Sleeping on Side

I had my PM implanted in April of this year and have started experiencing what I call "body hiccups" at night when sleeping on my side...
I wake up and feel like my entire chest is convulsing in rhythm with my heart beats...not painful, but difficult to catch my breath. The best way to describe it is an internal hiccup over and over again. The longest "spell" lasted about 2 minutes and I always wake up in a panic feeling like I'm the victim of unneeded CPR! This occurs when sleeping on either side - it's not specific to right or left....I'm trying not to sleep on my side if I can help it, but should I be experiencing this at all? Has anyone else ever had similar symptoms?
(My PM is in my upper left side, a couple inches below my clavicle - not submuscular)

3 Comments

Is It Twitching or Hiccups?

by manuhomoeo - 2008-11-12 09:11:10

Hello,
Is it coming as regular Hiccups or Twitching of Body Parts? If it is regular Hiccups do not take chances,consult your doctor immediately. If is Twitches, it might be due to leakage of current thru the lead contacts. That too also should be attended , but not as fast as earlier one. Its Called Pocket Twitching. I had experienced that with my second machine which i had installed in 2000 ( My First Implant in 1993 - Now I am on 3rd One ). That second one had the complaint of pocket twitching, & its battery gone in 5yrs due to that.
Hope you will get well soon
Good Luck

Call your doctor

by Angelie - 2008-11-12 09:11:33

Pacemakers are NOT supposed to cause body twitching of any kind. You need to call your doctor and tell them what you're experiencing so that they can get it fixed.
Good luck,
Angelie

PM Problems

by SMITTY - 2008-11-12 12:11:10


From the above replies you know that you need to call your doctor. Many of us have been through what you are describing, or something very similar (mine felt like an electric shock in my chest). I learned the hard way these things very seldom, if ever correct themselves.

Now for the really bad part. I hope you don't run into it, but many times the doctor or technicians have little idea what is causing the problem and their first line of defense is to checkout the pacemaker and pronounce it in good shape followed by "the problem is not caused by your pacemaker." When that happens you may have to resort not being your normal nice self and demand that something be done for you. You know this is a problem you were not having before you got the pacemaker so it stands to reason that is the cause now.

Ninety nine percent of the time these problems can be corrected with changes in the PM settings, the only problem is finding someone that has the knowledge and will take the time to find out what changes are needed and then make those changes. No where in any of the literature or any internet postings, have I ever seen that a pacemaker is expected to cause us pain or discomfort of any kind. Oh, they talk about complications but every one of those complications I have seen mentioned involved the surgery itself.

Good luck,

Smitty

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