Extraction

Hi all just had a PM put in me last Monday. Long story short, went in for an ablation, primary doc told me afterwards all was good home next day. Middle of night awakened on multiple occasions with bright lights due to the other person in the room. Hence my body was flooded with adreneline. (Ret Service) Told next day I had too low of a heart rate to go home held over till Monday. HR was 39 to 40 while sleeping, NORMAL for me. NO dizziness, no fainting, no trouble breathing. I do good cardio workout 3 to 4 times weekly. No blockage. Bad sleep for three nights due to roomate being a night person up all night. Made desicion if my doc recommended it I would get the PM. New doc shows up Monday. I am tired and wore out from an unplanned extended stay. He (probably unintentionally) made it sound like he had talked to the primay and talkd me into the PM. 30 after my ok PM was installed. Overnight stay next morning primary doc askes why was PM put in I didn't need it. YEOW. Hence working to get it out of me. It is set at 40 so I know it kicks in while sleeping but just did 5 mile fast up and down hill hike and felt good. I am going in for first check of PM and having it turned off. And scheduling the removal. BAD BAD experince. GREAT if you need them but BAD if you do not. I only have one lead wire I think. Any advice?

4 Comments

You must be fed up !

by IAN MC - 2012-02-04 07:02:32

Hi Gary .. I'm a little confused by your experiences. You've had a successful ablation presumably to treat some fibrillation or flutter and now you have a PM which one Dr thinks you need and another Dr thinks you don't.

That is where you are now ,so I guess dwelling on history won't achieve much but some more info would help. You've had a PM for less than a week and can now charge up and down hills without any symptoms. Is it the ablation or the combination of ablation and PM that is allowing you to do this ? You say you do cardio workouts 3 or 4 times a week ..do you mean you could prior to the ablation ?

You must have had symptoms at some time or you wouldn't have had these invasive procedures.

If you haven't had any symptoms prior to the PM then it would seem crazy to have had it installed . Getting it removed so soon afterwards would probably be a fairly minor procedure as the leads won't have embedded in the vein and heart tissues. But I really think you should get the 2 DRs together and ask them a few "Why?" questions . I would demand a 3rd opinion.
Best of luck Ian

Extraction??

by donb - 2012-02-04 10:02:56

Hi Gary, As lan posted your symtoms before hospitalization would help in giving any opinion especially when 2 Drs' give differant opinions. I was in the same condition 20 years ago at your age. I was not a candidate for ablation at the time, just very low HR at rest. As I also had the family gene for A-Fib I am fortunate with my PMs' over the years to control my developed A-Fib with meds.
I was also very fortunate to have my wife as a skilled cardiac nurse work the floor which eliminated the episode you so clearly stated with the Drs' opinion. As Lan said you really need another opinon. In my case my 20 years of pacemakers have been a real blessing, and believe me it has given me years of quality of life which I would never had especially now at age 80. donb

Had my PM removed in 2012!

by climber - 2012-02-06 08:02:56

Hi Gary, I had my PM removed on the 4th January 2012, after 14 months use. Mine was fitted for AV block. Before being told I needed a PM I was fit & healthy, running, mountain walking etc, but a Doctor scared me into a PM after vasa vagel episode. As I was so fit my resting heart rate was low 40's. As soon as I had the PM fitted I was in hell! 14 months of pain etc. I got a 2nd opinion and was told by the new Doctor that I would make a good candidate for removal, that was done and I feel better for it. After 14 months the leads came out with ease. Only time will tell if I need a PM at a later stage in my life, that's if I ever did have AV block in the first place. Good luck.

Follow-up

by GaryM - 2012-02-08 03:02:00

Thank you for all the good comments. To answer some of the questions: With the Flutter I was still able to do good workouts, but did get some dizziness spells. Just came from the doc and had the PM set to 35 bpm. We are going to give this a try for a bit and see how the heart does. If the SN node comes back then even if I am slow the PM is coming out. So basically both docs talked, not sure what they came up with. However I cannot recommend the St. Cloud Hospital at this point. I am in the lynch of still do I need a PM or not. Since it is in, they want to use if for a bit to check how my heart goes, thus preventing the removal with the need for an implantation in the near term future. I have done my first 2 mile run today with no issues. I am going to stay at 2 and a slower pace 10 min miles to give the heart a chance to adjust. My recommendation to all is never approve any new surgery or procedure after coming out of a previous one, unless it is for a life saving need. Wait get out of the hospital and back into the clinic settings. If in the end I need to keep the PM, I will still be forever troubled by how it got into me in the first place.

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