rejections

My Mom just got her pm in May. Her incision still hasn't healed as if she's allergic to the metal surrounding the pacemaker. The leads don't seem to be a problem. She has been on antibiotics once, turns out she had an allergic reaction to that as well. I know people have rejected or been allergic to knee prosthesis used in replacements - any ideas for us? We're getting close to desparate.

4 Comments

rejection

by Tracey_E - 2010-07-08 07:07:08

Rejection is rare but it can happen; infection is much more common. Allergies would be treated with antihistimines, antibiotics are for infection. If she has ANY sign of infection- such as the incision not healing after 2 months- get her back to the dr asap. They can test to see if it's allergy or infection and treat accordingly.

thank you

by Mary Jo - 2010-07-08 11:07:11

We have an appointment with the dr on Monday. I've asked the pacemaker rep to be present, too. Thank you for you help.

same problem here

by cattlelady - 2010-07-09 02:07:35

Mary Jo,
Go to the top post at the Complications forum and scroll down about 6 or so messages. You will see my post on this subject.

The answer above is idiotic, about using antihistimines. This person obviously is not aware that the body can be allergic to ANY component of the pacemaker, most commonly the metal, but also the lead coverings, the lead tips, everything. Mom just had her third pm put in last Saturday. It is too soon to know what will happen but she did have chills and slight fever yesterday. They had to custom build a gold-plated, polyurethane lead with gold tips to put in her, and it had to do under her chest muscle. The doctors in her case keep stating that this is extremely rare (who cares...it's happening to my MOM!!) and you have to be super proactive and demand to work with the product rep and doctors to get a solution. Mom had the allergy tests done, which gave them enough indicators for their decision. Mom has had loads of anti-biotics, even though her cultures showed no bacteria. I have heard these tests can be very cheap and miss some of the cuprits that are doing the damage. But an allergic reaction to the device causes the skin to start to deteriorate and her's was 3/4 of the way out of her body by the time they got the new one here. Hope this helps. She finally ended up with the special Medtronic (previous ones were Boston Scientific.)
from Cattlelady

3 months later...here we go again

by cattlelady - 2010-09-30 06:09:48

On July 3, 2010, my Mom had her custom-made gold-plated PM put in ( her third PM). She has been sore and quite fatigued ever since. Here were are at the end of September and her incision came open and oozed a great deal of what looked like pus. It wasn't. They cultered her again, and still no bacteria or any bugs. It looks like rejection again. They started her on prednisone today and she goes in for more allergy tests on her back in two weeks. She has lost so much weight and sister and I feel she is exhibiting signs of depression. She is short-tempered, complains about everything, expresses appreciation for all we do for her, yet finds fault with every kindness. I would sure like to hear from someone who has had this experience or knows of someone who has. We are feeling really desperate. Please help.

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