New Implant

Diagnosed with sick sinus syndrome after passing out and then wearing a heart monitor for several days. Was implanted with dual chamber pacemaker on June 17. I feel fragile and lack energy compared to how I felt prior to May 12 when I passed out at the grocery store and had stitches in the back of my head. My friends and family keep asking me if I feel much better and have a lot more energy, but I don't yet. I seem to be healing well at the site and my arm is moving very well. But I am concerned about my fragile feeling and also am having some trouble getting comfortable and sleeping at night. I also have Parkinson's Disease which is controlled well with medication. I see my doc on June 30 and hope to get some answers, but wondering how normal all this is.

5 Comments

bradycardia??

by biceps72 - 2011-06-27 10:06:12

do you have a slow heart rate? Give the pacemaker some time. If bradycardia is your problem the PM will make you feel great!! 8 week you will be better than new!

New Pacemaker

by SMITTY - 2011-06-27 10:06:46

Hello,

Welcome to teh PM Club.

You have had your pacemaker 10 days and say you still do not feel well. Unfortunately what you have now is probably all you will have until you get your PM tuned to fit your needs. Now your feelings are not uncommon for new PM. When we get a PM the initial settings are the doctors best guess. For some that is good enough but for many of us those settings have to be fine tuned. The bad part is it can take two or three tries to get the best settings for a person as it is PM and can be found.

Of course the error part is reduced significantly after you have had the PM for a couple of weeks and can tell your Dr how you feel as this gives a base from which to work.

The good part (and sometimes disappointing part) is with a PM we know how much good we are going to get within 24 to 48 hours after the settings are changed. So when you see the Dr have some notes so you can tell him exactly how things are, otherwise he has to guess and just remember you are living with his first guess right now.

Good luck,

Smitty


thanks for sharing..

by shartey - 2011-06-28 01:06:07

I have had my pacemaker about a bit over two weeks, the first week was awful because I had a bad reaction to the meds....did an emergency trip and had meds changed and a total evaluation, along with pacemaker being reset.

It is a big adjustment to me, but I keep hearing things will improve at the 4 week stage...

Thanks

by G Lou - 2011-06-28 01:06:38

Thanks for the words of wisdom. I will now be more prepared both now at when I go to the Doc later this week.

Slow Heart Rate

by G Lou - 2011-06-28 01:06:47

Yes, forgot to answer that I did have a very slow heart rate and had emergency implant.

You know you're wired when...

You get your device tuned-up for hot dates.

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It is just over 10 years since a dual lead device was implanted for complete heart block. It has worked perfectly and I have traveled well near two million miles internationally since then.