Most Recent Messages in Conditions, Meds & Tests

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Mammogram

I'm looking for an alternative to getting a mammogram. My doctor and my cardiologist are no help. Anyone have any suggestions? There must be some other kind of screening available.

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Thanks for the feedback

To Aldeer and Smitty,

Thank you so much for your feedback. It was much appreciated.

Stuie

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PM and Meds

Hi again,

l am relatively new to PM and this club so first let me say hi to all of you. I have afib and high BP. The beta-blocker (ZIAC) I was taking was slowing my irregular heart down to much so I had a dual chamber Guidant Insignia PM implanted on November 13th. At that time I was switched to Toprol for the high blood pressure and there is come discussions about being put on Coumadin. Do any of you have a similar situation. I have heard some negative comments about Toprol on other...

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Newbie

Hello All. I had my Dual Chamber Pacemaker put in August 20,2007. it.s a St. Jude model and I will be asking you all some questions, and thanking god for you all. It,s so new to me and I have lots of questions, that i want from people like me that have been through it. First one is do you still get some of the symptoms (small ones) like a little light head, some dizzyness, only minimal, but is it normal, do you get them? Thanks and God Bless Us All msphil

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Hypotension

Hi All,
Last Friday I checked my BP and it was 90/70. My doctor (@ office clinic) told me that I've got 1st degree Hypotension and he gave me med. Akrinor (cafedrin HCL 100mg + Theodrenalin HCL 5mg). Before PM implanted, my BP is normal (120-130/80-85). Is there anyone has the same situation after getting PM? Right now I feel dizzy (mild) especially when I moving quickly.

Gandara

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Means of Telemetry

I just had a Medtronic dual-lead/dual chamber pacemaker installed. I am 4 days post-procedure. 12 hours after the operation, a representative from Medtronic came in at 0-dark-30 and woke me from a fentanyl stupor, and strapped me in, after placing what appeared to be a blue hockey-puck with leads over me left shoulder. When asked what the hockey puck was for, she replied that it allowed her to "log in" to my device and download statistics on heart rate, frequency of pacing, and percentage of...

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Recently found out.

That I have a-fib when I was brought to the ER. With an Anxiety
attack. Attmitted to the cardiac wing of the hospital for 5 days.
Now I am home, and was at the docs two days ago, and had
my second sonocardiacgram, I think that is what you would
call it. Which showed that I have CHF.
I have to also go for this other test this Friday, where they
inject dye into your body and take pictures. --sigh more stuff
to worry about.
How does one know when you need...

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valve problem

hello there,

you're a smart bunch...

does anyone know that if you have a sluggish valve, will it ALWAYS show up on ECG? or is this something the dr.'s can hear on exam and get an echo to diagnose?

thank you!

luckyloo

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R F ABLATION

Hello Pacemakers,
Had a R F Ablation Monday 22/10/07..
Doctor who preformed the proceedure told me the "ODDS" before starting..90% chance you will go home feeling great, throw your medication away and get on with your life..5% chance no change..5% chance worse off than when we started.. Well Murphy's law clicked in and I came out worse..
Pacemaker??? oh no says doctor in one month we will give the proceedure another go..
So there you go..The latest news from down under..

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Pain in arm, neck

Good Morning All,

I was just wondering if any of you have pain in your arm/neck after almost 1.5 mos. since pm implant. Last night it woke me up, I had a pain in my left arm (right where you would flex your muscle), and then a dull pain, but like a stinging in my left side of my neck. I also feel like my PM has moved up a little, closer to my collar bone. My GP says it is ok, but I'm wondering if maybe it is rubbing on one of the leads or something. I still can't sleep on my left s...

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need advise

Hi everyone,
I have just had my six month routine check up at the PM clinic.
The doc tells me that I am in Atrial Fibrillation 38% of the time.
The PM is working only 2% of the time. He wants to treat me with warfin(blood thinner) as a precaution for stroke and then do a direct-current cardioversion. Has anyone in the club had this proceedure and was it successful?
Any help or thoughts on this problem would be greatly appreciated.
Gary

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Trial and error ???

I have had my Dfib/PM installed since July 10 2007 at first I was able to do some things cleaning moving light items occasionally bend over to pick things up. Aprox a month ago i was washing my truck at a coin car wash being in a slight hurry to beat the clock my defib went off 3 times. They put me on Amiodarone(pacerone) 600 mg a day my heart arithmea now gets so bad that I have to drink water to calm my self down then it went off 5 times at the ER a couple of weeks later the defib was check...

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Still no pacemaker but more tests and proceedures..

Hello from down under..
Well I can report that I have still not had a pacemaker put in..It has been close but they like to do this as a last resort here..I some times feel that I am in the Pacemakers Club on false pretences..
I had a cardioversion some months ago which only lasted two weeks..
Now this week it is to be a Radio Frequency Ablation..I wish they didnt tell you all the things that can go wrong and just get on with it..Was hoping I would be knocked out for it, Oh no jus...

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Low Blood Pressure

Hello:

I wanted ask the people who have pacemakers if they have low blood pressure?

I wasn't feeling too well tonight and laid down for about 30 minutes. I checked my blood pressure when I awoke and it was 95/56. I had my PM put in back in June and this is the first time that I've really paid any attention to my numbers.

It came back up when I got out of bed to between 107/67 to 120/77. I had been sick with a Chronic Fatigue diagnosis for several years before I n...

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sss......is it needed?

hi this is with reference to mr. j.r's reply to my fathers condition. i thought i shud put up the whole history before u. my father underwent surgery for a pericardial teratoma in 1994. about 2 kg was removed. he was fine for a while but then he started having palpitations and feeling of weakness. he went to the doc who gave him verapamil. he took that for sometime then stopped.sometime later he had a brief episode of amnesia that lasted for abt a minute.we contacted the doc.he carried out a no...

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High Blood Pressure

I had my PM for 7 weeks and have been battling high BP since the implant. Prior to PM I was on 40 mg of Vasotec and BP was controlled. Since PM BP has been anywhere between 150/80 to 205/102. Doc first tried 50 mg of Toprol XL which brought it down some but never to normal. Yesterday he increased the Toprol XL to 100 mg. This morning upon getting out of bed my BP was again 190/100. I have taken two doses of the 100 mg, one yesterday and one today. Any thoughts on how long it will take the n...

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Upper Respiritory Infection

Does anyone know the complications of having an upper respiritory infection with a pm? As in will it last longer. Because I've taken antibiodics and now 3 weeks of having the infection the area where my pm is hurting. What I mean is beneath the skin between the pm, pain everytime i move or i slump or slouch. It's also becoming hard for me to breath. I was talking to my mom over the phone and she said she could hear me breathin funny. So anyone know????
p.s sorry for my tangents, I'm a teen...

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Jolt in chest question

Hi- I'm 3 months into a dual lead Medronic Avanta PM for Bradycarida, low heart beat. Not a defib. Its a demand PM set at 60 bpm at the low and 175 at the high.
Recently while reading in bed I had a jolt to the chest similar to a punch without the pain. 2 hours later another one with less impact and then one more again with less impact. It then stopped.
There were no other symptoms or anything like a heart attack.
A call to my cardio dr resulted in a appointment next week but the...

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Symptom help/advice please

Hi Everyone,

I'm new here, just found this site and would be grateful for any help or advice you could offer.

I'm 36, from the UK and was diagnosed with complete heart block in June. It's a bit of a long story so apologies and please bear with me. I had a routine high blood pressure check with my practice nurse in April and she did an ECG too. She showed results to doctor who sent me to hospital where I spent the night hooked up to a heart monitor. My HR was low 40s, droppi...

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Long QT anyone?

Last September, I had a cardiac arrest due to ventricular fibrillation caused by "long QT syndrome". I know my condition is pretty rare, so was just wondering...how many of you who are reading this have the same diagnosis?

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You can take a lickin’ and keep on tickin’.

Member Quotes

A pacemaker completely solved my problem. In fact, it was implanted just 7 weeks ago and I ran a race today, placed first in my age group.