Pacemaker Just Installed. Feeling it when it works

HI, i had a pacemaker implant, single chamber(biotronik) on 10-feb-2012.
My stitches has healed , and everything seems to be fine except one problem.

My pulse used to drop and one day i fainted and had a massive cardiac arrest. Thats when the doctor installed a pacemaker.
Now that it is installed, sometime i have a feeling in my chest that it is working. Here is how it feels.

I check my pulse and can say it dropped 1,2 beats. Thats when i feel the pacemaker started working. and the pulse is up again. It feels like a sudden block (when pulse drops) and release (when up).

Now i know this is what the pacemaker is supposed to do. But my question is that whether i am supposed to feel that. though the feeling is not painful , but the feeling is strong.

If anybody has experienced this, please indicate whether this is normal. I called up my doc and he said it is normal. i have a checkup in 5 days. Just curious to find out before that.

5 Comments

Not Alone

by Vmurph - 2012-02-23 02:02:39

Welcome to the club!! What you are feeling is perfectly normal.. I feel every beat, every time im pacing, ever flutter every everything lol.. For some people it goes away after a while.. Some of us lucky few feel absolutely everything the heart does! Try not to get too freaked out by feeling your bionic buddy at work. Think of it as your energizer bunny and he's keeping you going.

It is alot to wrap your head around mentally in the beginning but that's what this site is for!!! Hang in there it gets better!! I named my pm and make a joke when he's at work!!

Good luck

thanks

by sdgupta - 2012-02-23 04:02:12

Thanks Vmurph. It helps me relax :)

Yes today it happen !

by lahbigbro6 - 2012-02-23 05:02:22

I have not felt my pace in a very, very long time ago. Maybe a year or so, it did it today ! Join the club ! Try to keep busy with things today.

Pacing means your OK

by 082343 - 2012-02-23 10:02:46

I'm at my four year and felt the way you do. Relax and trust in your PM. I have dual upper and lower...Top is about 3% and the bottom is around 98%...3 year ago it was about 20% so the longer we go it may well Pace 100%..What that means is you still feel it working mine is always working so I'm use to it.....So enjoy the feeling. After all we can wake up tomorrow and say WOW another day with my family.....GREAT

I can relate

by DebW - 2012-02-25 04:02:47

For the first two years or so after getting my first PM, I couldn't lay on my left side, bend to the left or even straight forward without feeling like my pacer was kicking me in the ribs! It got better eventually, but even now, 11 years in, and on my second pacer, it still happens sometimes. You get used to it ;)

You know you're wired when...

You have a little piece of high-tech in your chest.

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