Placement to close to shoulder?

I'm 65, fit active and muscular build. I got my pacemaker 2.5 weeks ago. Significnt improvement. No more dizzyness all the time. I have already walked 4 and 5 miles days last week. I got my fast gate back. I had regular BPM in the low 30's. Been putting this of for a few years. I always wondered if that was from weight lifting all my life. (nothing professional). I feel like the device may have been placed  too close to my shoulder and moving my shoulder causes a good deal of discomort. Feels like a corner of the device is sticking me in the shoulder. . Is it possible it was placed too close to my shoulder? I also feel pressure or stretching in my chest like the leads are being pulled against my veins. Is this normal.

 

2 Comments

Right after you get your pacemaker

by Theknotguy - 2018-06-23 07:10:30

 

Right after you get your pacemaker the tissue around it can be swelled which will cause feelings of stretching and discomfort.  

I volunteer in a charity woodshop.  We had one job where we needed to lift planks up to the chop saw and then move them to a second pallet.  I'd get a pinching feeling between my shoulder, my ribcage, and my pacemaker.  A lot of soreness from stretching too.  I think it was a year before everything got stretched out and the feeling went away.  At nine months terrible itching too.  There would be days where I'd work one day in the woodshop then spend the next four days taking tylenol and using hot and cold packs.  I'd feel fine while I was doing the work but the day after I'd be sore.  

After about a year and a half I was able to do as much as I wanted, everything got stretched out, went back to "normal", and I felt really good.  So you will have an adjustment period while your body gets accustomed to the foreign object.  

Hope everything else goes well for you.

High?

by AgentX86 - 2018-06-23 12:14:50

Two-and-a-half weeks is nothing.  Give yourself a chance to heal.  I've been four months, now and it's a lot better but it's still very sensitive to the touch (though it varies throughout the day).  I assume they placed the PM under the skin, on top of the muscle.  With your build, it may protrude more than usual and may even take a little longer to feel natural. 

For reference, mine is placed about 2-1/2" below my clavicle and about the same distance to the right of my shoulder.  The "stretching" feeling is natural.  The skin is being stretched because of the pacemaker and swelling.  You won't feel the wires and they won't be stretched.  There's plenty of slack to allow normal movement.

You know you're wired when...

Friends call you the bionic man.

Member Quotes

I am just grateful to God that I lived long enough to have my ICD put in. So many people are not as lucky as us; even though we sometimes don't feel lucky.