Leads

Hi,
I had my pacemaker fitted in January this year, I was in surgery for 3 hours as there was a problem with the reading of my bottom lead. They decided to keep an eye on the lead and hope it would settle into the right position.
After 11 months I still have the same problem, the PM can't read the bottom lead, I now have to keep going to have reading every three months, but am worried about what implications this may have.

Has anyone experienced anything like this?

I would be grateful of any feedback

Thank you

4 Comments

depends

by Tracey_E - 2010-11-15 01:11:02

Do you need the bottom lead or do you mostly pace with the upper lead? Since he's not in a rush to fix it, I'm guessing you probably don't really need it and it's just there to provide extra information. One of those things that's nice to have but not the end of the world if you don't.

Three months is not an unusual amount of time to have between checks. That's how often I go, have for years now whether I've had problems or not.

Leads...

by Pookie - 2010-11-15 07:11:27

Hi.

What leaped out to me in your posting was this:

"They decided to keep an eye on the lead and hope it would settle into the right position."

They HOPED???? Well I HOPE I win the lotto, but what are the chances of that???????????????

I too get a bee in my bonnet when some of these medical professionals do something which is not considered the best work - on a human being no less!!

Sure they are not infallible, but "hoping" a lead settles into the right place is beyond my tolerance threshold.

My bottom lead is not in the correct position either. I found that out 2 years later when I was sent to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota for a rare heart defect I have...however, I only use my bottom lead less than 1% of the time, but when it needs to be used, boy oh boy, it sucks up a lot of energy compared to if it were in the correct location. The Mayo Clinic offered to reposition the lead for me, but I politely said No, because I don't use it that much.

If, however, you do use your bottom lead, I'd certainly be taking Patch's advice. If you don't use it, I wouldn't worry about it.

Just my 2 cents worth.

However, out of curiousity, you didn't mention why you had to have a pacemaker.

Take care,
Pookie

well

by youngboy123 - 2010-11-15 12:11:48

welll me as 16yrs old i have endured that alot but my doctor had told me just to rest alot dont over reacte on things stay calm and just relax and it all shud come down to it will readl the bottom lead.

Thank you for your comments

by Sharon - 2010-11-16 09:11:26

I think your all completely right!

I had a pacemaker because my heart beat is very low and I use to faint allot and get dizzy spells. My top lead is used more frequently than the bottom lead but i have been told I need it as a back up!

I completely agree with you Pookie about them hoping it will move into place, I spent three hours in surgery because of it, at one point they did say they might need to operate again (I'm not sure if I could have gone back in the next day!) but decided to keep an eye on things.

I think I need to go back and have a consultation with my surgeon - if it’s something that not essential then I really wouldn't want to go through the operation unless absolutely necessary!

I'm always asking lots of questions, but Doctors have a way of not giving you the full picture.

Since the PM I feel fine, I still get some dizzy spells, but overall it hasn't interfered with my life at all.
Once again, thank you all for your comments, this is such a good site as its always good to talk to people who actually know what you are going through.

Many Thanks

Sharon

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