Most Recent Messages in General Posting

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Vibrations in chest

I had my single chamber atrial pacer (st Jude pm1210) placed 3 days ago for bradycardia. I have a decent amount of discomfort , which I believe is normal. My pain is in my armpit, part of my left amd and left sided chest pain. Ice has been my best friend. The pain is not of much concern to me. I do have a weird sensation where my pacemaker is. Occasionally I get a slight vibration almost feels like a cat purring. The episodes are short but have felt them a number of times throughout each day. My...

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Live Gatherings!

Is there a picnic or coffee meet or any such thing for the clubbers?

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Best New Fall Show

What is everyone's favorite TV show and new fall TV show ?

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American shutdown ... a Computer tip

America was not shut down properly. Would you like to start America in safe mode, with free healthcare & without the guns? (Recommended).

Ian

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MRI

Am having an MRI today! Had a TIA 2 weeks ago....now a mild stroke, feeling week down the right side of my body. The St Jude lady will put the pacemaker into safe mode then reprogram after MRI. Question. I have Bradycardia.... If the pacemaker is swithched into safe mode will it stop the pulse from dropping below 60?

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Airport screening....and the winner is

Sydney. Just waiting at Heathrow for the last leg of a 23 hour trek to Paris from Sydney via Dubai and London. At Sydney - no problem just through the full body scanner, no fuss non invasive and minimal delay. At Dubai - well they didn't really understand what I was telling them when I said I had a pacemaker. So when I politely insisted I wasn't going through the machine, she called the supervisor and we settled on the fact that I'd had an operation. I was taken to a private cubicle for a pat do...

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Dizziness.... Pacemaker

Hi,
Got my installation a month ago...bradycardia.
In last couple of days have had couple of dizzy spells...very lightheaded..which disappear shortly after.
Am athletic in good shape.
Just started full swing golf shots in last few days. Some discomfort on backswing nothing serious.
Observations welcome
B

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Not Sure what to do

I have a Guidant pacemaker model 1297 installed in 2003 on the "warning list" not on the recall list.The guidant leads are models 4087 and 4457. It is due shortly for a battery change and I am considering just ignoring it and forgetting about the whole thing. It was installed for seizure control for epilepsy which never really worked anyway. They said my heart stopped causing the seizures. Now medication does a better job and the pacemaker seems useless.

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care link

I have been 100% pacemaker dependent for 24 yrs. in July of 2007 I received a ICD with my new pacer due to ef of 20%. I have slowly returned to 40-45% and do well most days.
My last implant was July 2012 with out any problems
I have had the care link since 2007 and in the past year have had about six episodes of v-tach anywhere from 8-59 seconds. I was aware only of the 59seconds.
My question is: when does care link pick-up and notify the pacer office. They seemed as surprised...

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infected pacer

I reported here a couple of weeks ago that my pacer implanted Aug.2nd, was infected at the incision.My pacer was working perfectly.
I was hospitalized on the 19th of Sept. hoping that bombarding the infection with antibiotics would clean up the mess after a few days.Didn't work! On the 24th my pacer was removed.They were afraid the infection would spread down the leads into my heart.They taped a temporary pacer to my neck.On the 26th they implanted a new pacer on the right side and removed...

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Pacer sound after death

From another thread I understand that a pacer keeps firing after death. For purposes of pronouncing death my question is can you hear it through a stethoscope and does it sound/feel like a heartbeat?

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Hi All

Just checking in. Been hanging in there fairly good. I even had a great weekend. Went camping with the family. Was the first time in about 1 1/2 years to do so. Of course, I paid the price yesterday, but looking to do it again soon.

Tomorrow, I will be heading to New Orleans to get a new Hickman in. After ripping out the picc line twice and having a problem with any type of glue on my arm, they a willing to put the hickman in.

Other then that, things have been good. I misse...

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WOW!

I just realized I passed my PM anniversary on the 27th.

38 years now with a PM (1975).

I am very blessed.

Hope you all are, too.

My best to all,
Gellia

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Quick Bucket List

To Parents of Kids w/Pacemakers:

We have 16 days before surgery to implant pacemaker...are there any activities you suggest we do now while we can with our 6 year old, that he would be restricted from doing with a pacemaker?
Surgeon told us anything with vibrations or EMF's would have to be avoided.
What restrictions are you aware of?
Thank you for the information in advance!

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new external defib. PM x2 yrs already


Need some guidance. I have a Metronics PM put in exactly two years ago. No problems......most days I don't even notice it even tho I am almost 100% dependant on it now. Over last few months have noticed significant shortness of breath and some chest discomfort. Was ncharting low O2 rates for reference. Made appt for cardio (tomorrow!) but ended up a 911 fo. chest pain with low oxygen Sats (78-93%) last Tuesday.

My ejection fraction was low at 20% (normal is 50-55%) but whe...

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no landline

hello I am Yvette and my question today is I do not have a landline for my Merlin@home transmitter for my pacemaker but the hospital has giving me an adapter to plug in to the back of the transmitter because i only have an i-phone so is the set up the same way as if i did have a landline

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Coming off Amiodarone

I have been on Amiodarone since June 21/13. My dosage was gradually reduced for the first 4 weeks until I was down to 200mg per day. End of August went to 200 mgr per day 5 days per week and was told to come off completely by Sept. 23 which I did. I have read that Amiodarone does decrease blood pressure but I was also told it stays in your system a long time and I didn't expect to feel any difference this quickly.

Yesterday, I could feel my heart beating more in my chest and did...

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Yawning and feeling pacing

Hi
I did a search on yawning and found a roughly related post back in 2008. One of my symptoms before pm implant was dizziness when I yawned - and I yawned a lot! Cardio said that the heart naturally slows when we yawn, and since mine was slow anyway... So it makes sense that when I yawn the pm would kick in. I started to notice in the last few weeks a funny sensation in my chest after I have finished the yawn. Nothing defineable like increased heart rate just a definite slightly unpleasant...

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Tweaks at 4 wks & Hi "pmf "Jean!!

Hi guys. Had my 4 wk follow up for my new pm. I asked the tech to turn the accelerometer to "on" instead of "on passive". ( I had been noticing some shortness of breath and suspect this setting was to blame. ) Tech sorta raised an eyebrow (thank you PacerRep and Don for the prep) but did turn it on. My first pm was set to "on" as well and I felt pretty good. Plus I asked tech if my AVD was set too short (ha ha ... Another eyebrow raise.. Thank you PacerRep). But tech believed it was set approp...

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been to the airport lately?

I saw this and had to laugh.
http://www.snorgtees.com/t-shirts/text-based/i-got-to-second-base-with-a-tsa-screener

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You know you're wired when...

You prefer rechargeable batteries.

Member Quotes

I wasn't really self-conscious about it. I didn't even know I had one until around six or seven years old. I just thought I had a rock in my side.