New PM-Questions

I received my pacemaker on 12/11/08. I am in very good shape, run 1/2 & full marathons. Have SSS and needed PM. I am now trying to figure out how easy it is to mess up leads. Ist night had hand over head when I woke up. I am not one that sets very well either so I have been busy since PM was put in and I seem very tired, more so than before PM. Is this normal? Any idea how long you are tired? If a lead is moved, will it be anything very obvious? I am having a few muscle sensations "flutter" at the side of my armpit. It is just very hard from being very active and being tired and being not very active and tired. I was told that I would feel better pretty much immediately. Also does anyone know if all lads done now are screwed in? If anyone would just please give me some advice to an active person from an active person. Thank you for this site.

4 Comments

What little I know

by janetinak - 2008-12-14 06:12:03

My EP told me that lead is "screwed" tissue but with that being said everybody is told to not raise the arm on side of PM over your head for awhile (2 wks @ least). My EP had me wear a special sling made for upper arm fractures (Zimmer brand) which holds your arm in palce against your side with velcro staps. This helped a lot & sounds as if you could use it. Ask for it.

Good luck,

Janet

Rest a little

by bowlrbob - 2008-12-14 06:12:45

I got mine 3 years ago. I also am very active. I think this operation takes more out of you than you or anyone else thinks. Besides you have been run down for awhile now. I got tired easy for almost 1 year before getting back to what I call normal. My pacer had to be adjusted and this was not done for 6 months. By then I had gotten more run down. Then after the adjustment it took another 6 months or so to catch up. I also caught every cold and virus that came along for the first year. That did not help. It might not take you that long everyone is different. But after that first year I am back to normal. I hope you get there faster.
On the second part about the leads being screwed in it takes a month to 6 weeks for scar tissue to form around the leads in the heart. This is what ultimately holds them in. So it is wise to take it easy for the first 6 weeks or so. It's a small price to pay. Bowlrbob

welcome

by Tracey_E - 2008-12-14 07:12:45

dislodging leads... It's rare, but it happens. After the first 48 hours, you'd have to yank them pretty good to mess them up. Back when I got my first one 15 yrs ago, they had me in a sling the first 24 hours then didn't give me any instructions for after that! I was too sore to do much that would damage the leads, but they didn't make a big deal about keeping my arm down to prevent it happening either.

If you suspect you dislodged a lead (and I doubt you did), keep an eye on your heart rate, look for signs that it's dipped too low. When it doubt, call and ask to be checked. It's easy enough to do and will ease your mind.

Are you still on pain meds? That'll make you tired. Give yourself at least a week or so before you decide if you're feeling better or not. After the first few days, you should improve quickly. You can expect to be back to normal by 4-6 weeks. Some are bursting with energy immediately, some gradually get their energy back, some never feel much better but they are safer- there's no one answer when you should get your energy back.

Something to keep in mind... most pm recipients are not young and/or active. They tend to send us home with a lot of standard settings that are intended for the "average" pm patient. It's perfectly normal to need your settings tweaked a bit to get them just right for you, esp for those of us who are active. We make our pm's work harder and it may take a few tries.

They can either be screw or barb type leads. I have no idea which is more prevalent, but we have a few members here who will know.

I started walking the first few days I was home with my new pm. I built up speed and distance over the next few weeks and by 4-6 weeks I was doing full workouts again.

You might want to try hugging a small pillow to your side when you sleep. I found this kept me from rolling over on my sore side and moving that arm around too much.

Speed of recovery

by ElectricFrank - 2008-12-15 12:12:35

A lot depends on how long you went with the problem that led to the pacemaker. If you went an extended length of time with impaired cardiac output, your body is affected by it. Even with circulation restored it may take a while for things to recover.

I also wonder if the kind of anesthesia we have for the surgery doesn't affect things. The amnesia type drugs which supposedly make you forget anything that happened during surgery could easily leave your brain trying to figure out what happened and this could be fatiguing.

And finally, remember that this is serious surgery that involves cutting tissue to make a pocket and threading electrodes into your heart. Your body is using energy to heal.

frank

You know you're wired when...

You play MP3 files on your pacer.

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