

I too had difficulty breathing, but they did a medication change after my second implant. I went to ER was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. If you haven't already done so, I would go to the ER. Good luck, I hope you feel better soon.

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