feeling poked by RV lead

I'm 3.5 months post op and have only just resumed some of my usual activities such as yard work and yin yoga. During these activities I often experience a sharp pain in the area of my ribs/sternum when moving or stretching gently from side-to-side or front-to-back that feels like I'm being poked by the right ventricular lead.

I have a known micro dislodgement of the RV lead and have complained to the PM clinic that I often feel a dull poking at rest. Should I report this sharper pain? Is this normal, even without a micro dislodgement?


2 Comments

Chest pains quite common with chest stretching activities

by crustyg - 2020-02-11 07:29:57

Hi: I do Pilates, Yoga, Bodybalance, and still get twinges from the PM pocket when we 'open up our chests'.  Not nearly as painful as in first two months, but still there.  It took me a while to recognise the difference between chest wall (==pocket) and deeper, cardiac pain.

I had a good chat with a very experienced EP tech about pain from inside the heart.  My PM and leads were inserted under local only (no sense, no feeling), and while pocket creation hurt a *lot*, lead insertion into the vein hurt a *lot*, I couldn't feel the leads being screwed into my heart muscle (active fixation).  Tech buddy said he'd only ever seen one patient who could feel a lead being anchored.  But we all know that the heart muscle has pain fibres to sense damage - that's why heart attacks hurt so much (and heart transplant patients have no angina pectoris - no nerve supply) AND an ablation for pathway destruction hurts really badly.

So it's up to you whether you report this sensation - only you can know where the pain feels as though it's coming from and if it has changed or got worse.

HTH.

wow!

by Pacemaker_Sally - 2020-02-11 19:32:19

Thanks crustyg! That makes so much sense and I completely agree: it is the "chest openers" that tweak the pocket and stretch the pec. I have already complained about feeling poked by the lead, but I'll see if it settles down over time and if not, I'll let them know at my next check up.

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