Have New PM

Hi everyone,
I am new to the club and the PM. Had pm surgery last week to the day. I felt ok for the first couple of days and have been terrible since. I am having the same shortness of breath and eventually chest pain on exertion. The reason for the PM was heart rate was way too fast 180 beats pm and off the chart when walking. I was totally immoble without extreme pain. I am having the same problem and Doc states to give this time. He has me set at 70 pm but I feel this gets much higher when I move about. Has anyone else had this.

2 Comments

Similar but not exact

by Many Blessings - 2012-05-12 02:05:44

Hi WKPONE12,

I had A-fib w/high heart rate (like your rate). Although I never experienced chest pain upon exertion, I did have a lot of shortness of breath (from heart failure), dizzy, lightheaded, etc., prior to my PM, especially when climbing more than one flight of stairs at a time.

A couple of weeks after my PM implant date (mine is set at 90, with a range to 150), I went to lunch with my coworkers. When I was climbing up the stairs to the office (2 flights), I again became short of breath, dizzy, light headed, etc. I was so mad, because this was something they told me would go away after the PM implant.

About a week later, I was climbing the stairs (the same 2 flights) and caught myself almost running up them in a hurry. When I got to the top, I noticed I wasn't winded or out of breath at all! I had one other instance when I was a little out of breath and dizzy since, but it was right after lunch on a full tummy.

I'm at week three now, and today I'm heading out for my first short wildlife hike! I'll let you know how it goes, but if it goes well, I'm going to count the PM as a sucess!

Hang in there!!!! I'm still in the beginning stages of this too, though a little ahead of you. You'll start noticing things getting a little better every week or so. There are some setbacks that are a little hard to take sometimes, but keep staying positive!

Mention your concerns to your doctor just in case, and keep posting your concerns on this site too. So many people are here to help you, and so many of them have a lot of years more than us with their PMs.

Give it a little more time to see if you feel better with the chest pain & shortness of breath. Again, DO mention it to your doctor or PM tech, just in case.

Good luck to you!!!!



Just A Thought...

by Pookie - 2012-05-12 11:05:44

I would ask whoever takes care of you & your pacemaker to put you on the treadmill while monitoring you to see what the heck is going on....I really don't think you should have pain.

Pain is the only way our bodies can tell us something isn't quite right.

I think it's time you become the squeaky wheel:) and start demanding to be taken a bit more seriously. Yes, you are only 1 week post-op, but is there any way you could call and be seen for your interrogation sooner rather than later? Usually our settings have to be adjusted as most of us don't do well with the ones that came with the pacemaker as we are all individual and we need our pacers "fine -tuned" to our needs.

Call and see if you can have your interrogation soon and while there ask/suggest that you have a stress test while they monitor you:)

Pookie

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

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