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Balloon Angioplasty

I know that this isn't neccessarily a question for pacemaker patients... Many of us have other problems with our hearts, and I was hoping that someone could shed some light for me.

I was diagnosed last week with Superior Vena Cava Syndrome. In other words, my superior vena cava, the vein that my pacemaker leads run through, is blocked. It is blocked because of scar tissue due to multiple ablations to my sinus node.

My doctors were considering open heart surgery, or placin...

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Need Some Advice

Hello,

I am getting married soon and for my husband I was thinking of getting his initials on my lower abdomen area. But I am scared because I have a pacer/ defib in my right upper shoulder and am not sure if the defib will go off when I am getting the tattoo. Can someone please tell me if they have got a tattoo while having a defib inmplant? Thanks!

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Post ICD Shock Depression

Does anyone else here who has a pacemaker/ICD have a problem of going into a bit of a depression after being shocked by their device?? I go into a bit of a funk for a week or 2 after I have been shocked by my Defib. I really dont know the exact reason why but it definitely is linked to the incident. I want very much to be active and play sports and I am able to for stretches at a time but then I will get an irregular heartbeat and my device shocks me. After that I go into somewhat of a depr...

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Parasympathetic system

This question may be way out there, but here goes. My PM was implanted in April of this year, and it was to correct heart block that was a complication of an ablation to correct WPW / SVT that I have been struggling with.

Long story made longer, I still seem to be struggling from SVT but mainly in the evening when I am "at rest", like sitting on the couch or lying in bed trying to sleep. Some things that I have read talk about vagal stimulation and the parasympathetic nervous syst...

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some good news

well i went to the doctor yesterday my heart rate was a little high and my bp a little low,but he says it all looks good.i have an apt. with ssd hopefully it will all go good ,my doc. says hell help me in any way possible.thnx for all the feed back exspecially when im feeling a little low.all this is a little harder to take than i first thought. GOD BLESS

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Hoping to not need a pacemaker.

In 2006, twice in one day I blacked out. There was no warning symptoms or any noticeable aftereffects. It was just my vision narrowing to a point then going dark with my next conscious awareness being of falling on my butt. What these incidents had in common was I had been bowing my head slightly to look down. It didn’t happen again until recently, about 5 times in the last 2 months. Concerned that this may happen at a very inappropriate time I went to a cardiologist. He massaged the area...

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no answers

I'm back, I've been in the hospital since July 20, My incison area where my difib/pace maker is swollen, right along with my left arm. they have ran a lot of test, and can't find the cause. I don't have an infection of any kind, one of the veins in my arm is narrow, but they say this is not causeing the pain and swellen. They say I should not be in pain or swellen. but this device causes me pain and discomfort everyday that i have had it. Anyone have any ideas on what the doctors or I might be m...

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I should have asked this earlier!

About 5 weeks ago I went to the doctor for a typical check up. While there I asked that she listen to my heart. I'd been having lots of "flutters" and wanted her to take listen. To make a long story short, Monday I received my pacemaker. I'm embarrassed to say that I asked very few questions before hand. I'm 100% confident that this was a necessary procedure. I have plenty of family history and hindsight says I should have had this checked out sooner. Everything happened so fast that I di...

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more info from Ruesado.....

Here is where my research betweeen Theodur and Prednisone is going in regards to possible contributors to me contracting A-fib.
The year was @ 1987-89, I was stationed at Travis A.F.B. California. My physician was increasing my theodur from 1 each (300 mg) once a day to 3 each (900mg) a day.
This lasted for 6 months until after numerous visits to the ER, with shortness of breathe, I manage to convince a Major in charge of Cardio-pulmo, that I wasn't going to live this way anymore. He...

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Boyfriend Having Surgery

Hello


My boyfriend (now 28) has had a pacemaker since a very early age. He is to go into surgery in a few weeks as his pacemaker has migrated and become very superficial (it looks like it could pop out any second).
My question is, should I attend the sugery (it is taking place 3 hours away) or should I not?
He has mentioned to me that this is just a standard procedure and I have nothing to worry about. His father will be travelling with him but he says to me that I wi...

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Pin prick feeling

I get a feeling over my pacemaker that feels like many pins being stuck into that area. Does anyone else have this feeing and what is it exactly? I just got my pacemaker in February and still have many questions.

Carolyn Moore

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Driving and Pacing

It was a wonderful drive home yesterday.

I rolled the window down to allow the 98 degree breeze to tease my hair like a hairdryer. Ain’t nothing like baked on sweat.

The radio station caught my vibe and surprised me by playing all of my favorite songs back to back. Just as I was jammin’ and singing along to “Boom, Boom, Pow”, I almost hit a cow and I swerved like a crooked arrow that had been arched by a drunken cupid.

To my left an entire stampede of cows resti...

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1 Month Checkup Q&A

I posted this also as a comment to a previous post but thought it would be worthwhile to post generally. Saw my doc yesterday for my one month check and walked in with a list of questions. He actually took the list in hand and we went through all of them. Here is the list and what he said (basically).

Saw the doc yesterday and while they didn't look at the pacer at all to see if it had been up to anything he did answer my questions:

Why does it still hurt (although much...

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Replacement Surgery

Hi all...I am 31 years old and have had my pacemaker since I was 23. I am scheduling my first replacement and had some questions. Because I was so young when I first got the pacemaker, they placed it on the side under my chest wall where it was more cosmetic. I also have a faulty lead that they want to replace (the lower chamber). How bad is this surgery going to be in relation to the first one? It sounds like the lead replacement is tough? Is it a much bigger deal because of where the pac...

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work and stuff

i have had my pacemaker since march now and can not get anyone to hire me .should i or can i file for disability ?i also was shocked twice this week could this hurt my pm?ive also been feelin run down and tired lately almost like before i got the pm
any ideas or advice is welcome.

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Laser Eye Surgery - complete success

Hi to everyone, I posted a couple of weeks ago as I was having trouble finding a laser eye surgeon who would operate on me as I have a pacemaker. I just wanted to update you and let you know that I successfully had the surgery a week ago, it was completely painless (much less stressful than having the pacemaker fitted!) and now one week on I have better than 20;20 vision and am thrilled with the results. I used a company called Accuvision who are based in Fulham, London. They were fab, gave me...

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Play dates.....

Hi there,
My daughter is 8 years old. She is starting to go for playdates and I was wondering if there was anything to tell parents to watch for with the PM. We are still new to the whole PM world.
My daughter doesn't have heart issues. She has a condition that doesn't send the message from her brain for her heart to beat. It is a very strange disorder. Her heart is in great shape.
Thanks,
Tess

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Better Today

I am doing better today, at least emotionally. I think it would help if I was a little more recovered from the three surgeries last week. Many doctors have called and been keeping me up to date. I am going to the Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. My Doctor is Gregory Ewold. In mid-August I will have my evaluation.

Thank you to so many of you who responed in my time of need. I do not live in an area where there is a support group of pacers. You are all my Blessings. My church ha...

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Pectoral muscle pacing?

Hi!
I've had my pacemaker for nearly two years, after a CA and history of bradycardia. Everything has been fine and I even had the PM repositioned to under my pectoral muscle about 18 months ago so it would bother me less and stay in place.

Lately, I have had strange muscle spasms which are very steady and obvious when I exercise. You can see my pectoral muscle pop forward as if the pacemaker is pacing the muscle. It doesn't matter if I'm running, hiking, biking etc. It happens e...

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links to A-Fib

Whatever will help I hope,
I have A-fib, and I truly believe that my A-fib might be caused directly from a combination of 2 overprescribed medications.
Theadur and Prednosone (steriod), and snezzing.
My Physicians also told me that they could hear a heart murmur or echo.
At the time, I was 250 lbs, in a aleregy enriched area, and had been hospitolized twice within a 6 month period.
Before I can file for any compensation, I need a cardiologist to agree with the relations...

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You know you're wired when...

You name your daughter “Synchronicity”.

Member Quotes

My cardiologist is brilliant and after lots of trial and error got me running. I finished this years London Marathon in 3hrs 38 minutes.