Severe heart burn after pacemaker

Dear Colleagues,

I am a new member to this club as I just had a pacemaker fitted on me yesterday. The operation went well and I was discharged this afternoon. Now when I tried to sleep I have a severe heart burn and could not sleep. Has anybody experienced this and should I worry? For dinner I had fish and chips which I often eat. So I dont think it could be the food.
Any suggestion.
regards

3 Comments

Pain

by ElectricFrank - 2011-04-16 01:04:08

Where is your pacemaker located. The most common in on the left chest wall just under the clavicle, but for cosmetic reasons it can be moved elsewhere. The issue here is whether the pain is coming from the pacemaker area.

If the pain is worse while sleeping it is often helpful to put a pillow in front of you to support the upper arm while sleeping on the side opposite the pacemaker.

Another question is what did you have in the way of anesthetic for the procedure. Some of them, particularly the general type where you are completely out can have after effects that last a day or so. Another common problem is how they treated your body while you were out or sedated. There is a tendency to see the patient as a piece of meat on the table and not worry about how sore they will be the next day. I had my original implant with only a local anesthesia so was wide awake during it all. At one point someone in OR decided to use my chest as an elbow rest. If I hadn't complained I probably would have had a bruised sternum afterwards.

These are just a few of the possibilities. If it doesn't subside soon I would contact the doctors office and see what they suggest.

best wishes, and let us know how it all turns out.

frank

Had the same thing...

by COBradyBunch - 2011-04-16 09:04:18

I attributed a lot of it to stress, not sleeping right, not eating right. Also if you were intubated that would be another possible factor. If it keeps up call your doc but there are a lot of possible reasons but I would still get it checked out just to make sure.

heartburn

by jlo - 2011-04-17 01:04:24

really!!! nothing to eat for hours, medication, stress, top it all off with a lovely plate of fish and chip's, then go to bed,what do you get, HEARTBURN!! are you british by any chance, you know why i'm asking, I dream about fish and chips, I live in South Florida now ,and we just cant get them here, well, not real ones anyway, (Aurthur Treacher just has no clue) Good luck

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