shock from new PM

First of all I am new to this website and was very relieved to see it was available. I just got my PM on Monday and it was all done so quickly I didn't have much time to think. The medical staff seems annoyed by all my questions plus it's hard to get them. It's good to hear what others have to say.

My concern: The day after my PM implant I started having a shock in my middle chest. It happens very quickly and doesn't last long. It usually happens when I bend over or cough/breath in heavily. Sometimes it happens with no reason. The doc swears it has nothing to do with my PM but it never happened before. Any ideas or suggestions?

8 Comments

canyon critter

by pattycrab - 2009-05-03 10:05:05

hi just the hole pm stuff is overwhelming, dont give up to bad if the dr. office has to find you the answer. when i had my pm i had just about every complation there was . and i did seam to get the brush off , like i had nothing to do but make up stuff that was wrong . my only saving grace is i have a nurse as my daughter. she kept me in line and make sure i stayed in touch with my dr. office even if i dident really want to . i was so sick when i got home i really dident want to bother them . it also took more time than i really thought it would for me to get settled in to the pacemaker . it make me fill un-easy. just keep talking to the dr. and good luck patty

Shocks From A Pacemaker

by SMITTY - 2009-05-03 10:05:55

Hello Canyon-Critter,

Welcome to the Pacemaker Club.

So you are getting shocked and your doctor says it is not your pacemaker. How many times have we all heard "it isn't or can't be your pacemaker." This is apparently the first line of defense for doctors, nurses or whoever, as they have no ideas on the cause of the complaint. My reply to that can't be quoted in Sunday school, but you find lots of it in cow pastures.

The thing is they have no idea, or if they do they will not admit it, and are hoping your problem will go away or that you will find yourself another doctor. But just think about it. Our pacemaker is in effect a little computer. Here we have medial personnel, some of which have never mastered the art of using their TV remote implanting and adjusting these things.

I say if you never had this problem before you got your pacemaker and you have had it a week I think the odds are about 99.999 chances out of a hundred that it is caused by the pacemaker. The possibilities of the actual cause are many and something as simple as a change is the voltage setting could give you some relief.

I'll quit ranting now and tell you a little about my experience with a problem almost identical to yours. My shocks were on the right side of my chest. I lived with it for about 2 1/2 years and finally said turn this thing off. I didn't know what the consequences of that would be, but I was willing to risk anything to stop that pain. Contrary to what the electrophysiologist that implanted the thing said the shocks ceased after the settings on the PM were set so low that the PM never came on. (the low setting was 30 which meant my heart rate would have to drop below 30 for the PM to fire up) Then about 2 years later my cardiologist convicted me that we should restart the PM to solve a shortness of breath problem that had developed. It was restarted and the shocks came back, not as bad at first but after a few months they were back to their old self. And the PM didn't help the SOB. It took a stent to do that, but I now had a shocking PM going again. Only this time I found an electrophysiologist that understood pacemakers and determined that my problem was the lead to the ventricle was stimulating a nerve and that is what I was feeling. I was offered the option of having that lead relocated, or having an injection to deaden that nerve. I took the injection and it worked like a charm for me.

I can't say your problem is from a nerve being stimulated by the electrical impulses from you pacemaker, but I would bet a soda pop on that being the problem. Just how you will get the problem resolved I can't say, but I do know you will probably have to persevere. To the doctor it is out of sight and out of mind. So unless he hears from you that you are continuing to have a problem, he is likely to not be concerned.

You have my very wishes,

Smitty

a shock to the ticker

by ShadowWeaver - 2009-05-04 02:05:31

With mine, I felt a little shock in my heart like you said, even if I coughed. They adjusted the sensitivity on the rate response for the PM and that fixed the problem. May want to ask them about that.

Michael

Shock from new PM

by AZDAVE - 2009-05-04 05:05:43

I had a pacemaker installed on 3/31/09 and for the 1st two weeks I was getting shocked/muscle spasms fairly often.
The spasms felt like large hiccoughs and made breathing a little difficult. There wasn't any pain from this condition, but it made it hard to bend over and sleep in certain positions.
My electrophysiologist explained that one of the leads from the PM was very close to the frenetic nerve which caused spasms in the diaphagm when there was a pulse in the lead from the PM. The technicians from Boston Scientific attempted to adjust the voltage in the lead 3 times before finally getting it right. I'm ok for now, but of the condition returns the EP says he may need to go in and try to move the problem lead to another vein. Hope this helps a little.

shock the monkey

by canyon-critter - 2009-05-04 08:05:11

Thanks to everyone who's commented so far about my concern from being shocked by my PM. I had a bad night after posting this. Last night it started happening in my sleep waking me up.

I really appreciate Smitty's comment especially. It makes sense that it could be a lead hitting a nerve. They've already gone down on the sensitivity and it hasn't helped. I may give it another week or so to see if it corrects itself, but if it gets worse or continues I'll pursue the lead/nerve possibility. THANKS again.

This is a fabulous website! I greatly appreciate everyone's comments and am open to other ideas, if anyone has any.

Canyon-Critter

still getting the run around

by canyon-critter - 2009-05-04 11:05:33

Went to the ER tonight because the shock was getting more intense and more frequent. At first the ER doctor acted like he knew exactly what it was but then he back peddled. St. John's did a test and everything checked out fine, according to them. He said it has nothing to do with my heart or the pacemaker suggesting it was muscular-skeletal in origin. Anyone have any suggestions?

PM Shocks

by SMITTY - 2009-05-05 10:05:42

Hello Canyon-Critter,

I see you are getting a fast indoctrination on the denial routine practiced by way too many doctors and other medical personnel when it comes to problems with our pacemaker. I'm sure you realize that what they have done is hand the ball back to you and in effect said
"your problem is not caused by your pacemaker, now you prove we are wrong." I'm surprised you were not told your pain was due to neuropathy. In case you are not familiar with that word (I wasn't when they hit me with it) the literal translation is "pain due to damaged nerve endings from unknown causes." Of course proving them wrong is extremely difficult, at least it was for me. But one thing I can tell you for certain is that silence will not get you any relief from the people that are saying your pain is not caused by your pacemaker. The more noise you make the sooner someone make take notice and try to help.

I suggest that if possible try to see another electrophysiologist. If that is not possible you might consider consulting an attorney. Not necessarily for the purpose of suing someone, (of course do that if the spirt moves you to do so) but to get those doctors to admit they have some responsibility in solving your problem and stop passing the buck.

As some of the others have said, time may help, or even solve the problem. In my case time (27 months to be exact) didn't help but lowering the low set point from 80 (that had the PM working almost full time) to 60 helped in the frequency of shocks but did nothing for the intensity.

Good luck,

Smitty

pm shocks

by canyon-critter - 2009-09-06 06:09:10

Finally seems I got my shock issues straightened up. It was a combination of several things. (1) Some nerve endings in my chest were damaged creating a shocking sensation that went away after several months of healing; (2) The pacemaker, my doc said, can create a sensation in your heart as the heart muscle gets used to the leads digging into your heart--it feels like my heart was racing briefly, it went away too. (3) One of the leads was damaged during the first procedure exacerbating #1 & 2. The lead had apparently been nicked by the other lead when the other lead was implanted and essentially cracked. Consequently it would trigger the nerves in my chest as it would pulse. Had to have the lead replaced by a second surgery.

Everything is working fine now though.


Hope this helps anyone else who may be having similar problems.

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