right lead revision

Hi, I just had a Metronic pacemaker put in 6 weeks ago. The right lead paced my diaphram so bad. Terrible thumping. The only time I didn't feel it was when I was on my right side. EP turned it off for 6 days until he could go in and move up away from my diaphram. During that time I've never felt so good. Peace. Had the surgery and moved it up about an inch from my diaphram last Monday. Didn't feel anything for a few days. Thought it was fixed. The more active I am the more I feel it pacing. I mean before I couldn't laugh, cry, have a lively conversation without it pacing so hard. I would say it is 50% better but still not right. I go tomorrow for them to check it. Will this get better as I get used to the pacemaker. I'm 55 and was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy 5 years ago. Also have defibilator. It's kind of depressing me. I want to feel normal.

1 Comments

diaphragm

by f0xmulder - 2012-04-18 11:04:57

Hi, I had a similar situation. I had a Guidant PM/Def implanted in 2003. I noticed that every day at the same time that I would feel a thump in my chest. My EP doc said that the lead was too close to my diaphragm and the thump I was feeling everyday at the same time was my device testing the lead..........normally you wouldn't feel it. My doc said not to worry about it because I did not use the pacing function, I just needed the defibrillator. As long as I could tolerate the thump everyday, nothing would be done. Well............four years later I started to use my pacing function more and more, and each time I was paced, I would feel the thumping.......it was awful. I found a new EP doc and I had that lead extracted when I got my new Medtronic device in 2008. Since then I have had no issues, but a lead extraction can be tricky. In retrospect, I wish they had dealt with the lead initially before it set in. I hope you can get this issue resolved, I definitely know what you're going through

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