mom and her defibrillator

hello to all. i sure am happy to find a site such as this. on to my question. my mother recently had cardiac arrest and it was decided that she receive a defibrillator implant. things are slowly going back to normal but this whole thing has had an emotional impact on her obviously. she is most afraid of sleeping alone, as the cardiac arrest occured during sleep. if i was not awake when it happened she would not be with us today. i thank God all the time. so i'm wondering is it safe for her to sleep alone? will the device do what it's intended for should another incident arise? or does she need constant monitoring during sleep? any advice or answers would be greatly appreciated. thanks and bless you all.

3 Comments

Mom & Her Defribillator

by SMITTY - 2009-05-12 02:05:30

Hi Psyched,

Welcome tot the Pacemaker Club.

I think your mother's doctor is really the one to answer the question of whether it is safe for her to be alone or not. As for the defibrillator, if her cardiac arrest was due to ventricular fibrillation, the D-Fib unit can be expected protect her in the event she has another.

However, on rereading your message I have to suggest that you take your mother to her doctor and you ask him the same questions you have asked here. He is the one that has the details on why she went into cardiac arrest and why she has the defibrillator.

I wish her the best.

Smitty

constant monitoring

by markjbaker - 2009-05-12 03:05:51

She is being constantly monitored - by her ICD. It is sensing her heartbeat by a sensor fitted into the wall of her heart, better than any EKG. Every single heartbeat is monitored.
If her heart goes into VF, a Cardiac Arrest, the ICD will shock it back to rhythm. This puts the shock right where it is needed in the heart, much better than an external defribrulator
It will continue to monitor and if necessary will pace her heart to a normal rate.

It is very scary. I had a cardiac arrest last August and I now have an ICD. It has has an emotional impact on the whole family. It's hard not to worry all the time, about getting shocked, about not getting shocked. If she and you are struggling to cope, ask your doc for a referral for counselling and support. Lots of heart patients are receiving counselling and taking medication to help them cope with the trauma they have experienced

I have found the best thing is to learn as much as you can; about the device and about the underlying cause of the VF.

This is an excellent place to come & learn and ask questions and so is www.suddencardiacarrest.org

The devices are highly reliable, despite what you may read in a sensationalist media.




tyvm

by psyched - 2009-05-13 01:05:45

thanks you two for your comments. i found them to be enlightening. i'll be spending some more time here in the future.

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