shocks

HI everyone This could all be in my mind but I know I felt something. I got my pm in Dec. Everything seems to be doing just fine. On Sunday I was just sitting and it felt like I was getting little shocks. A few little pings. It lasted a few seconds. Then about a minute or two it happened again. Nothing since. My question does this make sense to anyone?

4 Comments

PM Shocking

by SMITTY - 2011-03-29 04:03:30

Hello,

You say little shocks. To be sure I understand what you are describing, did these feel like small electrical shocks, only there was muscle contraction, like you would normally expect with an electrical shock. If that is what you are talking about, yes I have had them.

Got my first pacemaker in Sept 2000 and thought it was the biggest nothing issue I had ever come across. I went in for my first checkup three weeks later and everything was pronounced fine. What changes were made I have no idea, but within 15 minutes after having the checkup I had my first shock. It was followed by a few others over the next few minutes then stopped. These were located on the left side almost at the bottom of the rib cage.

That night there were more and all I could do was say "what in the hell is going on." Because of the location and since they started after I got the PM checkup I was sure there was a connection. The next day I called the PM Clinic and told them what I was experiencing and you would have thought I was describing my problem in Chinese. They had never heard such thing but if I would come in they would see if they could find a problem. (At that time this place had implanted several thousand pacemakers and did checkups on them at least 4 times a year.) I did and of course I was told "there is nothing wrong with your pacemaker and it is not the cause of your problem." I was to hear that same message a 100 times or more over the next two years. That was when I said turn the thing off, It was now occurring several times a day in strings of 4 to 20 shocks. Because these things were strong enough they could not be ignored they had completely disrupted our lives.

In place of turning it off the low PM setting was lowered to 30, which meant the PM never came on as my normal heart rate was in the 50 to 60 range. About 2.5 years later another Dr thought it should be turned back on to treat a different heart problem that had shown up and in about 2 weeks I was getting shocked again. This time the shocks were on the opposite side and much stronger. This Dr said the problem was the impulse from the lead going to the ventricle was stimulating the phrenic nerve and I had three choices. I could continue to put up with it and hope it would go away, I could have the lead relocated or I could have the nerve deadened. I chose the last option and within a day the shocking had stopped to never return.

I know this is a long story, but I wanted to give you some ideas of what you could be facing. If you are lucky, it will go away, which is not impossible. I base that on the fact my first shocks were on the left side but after having the PM turned off they didn't come back there but showed up on the right side. Also don't be surprised if you hear "your pacemaker is fine and your problem is not caused by it."

You have had your PM for only a few months so don't surprised if it goes away, stays the same or gets worse. To tell you the truth, based on what I have experienced and what I have seen others describe here for their problems, if someone told me their PM woke them up every morning at 5AM barking, all I would say is "don't that be something?"

Good luck,

Smitty

Shock

by Monk777 - 2011-03-30 05:03:15

Please let your Doctor know you got shocked.
I have been shocked before, too many times to be honest and only once was it a "correct" shock. I went into A-fib.
My Doctor told me to keep records of any shocks; including the date, time and what I was doing. My Doctor advised that calling 911 is not necessary, unless I black out.
DO NOT FOLLOW THAT, UNLESS YOUR DOCTOR SAYS SO.
Also, be aware of the "Phantom" shocks. These are supposedly the results of mind tricks and you're not really being shocked. When you go into your check up, the Doctor will be able to tell if you were actually shocked. Remember the device records its actions, at least mine does. Let us know how your follow up went.

shock

by 39anddisabled - 2011-04-06 09:04:21

ive had this i think i have the combo pacemaker/difibulator i think ive felt the shocks before burning sensation in your chest some people say its like a kick in the chest mine hasnt been like that i dont think mines really had to work that much this happens different to different people but i know what your saying good luck

Lil Shocks

by Pattyw - 2011-04-09 11:04:37

I use to get LIL shocks when my lead hit my diaphram area. It felt like a lil shock/hiccup sensation. My EP was able to fix...Not sure how big a shock we are talking about....

You know you're wired when...

You get your device tuned-up for hot dates.

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