Can you feel the pacer kick in?

Will someone educate me on what (if anything) you feel when your pacer kicks in? Right now, I can't imagine it would be worse than the chest cramping I have. I've heard from people about 3 brands of pace makers: Medtronic, St. Jude and Guidant. Are there any other brands? I'm spending the weekend researching each.

9 Comments

Yes I have

by Angie - 2007-09-01 06:09:06

I have exsperienced my pacemaker kickin in specially mostly at night when my heart rate drops to a certain level I feel really light headed & dizzy until my pacemaker kicks in, I don't feel any pain is like the same feeling when I go for a check up at the clinic.

sometimes

by bini - 2007-09-01 08:09:19

Sometimes I can feel my pacer kicking in...it feels like my heart is jumping..it doesn't last long and is not painful. It's still fairly new to me bc I have only had it since June....I do know that alot of the pacer feelings may be from the voltage which...in my case they did have to turn down in the beginning.
My PM is a biotronik Cylos, it has truly been my saving grace...I love it!


Christine

At First

by lucybell - 2007-09-01 08:09:45

Hi- I have had my PM for a little over 3 weeks. I noticed it at first a lot. I have a sick syncope between my top and bottom chambers so what I felt was the bottom chamber catching up and it was a hard heart palpatation. But now I really do not notice it at all. I have a Medtronic PM. I am not sure that you are able to choose which one you get- my doctors had already picked the one that I was getting and there really was no choice involved on my part. Now your doctors may be different. But the person who was the Medtronic Rep for mine talked like their PM was the best thing since sliced bread:) You really won't notice it after a few weeks and if you do it feels like a palpatation.

Oh yeah

by marisab - 2007-09-01 10:09:37

I feel my pacer kick in all the time, it just means it's starting up, usualy i feel a weird twith were my pacer is bu sometimes I can feel it in other places too.

Look around the site!

by ela-girl - 2007-09-01 12:09:02

Hi, sugarleaf!

Check out the 'heart muscle twitching' post a few posts down from yours on the main page--it kinda deals with what you are asking. You can also check out some other posts with similar names via the search option or scrolling through the forums that will give you a lot of the same information. As for pacer brands...I have an Ela Medical device by Sorin Group. It is a dual pacemaker.


Happy researching!
ela-girl

Choice of PM

by ela-girl - 2007-09-02 04:09:41

I've never heard about a patient choosing their type or brand of pacemaker. From my understanding, the doctor makes the determination of what kind of pacer you need (like single, dual, bivent., defib. etc) and will choose that pacer from the brands his office or hospital has a contract with. I don't think there is much you can do about, but let us know how your appt. goes!

ela-girl

Can't feel a thing

by sgrozinski - 2007-09-03 12:09:24

I've had my PM for about 10 weeks. Mine is working 98% of the time. I can't feel when the PM kicks in. Maybe it's b/c it's working almost all the time. I have a Guidant. It did take 3 adjustments before I felt pretty good.
Steve

I can feel it

by kish - 2007-09-04 02:09:00

I can feel it kick in occasionally. Normally at night and when I get up after sitting for a while, or standing for long periods of times. Its not painful or anything it’s more of a wired but cool sensation I find at lest, I also think it feels like when you put to magnets to gather and they push apart in your hand and just add your heart beating and that’s what I feel, at lest that’s how I think of describing it. Mine is working around 93% of the time, and has been changed about 4 times as well, and Im on medication still. They figure ill ether get use to it and won’t realize it’s happening eventually. Hopefully this does happen.

feeling it......

by peacemaker - 2007-09-05 11:09:49


I get butterflies in my throat, like in belly, just higher.
When you go to PM Clinic ask them to kick in the pacer so you can feel it.

Wendy
Peacemaker

You know you're wired when...

Bad hair days can be blamed on your device shorting out.

Member Quotes

As for my pacemaker (almost 7 years old) I like to think of it in the terms of the old Timex commercial - takes a licking and keeps on ticking.