pain in neck is worse

My dad had a pacemaker put in over 2 years ago. He felt no pain for months as he recovered. Now he has pain that starts at the pacemaker site and goes to his neck and it gets worse every month. He hurts all the time and has no energy. Doctors just give him pain meds which he doesn't want to take unless it gets so bad he can't stand it another minute. He constantly rubs his neck to try to relieve the pain. Would love feedback on what is causing this pain and what to do to omit it.

2 Comments

My suggestion......

by Pookie - 2012-07-27 02:07:30

I would demand that they do an ultrasound of his neck and carotid artery. Pain meds are just masking whatever is going on.

Unfortunately, we sometimes have to become rather pushy or demanding these days.

Even a simply Xray might show if a lead is pushing up there as it has happened before...it could be anything, that's why I always encourage people to push their doctors a bit more as they are just too quick (in my opinion) - sometimes - to rush you out the door with a prescription in your hand.

I'm not a doctor, just a pacemaker patient that went for years knowing there was something wrong and no one listened to me, until finally I was referred to an EP and he figured out my problem, which happened to be one little setting that (when changed) gave me my life back.

Also, you might want to use our search feature - upper right hand corner as I've seen this (sore neck) before, just don't remember what was done to correct the issue.

Take care,
Pookie

You might try...

by donr - 2012-07-28 09:07:04

...a neurologist to RULE OUT nerve problems.

This is a low probability cause for his pain, but by doing this, you have another argument for pushing the problem to where it belongs, w/ the PM guys.

Nerves come out of the spinal column and serve specific areas of the body. I've been there w/ neck/shoulder/arm/finger pain, so have seen a few things that apply to your Dad.

1) there are no nerves that serve an area from above the shoulder to below the shoulder. So, if a pain crosses that line, it's probably NOT spinal associated, but only a neurologist can tell you that for sure.

2) The nerves that come out of the spine & serve the neck area do just that.

3) Those that serve the upper back, shoulder, arms & hands go down & do not pick up anything in the neck area.

4) That is not to say that some nerves don't cross the line separating the neck from shoulder, they do, but they pick up no data from above the line.

Learned that following an auto accident that caused me some pain in left shoulder & lower.

A good neurologist can tell you if your Dad may have a postural problem that causes the pain. That can happen by involving several sets of nerves exiting the spine in the area above the shoulder. It does NOT take much to "Pinch" a nerve where it exits the spine & cause discomfort.

Good luck w/ this problem.

Don

You know you're wired when...

You name your daughter “Synchronicity”.

Member Quotes

Try to concentrate on how you’re able to be active again and feel normal, rather than on having a machine stuck in your body.