pacemaker flipped!

went in to er on sat night cause i thought my pm was flipping when i moved my shoulder.. after tests they sent me home on pain killers. bout 3 sunday morn i awoke to my pm sticking out sideways and i was in pain. back to the er we went where they put me in the cardiac wing. dr came in and pushed it back in place... ow to say the least... dr was going tp send me home until nurses saw how much pain i was in and ran more tests. sure enough leads had come out again. after surgery to repair them... dr said it lookedd like it had been flipped over and over and was a mess in there. dr told hubby to tell me not mess with it... i have not messed with it esp with 15 staples previously nor would i anyway. least they tacked it down this time so no more rolling. gues dr just figured i had to be flipping it with the mess it was in... called twiddlers syndrome and it does happen .I can not imagine touching this thing helpibg my heart though. Anyone else had this happen where it rolled around in you?

9 Comments

WOW

by cruz - 2010-06-08 05:06:18

I had no idea it could even move this much. I have just now become comfortable sleeping on my left side and I know that it "shifts" when I do..now I'm a little paranoid. When did you have the implant? I didn't have any visible staples or stitches. They used some sort of glue/sticky strip on the outside and I didn't even ask about the stitches, staples or anything else..pre-op or post-op. Cabg Patch is right...good question to ask the surgeon prior to implant. I can't imagine going through that!!! You pooor thing!!!

I thought my pm flipped, too!

by sewnjoy - 2010-06-08 05:06:41

I'm 4 weeks post of....the other night it felt like my pm turned or something while I was changing positions in bed. I sleep on my lest side most of the time, when it's comfotable, that is. But, I put it out of my mind till I read this post. I'll have to ask my doc about it when I see him next month. Hope it doesn't happen again. Wow, that's really scary!
sewnjoy

Oh MY!

by nat36 - 2010-06-08 05:06:50

That sounds awful! I hope it is fixed where it will not move again and I hope you feel better soon!

update

by macoymom - 2010-06-08 06:06:40

headed hone now still in pain yet better... yes he the dr tacked it down good this time and unfortunatley i to did not know it could flip and found out the hard way... thx fpr all the prayers i will keep loving thid site !

ouch!

by qwerty - 2010-06-08 12:06:24

That sounds painful. Hope they got it tacked down this time and you get better soon. I can't imagine mine moving that much. I have had it "pushed down" because it sticks up and the Doctor tried to get it down a little, and that smarted a little, but nothing like what you described.
Keep us posted.

ouch!

by tcrabtree85 - 2010-06-09 01:06:17

I had this happen to my 2nd pacemaker. It was very painful and it took them a while to figure out what was causing me so much pain even though I kept telling them.
They had to put mine deeper into my chest and then placed it into a bag deal and sewed it down. I have a bigger chest and that is why my Dr thought it was moving around so much.
Four weeks after that I went back into the Dr still complaining that I hurt. My regular Dr ran tests on my incision and thats when I had a infection.
I'm sorry you went through this it's no fun and I will be thinking of you a lot.

Tammy

Pacemakers Can Move

by Pookie - 2010-06-09 07:06:44

Mine did not flip. Mine moved (migrated) from it's original position right under my collarbone into my armpit.

I had quite the argument with the vascular surgeon who implanted it as he said it was impossible to tack or sew a pacemaker down. I fired him quite quickly :)

I then had a cardiac surgeon take over my case and he went in and had quite the job of fixing the path the pacemaker took on it's travels to my armpit, then he did anchor my pacemaker down and it hasn't moved since. That was back in 2005.

Perhaps some day we could have a list of questions posted somewhere on the site for all of us to take whether we're seeing a cardiologist for the very first time or to our pacemaker interrogations.

Pookie

Pacemaker moving

by Jenny Lee - 2010-06-09 09:06:30

Thank you all, my PM seams to be moving, especially at night then settles through the day. some times it seams to be pushing up over my collarbone. These posts have helped a lot.
My PM went in in Jan and life is so much easier, a little pain was worth it, maybe I don't have to put up with that. I will have a talk to the DR.

Jenny

Flipping PM

by Pacesister - 2023-09-23 18:47:48

Ihave had this experience for quite some time. PM was installed 16th May and I have had 2 appointments  with cardio technician but she tells me to try to live with it! However she is scheduling another appointment in 3 months. She told me that they are very reluctant to open up again because  of  risk of infection. I just wish I could get it fixed, it's  so uncomfortable  and  weakens me every night!  The flip happens when I lie on my right side but I can't  sleep on the left or on my back.

You know you're wired when...

Bad hair days can be blamed on your device shorting out.

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