Most Recent Messages in Batteries & Leads

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New pm and lead

About a year into my pm, a problem developed with my lead where it took 3 times the energy to work as needed. The result was that the pm ran out of juice after 3 1/2 years. A chest x-ray showed no obvious clues as to what happened.

Since there was a problem with the lead and I'm relatively young at 46, my dr and decided to remove and replace the old lead when it was time to replace my pm. Which we did this morning.

I checked into he hospital in burbank at 6:00 AM and t...

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retire

can i tell if a lead is off
thank you

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Anxiety about my pacemaker

I wanted to say that I am new and this site is great. I wish I would have found it 2 yrs ago but at that time I was in denial about the pacemaker. Since then I have had this fear that my battery will die or my leads will come loose and I will drop dead.
Am I the only one that feels that way? Last week I was called and told to go to the ER immediately. They had read the holter that I wore the week earlier and found several pauses. They cant beleive I never passed out. The chance of me drop...

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My lead

So got an echo and it states: concentric left ventricular hpertrophy, moderate aortic stenosis, severe tricuspid insufficiency with evidence of a pacemaker wire extending across the tricuspid valve. ( Among other findings as well) Now this is all new compared to my last one a year ago that stated:
mild aortic stenosis, mild tricuspid insuff. with pacer wire noted to the RV apex.
Now my question. Should my lead be laying across my tricuspid valve like that? Seems very odd to me..
...

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Recovering after Lead Extraction

I got home Thursday after having my surgery on Wednesday. They wanted to remove all the leads in the vessel where the fractured lead was, only they weren't successful. The two hours scheduled procedure took over 5 hours. The fractured lead was easy to remove, but the other two had tissue grown around them and were attached to the thinnest portion of my aorta. They gently tried, but were not successful with extracting them. Then they put in a third lead because my ejection fraction (the % of...

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medtronic recall leads

I have posted on this subject before but am still wondering what to do as I am hearing (from doctors, friends, news and here) that more and more people are experiencing problems with medtronic fractured leads. As I no longer have insurance, I am anxious about how I would pay to have a lead replaced and how dangerous it would be. The person I spoke to from medtronic didn't seem to want to help out at all and I am strongly leaning toward filing a claim against the company. No, it is not what I...

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guidant vitality replacement

My husband has a guidant vitility a155 which suddenly has a depleted battery. He is due to have it replaced Jan. 7. If you hear a beeping please make sure that you get it checked. I had to argue with the clinic to get them to check his Icd thank god I did.

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Hi

Hi everyone -
I just wish to say HAPPY NEW YEAR to all batterya and lead users lol.
It is not very good having to have a pacemaker but it is very nice to know that there are people out there whereever they are, near or far who totally rely on pm's.
KEEP UP THE GOOD SPIRIT
Regards
Fluzy Suzy

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Replacing Leads

Is there any difference between replacing a defibrilator lead and a pacemaker lead?

I note that in the Medtronics recently recalled defibrilator leads, due to fracturing, literature notes the serious risk in replacing the lead, including blood vessel and heart tears.

I have a pacemaker and was told that leads sometimes may have to be replaced and that it was little more difficult then replacing the pacemaker. The defibrilator lead literature notes much more serious risks f...

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Get ICD to stop making noises

If anyone has the ICD making noises, you should go back to the hospital and have the ICD checked.Probably, need a new battery.I myself had one a year ago.When it made a few noises, i was concerned.I contacted the hospital,in London and they asked me to go back to the hopital.They then gave me a date to put in a new ICD.

You have nothing to worry about.

Best wishes
Lionel Aloe (ARVC - ICD since 2002)

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pulse rate

hi, i hope someone is out there to help me, i'm a little worried.
my pm is set on 70 at the low, i haven't been feeling to chipper the last 2 days, decided to check blood pressure, it was ok but heart rate is stayin in low 60's. should i call my doc?
nelson

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Lead Size

OK, I goofed, Now I'll make an attempt to correct my goof. I put in a comment - "An implantable cardiac stimulation lead system for use with an implantable stimulation device includes at least a pair of conductors, braided together and extending between proximal and distal ends and co-extruded with flexible resilient insulation material. Each conductor may be a multi-strand cable composed of MP35N or DFT and have its outer peripheral surfaces coated with insulative material. An electrical conn...

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Size of leads??

I'm curious about the actual size of the leads/wires that run down through the vein and into the heart. I was looking at the display of PMs and leads outside the cath lab and those leads look very large in diameter, maybe 1/16" or even slightly larger. I remember seeing one post somewhere on the PMClub that referred to the leads as being about the size of a human hair. That's a lot of difference.

Does anyone know how large these things actually are?

Thanks.

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lumpybumpy lead

Hello everyone
I had a Medtronic Duel Chamber pacmaker fitted in the UK in May this year for Neurocardiogenic Syncope. It was all a shock as until I had a Tilt Table Test I just thought the annual symptoms or less were a stomach bug.
The operation itself was horrible---painful in theatre and I felt ill afterwards--the following afternoon staff decided I wasn't recovering as expected and they realised my left lung had been punctured.
I now have a lump just below the scar where the...

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Sprint Fidelis

I attended a Medtronics seminar at the local hospital yesterday evening. The meeting was a result of the re-call notice on four models of the Sprint Fidelis leads.

The company and the docs all admit that there could be a problem with the leads cracking, but there doesnt seem to be anything really conclusive at this time. The recall is reported completely voluntary.

For those in attendance who were interested, they re-set the sensitivity of our ICD so that the audible will...

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Question about low battery

I was told in Feb. 07 that my battery had 9 mos. left on it. Then the tech. person cut something off that extended its life. After that I have slowly been losing strength and ablity to walk very far. I was walking 1/2 mile a day and am not able to do that anymore.

Then one month ago, I noticed that I seemed to be getting weaker and weaker. I can't walk anywhere much at all, without feeling like I am climbing Mt. Everest. Then 1 1/2 weeks ago, I went further down and have an appt....

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battery end

Hi, I am supposed to pacemaker dependent,but I got this last battery in '99, St jude said I had 85% the other day but i had plenty of time left.
Does anyone know at what percent they change the battery?
You would think I WOULD KNOW THIS IS MY THIRD BATTERY.
Thanks and God bless, Nelson

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left pectoral

Hello everyone !
I had a pacemaker, a St. Judes placed in Aug 23 2007. Everything has gone well. I have been lifting weights pretty regularly very light and conservative with the blessing of my Cardiologist. On wed 31st of October I pushed it a little harder. Anyway as of last nite my left pectoral muscle every so often starts twitching, the muscle itself. It is visible to the naked eye.

My question is this...If I did some damage to the pacemaker, leads wires etc. would this be o...

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PM going off

Wow, this site is wonderful. Thank you so much everyone for your help with my questions.

Gloria

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PM going off

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if you can actually feel your PM going off? If you can Please tell me what it feels like.

I know I have had some sensations but not sure if it is going off or not.

I also would like to know if anyone has done a "Power of Attorney"? I have been thinking a lot about this lately and feel I should get one drawn up.

Thanks for your help

Gloria

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You know you're wired when...

You know the difference between hardware and software.

Member Quotes

I am not planning on letting any of this shorten my life. I am planning on living a long happy battery operated life. You never know maybe it will keep me alive longer. I sure know one thing I would have been dead before starting school without it.