Just a problem

Twitching

by piglet22 - 2023-03-08 06:17:52

Hello

I can only speak about my own experiences but I had a straightforward pacemaker fitted 18-years ago.

After about 11-years, it was starting to get to end of life and replacement was becoming due.

I was on 3-monthly checkups.

I never did get an appointment for the replacement because the pacemaker failed while I was at home.

The first thing I knew about it was my pectoral muscle on the left side above the pacemaker started to twitch in time with my pulse.

This soon spread to my left arm which was moving involuntarily with my pulse. I called 111 (UK) and they called 999.

I was taken to A&E. A senior paramedic said it couldn't be pacemaker related. After a wait of about 6-hours a cardiac on-call physiologist turned up with the equipment and apparently the battery had gone so low that the pacemaker had changed mode and was causing the twitching. She increased the amplitude in the pacemaker settings to give me some relief from the twitching.

I got on the ward at 03:00 and had the pacemaker changed in the afternoon.

The twitching had stopped. After a bit of research I did find an article that suggested that older pacemakers used muscle twitching as an end of life alarm.

I never really forgave them for letting what should have been a planned routine change and turned it into a crisis.

On reflection, I thought how lucky I was to be at home when it happened and not 5-miles high in an airliner.

I can't say that you have the same problems but you definitely need to get it checked out.

You can sometimes get twitches for no reason at all and they go away, but in my case, it was so obviously related to my pulse and heart rate.

Try and feel your pulse and see if it matches the twitching. It could also be be due to the operation, but professional advice needed.

Good luck with that and if you do get an explanation it would be interesting to hear how you got on.

See a masseuse

by Lavender - 2023-03-08 18:04:54

My left arm was a pain for a long time after getting my pacemaker. It still occasionally wants to get a muscle knot. I see a licensed massage therapist twice a month and she keeps me limber. 
 

Ice was my friend. Wrap an ice pack in a towel and put it on for twenty minutes. Then take a twenty minute break and apply a heating pad for twenty minutes.  Repeat as needed. 
 

You can add to those 75 good years! I'm expecting you to find improvements along the way.