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Chocolate Ice Cream...

I love this board! I learn so much here. Last week I was a little down (probably fault of PM), Had been good all week and exercised everyday, and ate right and now it was the weekend and I was all alone cause Hubby had to work :(. I got my Chocolate Ice Cream, covered it with m&m's and a rerun of Law and Order and a blanket and sacked out on the couch. I thought the "heart" feelings, which I still have trouble identifying, were my guilt for eating the chocolate Ice Cream and m&m's and not...

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CRT coming through skin

I am a rather thin person and my device was placed under the skin on my left side. I have been doing great since the implantation however, I noticed that where the leads are attached to the device is pushing through my skin. My doctor wants to implant under the pectoral muscle but this surgery was discontinued due to a recall from the FDA for a process mistake by the company that made the device. My question is has anyone else experience this problem and is there anything other than surgery I...

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Answers?

I posted sometime ago and had a couple responses. Thanks to those who responded. I recieved my PM 11/20/2009 due to HB 3 and EF of 40. I had a really rough time for while, weakness, anxiety, and fear in general. I had had gallbladder surgery 2 1/2 weeks prior to my PM being placed. Too much for a little gal like me almost. I am feeling pretty much back to normal now, but do have a few questions. First of all, Ladies what do you do about your bra strap rubbing against your incision site?...

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just maybe...

I don't know if this may help anyone else but it surely did help me so I just have to share my experience. Some of you may remember all the shoulder problems and general crumby relationship I was having with my pm. Well, I have been doing Yoga and going to a massage therapist for the last several weeks. I cannot believe what a difference it has made in how I feel and how I healed. I have been rather active which I was not doing when everything looked so bad to me. Now, I in no way had it as bad...

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Portable Emergency Generators???

Hello Everyone!

I hope all of you are making progress and growing stronger.

It's been awhile since I've checked in...had my CRT-D implant on December 9th...so far so good.

Question: I bought one of those Portable Emergency Generators that will jump start your car (600amps), inflate your tires, recharge your IPOD, run you laptop with a USB port...and run AC appliances up to 400watts.

Well, I was wondering if anyone with an ICD/Pacemaker has any experie...

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Pacemaker Implant

Talk about a pain. My mother had to have a pacemaker put in on March 17th. They told us it would take about an hour or so. Well six hours of surgery and now the 14th of April she will be coming home I hope on friday the 16th of April. So many things went wrong. And everything that we have been told it seems to have been the doctors mess up. My mom still doesnt know what all happened to her. We havent told her the full story yet. We dont want it to upset her at this point in her recovery. But it...

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25 pound limitation after surgery

When I was released from the hospital, I was given a sheet, "No lifting arm over shoulder for 6 weeks" and "No lifting over 25 pounds for 2 weeks".

Today is 3 weeks, and when I spoke to the nurse, she said that she doesn't think I should lift over 25 pounds. My son is about 40 pounds, and I need to lift him sometimes.

Anyone been given this statement, I am going to reach to the doctor tomorrow, but I was wondering if there is any sage advise out there

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Nerve injury

Nerve injury is a rare complication, but wondering if anyone else has had any troubles? Duing the implant, my physician perforated prior to entering my heart, pulled the lead back and tracked down the same path again. After a slightly longer than usual procedure than expected I was left with a chronic pain syndrome. I am doing well from a cardiac persective and I have rather good contol of the pain.

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epicardial leads

Does anyone have epicardial leads? If so -- are you pacemaker dependent? And how long have you had them and are they expected to last long. Was the surgery extremely painful? I am considering declining on a risky wire extraction surgery and asking for epicardial leads instead. Thanks in advance for any information.

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Rate Response

Thanks to the previous post and responses - I think I'm finally beginning to understand Rate Response.

For some reason I've always found it very confusing. Like who needs it and why some people have it ON and some have it OFF.

IF one is paced in the upper chamber (atria) and not or very very little in the ventricle then is it safe to assume you should have the Rate Response ON??????????

Take me, for example:

Diagnosis: Sick Sinus Syndrome. Bradyca...

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Battery life and telephone checks

Hi--I have a Medtronic Versa which was replaced in May 2009. I sent a recent telephone transmission via the Medtronic Carelink system. My cardiology nurse called back and said everything looked OK and that I have 3 1/2 years left on the battery. I was told when the pacemaker was implanted that it had a 7-8 year battery life. My first pacemaker was a Guidant that lasted 7 years. I was shocked by the short battery life they said I had left, my question is how accurate is it when you send yo...

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medtronic

has any one heard what went o in st louis on monday about the medtronics law suit from 2007 bad wires I cant find any thing on the web maybe i aint lookig in the right spot does any ony know the desicion that was made by the judges did they dissmiss the lawsiut or is it going to move forward just asking I got shocked 13 or 14 times before they shut off my defibilator pacemaker
just wondering aint seen nothing on here either thaks alot duane will be 2 years in may since I had my defibilat...

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Bad experiance during stress thellium test.

I just had this test today I had not had one for 5 years. Last time during the exercise part I walked the treadmill. This time because they thought the PM might interfere with the readings they decided to inject the chemical to increase heart rate.
I told them last time I had no problem with the treadmill but they insisted, I think mostly to save time. I told them i have VasoVagal Syncope and I thought it was a bad idea. But I was assured the side affects are minor at worst.
NO...

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Can someone explain rate response

I've seen it in a number of posts where people said they have felt better after the rate response feature of their pm has been turned off. What is rate response for and who should or shouldn't have this feature turned on?

Trying to get as much info as possible before my next EP appointment on the 29th of this month, otherwise, I will be waiting another 6 months.

Thanks for any info you can provide. Thanks.

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To Newbie

I had an ablation 3 years ago. It was totally severed and I am totally dependent on my pacemaker. I have had no afib or no pounding etc. At first it seemed to take a while to get it adjusted and I think psychologically it was worse than physically. I had an anxious first year but I was also getting off Adivan (never take it again) and sleeping pills (Ambien). That was a big problem in itself. Now I hardly think about it, and I feel much better. I am 75 years old but I believe a young 75....

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Newbie Discouraged

Greetings, all! I spent a few hours yesterday perusing this forum and decided to join. I'm discouraged and confused.

I've had afib and tachycardia for most of the last 20 years. It came to a head with CHF in December 2005. I came out of the hospital with lots of drugs.

It came back with a vengeance in January 2006, and the VA did a radio frequency ablation on me. I felt great for about a month, and the afib/tachy came back again. I went back in for another ablation,...

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racing heart question

Hi everyone :) I have a couple of questions
I have been doing quite well here for the last couple of weeks
I am taking a beta blocker 50mg every evening with dinner
anyways, yesterday I was active all day long - up and down the stairs,walking,cleaning etc etc... so last nite I get up from the couch to the kitchen and all of a sudden my heart felt like it took a flip flop then it started to race..so I went back to the couch told my husband - it raced off and on for a hr - finall...

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Six Month Check/Questions ~ ~

I go for my first 6 month check up with my EP/cardio Dr. at his Heart Hospital office this Thursday, April 15 a.m. I learned from my 3 month check of my PM earlier I still have A-fib, but the tech said everything else was ok.

Are there any questions I should ask during this 6 month check? I know it will definitely be an in/out visit because his scheduler called me this a.m. to re-schedule my appointment earlier on Thursday so he can catch a flight to speak at a meeting. If I am hav...

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Flying

Hey everyone!! so I have had some good luck in the past couple weeks and ended up winning a trip to london england for 5 days to see pearl jam play! I have not flown with my pacemaker yet, I am 8 months after implant and in the last few months my heart has been beating on its own almost 90% of the time!! I was just wondering if i had to be cautious of anything while flying? im 99.9% confident nothing is going to happen but ya know theres always that little nervousness. I am in good health and ha...

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PM

did any of you guys have a EP Study prior to having a PM implanted? If so please respond and If not you still can respond Thanks....

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My pacemaker is intact and working great.