Interrogation reaction

I know I’m sensitive but my doctors tell me no one else has this (?j. 

When I go in to the office for the interrogation the Pacemaker doc puts the magnet over my pacemaker.  It only takes a few minutes for him to check things.  Then I begin to feel a heavy ach in that area, and this has happened every time. (Since 2012)

Becuase of the Covid pandemic we mutually decided I should do the remote monitoring.  After getting it set up, the first night I awake with pain well beyond achiness, around 4 am.  The pain lasted intermittently through the day and into the next day.  

I won’t be doing the remote monitoring again.

has anyone experienced anything like this with either in-office or remote monitoring?

M’Liz

5 Comments

It happens

by Gotrhythm - 2020-11-03 14:38:37

I don't know about "heavy ache" specifically, but I can assure you that many members feel what transpires during an interrogation. For the first couple of years the feeling was so intense and so shocking I would involuntarily cry out. Then, I would feel strange, sort of out of it,  for several hours afterward.

Knowing that it was going to happen, and that everything was okay, over time I got to where I could face an interrogation with equanimity, if not pleasure.

Fortunately, after I changed doctors, I found techs who believed me and tried to mitigate the unpleasant feelings. REcently, I had a tech who not only knew about the problem, he knew what to do to stop it from happening. He had the interrogation completely finished, almost before I knew it had started. I'm sitting there saying, "That's it? You're done?" I hadn't felt a thing.

Like mine, your pacemaker is getting some age on it. I'm not sure avoiding interrogation for the duration is the best solution to your problem, given that this virus isn't going away any time soon. Better, might be a phone call to a manufacturer's rep to ask for help. In many cases they know more about the nuts and bolts of interrogation than MD's do.

Apples to apples

by Gotrhythm - 2020-11-03 18:19:01

LDEBAUGH says he's had his device since 2012. It could be different from ar_vin's, and it might work differently too.

My Merlin device for remote transmission looks very different from my friend's. My pacemaker is 9 years old, hers 3.

Hers works automatically. She has no awareness of when it's transmitting. Mine, only works if I do it, and it can take a while. I must sit down and go through several steps and lots and lots of blinking lights.

As for magnets, I can't swear it is a magnet, but I do have to place a donut-thingie over the pacemaker that sure looks like the magnet in the doctor's office.

That said, I have never felt anything--except boredom while I wait for the Merlin to do its thing.

Magnet

by AgentX86 - 2020-11-03 20:56:18

My PM/remote box is like Gotrhythm's and its 3YO. It doesn't use Bluetooth, rather near-field communication (much like cell phones that can transfer pictures by placing them back-to-back.  The "donut" isn't a magnet, rather a near-field antenna.  It's not nearly as heavy as the "puck" used at an in-person interrogation. 

Mine does have bluetooth (I can see it on my phone once in a while) in addition to near-field but it's not used.

Yes, there are lotsa blinkin' lights.  Bump the stupid thing and it flashes brightly all night. The thing is a plastic hunk of junk. It takes real work to make something designed as badly as my Merlin box.

Tingle tingle little heart

by ROBO Pop - 2020-11-04 16:20:26

When they do an office interrogation they will increase and decrease your heart rate which often causes weird sensations even after it's over. Happens to me even after 14 years. Mostly feels odd to me.

During the night my device rings up the base station and my defibrillator plays poker with them between 2 and 4 am nightly. This is a self diagnostics your device does. I am sometimes awakened but never any pain or residual issues.

 

I feel every interrogation

by PacedNRunning - 2020-11-08 05:40:53

I feel every interrogation! I'm just sensitive. They may have turned on the daily lead tests. Which is similar to the office interrogations! 

You know you're wired when...

You fondly named your implanted buddy.

Member Quotes

I just want to share about the quality of life after my pacemaker, and hopefully increase awareness that lifestyles do not have to be drastically modified just because we are pacemaker recipients.