first unit change. sedation???

I have just had my first unit change and my only word I can think of is brutal. I know we are awake for the procedure but aren't we supposed to recieve some sedation. I did the first time and it wasn't as traumatic as this time. I am actually quite shocked at how horrendous this was. Has anyone else had this and did you receive sedation?

11 Comments

Hi Danni.........

by Tattoo Man - 2015-02-27 03:02:39


..........this subject is not new to PM club..and will, no doubt,..come up again and again...

For myself, I do not see that this about ' Tough Guy' syndrome..

Its about how every patient has their own needs, and medical care...

There are those who are perfectly ok with the John Wayne.." Its only a scratch "...fine.

I fall into the 'Knock me out' group...my first PM op saw me , after Four Hours, emerging, being told " we cannot give you any more sedative"..you have maxed-out..

This Forum can only be honest....so...being totally awake and seeing a nurse holding a bag thing with pockets saying .." Nineteen tampons in..nineteen tampons out / check "...a gallon of blood inn plastic pockets did not make my night out...

For all the Brave and Confident....Good on you..

ME...Tell me when its over..

For those who know Clockwork Orange..my experience was..Horrorshow.

Tattoo man

Unit change...sedation

by Settingthepace2 - 2015-02-27 05:02:10

i have not been on here in a very long time. I had SSS and a PM in 7/18/10. I have had nothing but a great outcome with my PM. But i only have about 15 months left before my change. Im very nervous and worried about the pain and how they do they change it when i pace at 100%. My heart will stop so how do they keep it beating when they are changing the unit out? Having Fibromyalgia I'm hyper sensitive to pain so I am hoping they knock me out.
Do they always make you stay awake or can you be sedated? Do you have to be awake? I have a while to wrap my head around it, but its still the best thing ever for me.
Thanks

sedation

by Tracey_E - 2015-02-27 06:02:19

I've been sedated for all of my replacements! I make it very clear up front I do not want to remember anything. I've heard replacements not sedated aren't that bad, but I don't want to find out. Sorry you had such a bad experience!

unit change

by librn - 2015-02-27 06:02:20

my doctor told me that if I was 100 % paced when the changed my pacemaker to a CRT-D they would go through the groin to stimulate the heart during the change. Fortunately I had a beat of my own so they didn"t have to do that.

To me the most painful part was the laying still for so long after the procedure. I had the change on Tuesday and this Friday and I am doing pretty well. It only hurts when I move too fast or change position from laying to sitting.

I woke up during the procedure but was awake the whole time. didn't feel pain then.

unit change

by librn - 2015-02-27 06:02:24

Sorry - I was not awake the whole time.

Generator change

by Good Dog - 2015-02-27 07:02:31

The last change I had they gave me a valium (or something like valium) and wheeled me into the operating room. The doc came in and started cutting. I started screaming!!! They forgot to numb me and also forgot to put me in lala Land. The doc immediately apologized and they started the anesthesia in the I.V.
It was an experience I won't forget, but it gives me a good war story to tell. My doc always puts me in lala land and I like it that way!

setting the pace2 - sedation....

by donr - 2015-02-27 08:02:53

....You can be sedated as well as have a local to kill the pain. Read my comment above. You do NOT have to be a stoic & lie there gritting your teeth in agony.

Talk to your surgeon about it. He needs to know your wishes. He may have requirements for you to be in some condition where he can communicate with you - that was the case for my original implant. I still felt nothing of the pain that obviously existed while he grubbed around in my chest.

BTW: Pacing 100% does NOT necessarily mean that they have to worry about pacing you while making the change. That is only necessary if you are 100% DEPENDENT on your PM - meaning that you have no intrinsic rhythm in your ventricles - or Atria. You did not tell us if you are 100% dependent. I, likewise have SSS & am paced 99+% in the Atria. If my PM shut down tomorrow, I would not die - I'd just feel lousy because I have a rhythm, it just plain sucks for regularity. If they are concerned, they have an external PM handy & connect it up before making the disconnect on your retiring PM. The actual exchange of PM's only takes a few seconds. Everything else is finished before they do the disconnect-connect bit. The leads are checked out; the new PM is set to your parameters; The New PM is checked out; All is ready; the old leads are quickly disconnected from the old PM & inserted into the new PM & contact is made & the new PM is working before they even tighten the screws that hold the leads in place.

They do this ALL THE TIME.

Bottom line - tell them EVERYTHING you told us - NOW - so you do not work yourself into a lather for 15 months for no reason.

you will make it. We all did.

Donr

sedation

by Janec - 2015-02-27 11:02:13

My sedation wore off at the end when I had mine put in in Feb. I'm pretty sure it was when they were removing the loop recorder rather than putting in the pacemaker but I had a sheet-thing over my head so I couldn't really see what was going on. They didn't put me back under but I think it was just a couple minutes so that could be why, although the doc told my mother-in-law when they brought me out that they had trouble keeping me under so I'm wondering if I came up a couple other times that I don't remember.

Sedation....

by donr - 2015-02-27 12:02:35

...doesn't kill pain, it only puts you in some level of La-La-Land. It takes some sort of local anesthetic or a systemic one to kill the pain.

When I had a lead replaced some yrs ago I asked that the surgeon NOT use any Fentanyl on me because it made me feel so crappy post-op. The surgeon told me that I'd really feel the pain through the sedation, so he'd be prepared to add it in if I asked for it during the procedure. He was grubbing around in the vein placing the new lead when I woke up enough to tell him to give me the pain killer.

Same situation for a tooth extraction several yrs ago - Versed to put me in La-La-Land & enough Lidocaine to stop an elephant to kill the pain.

Donr

sedation

by smile4danni - 2015-02-28 02:02:56

I thank you all for your comments. My issue is I wasn't offered any sedation. I was walked down to theatre, I climbed on the bed they injected my chest with local anaesthetic and began cutting and burning. The smell was horrendous. They then told me they were have difficuly removing the old device as tissue had grown very thick all around so continued to cut, burn and pull. In my nurses words it was brutal, I was crying my eyes out and in tremendous pain. I had no sedation. I am still very shocked by this. I wasn't expecting to be this way. Should i have been sedated? Not put to sleep but at least sedated so I wasn't aware of everthing.

I agree with Run!

by Ladyfish - 2015-03-09 09:03:35

If anyone did to me what they did to you I would be filing formal complaints with the hospital and the state licensing board. There is no reason for what you went through!

Get another Electrophysiologist! Do not go back...ever!

My first generator replacement was in August 2014. I was placed in twilight sleep and given Versed (an amnesic) and do not remember anything. The pacer pocket was anesthetized with local anesthetic. I didn't feel a thing.

This same pacer migrated over the past 3 months and last week I was back in the EP Lab. This time the device was moved to a new pectoral pocket and stitched down. Because the surgery was 3 hours long (instead of an hour) and the clean-up of the old pocket and the pectoral pocket were done by a Plastic Surgeon I was given general anesthesia. I was out! Worked just fine and 5 days later I'm doing well with very little pain.

You know you're wired when...

Born to be Wired is your theme song.

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