Complications

My daughter Meaghan had her Pacemaker installed on October 28, 2011. She has chest pain still at the site and her arm and shoulder hurt. Is this normal?

6 Comments

Pain after Recovery!!

by donb - 2011-12-01 02:12:24

Hi, I just read your postng of your daughter having pain. Unfortunately most every patient experiences some pain from the area of implant along with surrounding muscle area. When you said "chest pain" I'm wondering if she is having normal muscle & nerve pain?? Has your daughter experienced deep stabbing heart chest pain before the implant so she would recognize these pains.
Chest pains from the heart muscle which describe chest pain are alarming and should be reported to your Dr. As most people would describe chest pain as being deeper. As most member here feel on this site is that it's always best to check with your surgeon like "now". It has cost lots for this surgery and part of the cost is also the follow up. As being an old-timer PM patient it's always sad to have a young gal or guy having a PM but it's so common and many young people living a very happy & productive life thereafter. Also want to Welcome You. Would like to see your daughter post & Ask & Ask questions. There's so many young & old to give support. donb

Chest Pain

by jlebherz - 2011-12-01 03:12:54

Meg felt a heaviness in her chest yesterday and she has more arm pain than chest pain. she used to feel bad chest pain but I think its more muscular now. She is back in school and very tired. she also has been diagmosed with cyclic vomiting syndrome. She has not been well for three years now we know.

Heart Symptoms

by SMITTY - 2011-12-01 05:12:37

No, what your daughter is feeling is not normal, regardless of whether it is caused by the new pacemaker of some sort of heart problem. So I agree with Donb, your daughter needs to see her Dr.

The symptoms you list are some that may be a prelude to a more serious heart problem. Of course they can also be the result of a poorly adjusted pacemaker, but the only way to know is to see the Dr. If she was not having any of these symptoms before she got the pacemaker that makes me think her problem is the pacemaker which should be easily and quickly corrected.

I should add that when any of us gets a pacemaker it comes with "factory" settings that the Dr may alter slightly according to what he knows about the patient. However it is not uncommon for those initial settings to have to be changed and it sometimes takes two or three attempts to get the best settings for a person. So, again see the Dr.

I wish your daughter the best,

Smitty

Smitty is Right

by donb - 2011-12-01 06:12:45

I didn't do my research as I responded immediately after your posting. I should have checked your Bio as you were doing the proper thing by listing Meg's diagnosis for having her pacemaker. I just ;want to add also that Smitty had the right answer to have her PM settings checked. Hopefully you can get Meg in real quick as so many new PM implants are put in with factory settings which may or may not serve the patient. I'm one of the lucky one's as I finally had my 4th PM interogated just last week and they also found an adjustment was in order. Thank You & let's get Meg back to good health. donb

Keep an eye on it and keep in touch with the doctors

by Tickman - 2011-12-02 02:12:21

I had an ICD put in a couple months ago and I had a decent amount of pain afterwards. I also found that the site would sometimes get really warm. I thought I was going to get shocked, but wasn't (at least, not after my ablation surgery).

Every once in a while I still feel some pain. I"m sure for children it's very scary. But from what I've heard, after a while, we'll all almost forget it's there.

Something going on

by ElectricFrank - 2011-12-02 12:12:31

Keep in mind that Meg's symptoms may not have anything to do with the pacer. You mention vomiting and other problems for 3 years. Sometimes we forget that we are still human beings with potential for the same ill's that our non-pacer friends have.

With it going on for so long I hesitate suggesting seeing your existing doctor. Apparently, he/she hasn't been able to figure out the whole picture so it may be time to get another opinion. That doesn't mean the present doc is incompetent. Sometimes a fresh look is helpful.

frank

You know you're wired when...

Your ICD has a better memory than you.

Member Quotes

I'm 35 and got my pacemaker a little over a year ago. It definitely is not a burden to me. In fact, I have more energy (which my husband enjoys), can do more things with my kids and have weight because of having the energy.