leads moving?

Hi All,
It has been many months since I have checked here. Life has been going so smothly concerning my pacemaker surgery last Nov and then my replacement lead surgery in May. Nothing like feeling really awful for a time to be able to realize when you feel great!
But last week I started to notice 2 things that I didn't notice before. The "extra" lead wire that is located above my pacemaker has become very prominant . Since I had 2 surgeries and therefore 2 scars the area above the pacemaker is looking like a double tract. It has become sensative to wearing my seatbelt. The other thing that is a new sensation is a feeling like a pokeing when Iie on my right side and also a slight headache. I saw the doctor yesterday and he tested my thresholds and said they were fine and didn't think that I should worry. Ha! Anyways I am going to pursue this further with another doctor but in the meantime I was wondering if any of you pacer pals had similiar experiencesThanks for any input,
Bonnie

3 Comments

leads moving...

by Pookie - 2008-11-14 08:11:00

Hi Bonnie.

The first thing that comes to my mind is to ask for an Xray of your chest...then ask them to compare it to your Xray when you had your last pacemaker surgery...it might show if anything has moved.

And...I don't know how much faith I have in what I'm about to tell you, but not long ago when I went to the ER one of the doctors told me to google "pacemaker" and "headache"...he told me my search would bring me to pacemaker syndrome!!!!!!!!

Just remember: its your body and you know how it should or should not feel.

Pookie

No Tweaking!

by bobad - 2008-11-14 09:11:50


What Pookie said, plus don't let yourself start to tweak the leads. A surprising percentage of PPM problems are caused by the paitent tweaking their leads.

Suggestion

by ElectricFrank - 2008-11-15 12:11:33

You may have irritated the pacemaker site somehow without even knowing about it. Then the seat belt makes it worse and in checking it out you find the lead wires. Now you are protecting it when you are lying on your side which can give you one of those neck related headaches.

All this may not be exactly right , but you get the idea. Try putting something over the pacemaker site for several days to protect it from irritation. If it is located on your left side put a pillow in front of you to support your left arm when you are lying on your right side so you don't squeeze it.

I once fell with my large camera over my left shoulder and landed with it between the ground and my pacer site. I didn't do any damage, but the site complained for a few days.

frank

You know you're wired when...

Your ICD has a better memory than you.

Member Quotes

A properly implanted and adjusted pacemaker will not even be noticeable after you get over the surgery.