Confused and Worried

Hello, I am very new to this site, I am a 35 yr old female, However, I have had my pacemaker for just about 10 years now come June. I am on my Second PM and have had one lead replacement do ne in 2009 with a new device. My original atrial wire is still in place. However, I was informed by my pacemaker rep that my atrial lead is deteriorating and it needs to be replaced. My Cardiologist is trying to make some adjustment to the setting so that I will not have to go through another surgery at this point. However, 2 weeks ago he made an adjustment because of the lead not working properly and it leading to ventrical pacing (which is very annoying) I felt it all.. and now since that adjustment i have had high HR and my blood pressure is running 134-159/95-116 with a pulse rate of 89-133, most of the time I can just get up to go to the restroom in the middle of the night and my heart starts to race. I am not sure what is going on but i am very worried. Mind you that I have the pacemaker due to rate drops, bradycardia and sick sinus syndrome, I have never had a high rate like that unless i was exercising. I have an appointment on the 10th and I dont think I should wait that long but my doctor is out of town till the 5th.... what to do what to do ...... I know something is not right I feel the fast heart rate in my neck, chest and arms. I also know that he told me that it is a very dangerous procedure to remove the wires and since i have had one lead replaced that one was just capped and now i have 3 wires in one vein and about 10 year of scar tissue embedded around it. also it has been opened up several times to adjust the pacemaker becauase it move and filp and hit my collar bone,so that alone leads to more scar tissue. I am worried that i am going to have to have the lead replaced and therefore, he is going to have to remove all the wires and start over with 2 new wires and a new device. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated....
Thank you so much

2 Comments

good luck

by Tracey_E - 2011-05-03 07:05:07

A sudden jump in bp is a reason to go to the ER if your dr is out of town and can't see you. Hopefully it's nothing, but better safe than sorry.

If your atrial lead is bad and you have SSS, it sounds like you can't really put it off because that's the lead you're dependent on. Having leads removed is not considered very dangerous anymore. We have quite a few members who have had it done and came through it without complications. The laser sheaths they use to do it get better all the time, the number of highly experienced drs gets larger all the time. You want a surgeon doing it who does at least 100 per year, so I'd ask for a referral to a specialist. Not to knock your dr, but it sounds like he's not up on the latest lead removal techniques. I'm no dr and I don't know the details of your situation, but his words sound exceptionally pessimistic to me.

Something else to consider if the scar tissue around the pocket is an issue, ask for a plastic surgeon to clean it up while they are in there. I did this last year. I got my 4th pm and a new ventricular lead. Making a new pocket was discussed, but I like it where it is and preferred not to move it if we didn't have to. My ep brought in a plastic surgeon. Ep got the lead in, plastic surgeon got rid of the excess scar tissue and now it feels great again.

Adjustment workaround

by ElectricFrank - 2011-05-03 11:05:27

These rarely work. The timing of the pacemaker is dependent on having good contact in both chambers. A bad lead causes noisy signals so they then change other settings to compensate and soon you have a mess.

frank

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