tight chest

my now 21 your old son whose had a PM since 1993, due to slow irregular heart beat, he's hardly ever had problems, my concern is, in the past month he said he's been feeling tightness in his chest on and off, and hard to breath while it's hurting, but this is new because he's had it all his life, his check ups are fine,so far, but in this day in age tech. has taken over everything making it difficult for him to go many places because of the interference he feels, it frustrates him that he has to even have one, what would cause him to need a PM at the age of 3, besides understanding why he needs one, I am asking if it runs in the family? which he's the only one. my other question is, can someone honestly tell me what mental thoughts ppl with PM have, it's to better understand where my son's mind is...does it depress you scare you or what might he be thinking about, and what's the life span for him?

2 Comments

Hello

by mytrose43 - 2012-10-22 09:10:18

Hello
My personal feeling towards having a pacemaker are that I am very thankful that I have one and to be honest I sometimes don't even think about having it,I consider it a life saver without it I might not even be here writing this. As far as life expectancy who know's i feel mine has been extended from having a pacemaker but iI have no concrete eveidence to prove that one way or another,Your son has lived almost his entire life with a pacemaker so it is hard to know how he feels about having it I have only had mine for almost 7 years everyone is different and deals with things different so it is hard to say what he is feeling about having a pacemaker it has never bothered me mentally or physically except when I have had some issues with it but i am still thankful for it,Good Luck
Valerie

concerns

by Tracey_E - 2012-10-22 10:10:41

If he's having trouble breathing, he needs to go for a check up and see if something else is going on.

He should not be feeling interference when he goes out. About the only thing we need to watch is the security checkpoints at stores. We can go through them, just don't linger. There are some members who notice occasional problems but it's very very rare.

It depends what it is if it runs in the family. Slow/irregular heartbeat is a symptom, not a cause. Does he have av block? That's the most common reason for children to need a pm and no,it is not genetic.

LIfe span, who knows? We are the first generation to be paced from such a young age so there isn't a lot of evidence out there, no long term studies and not a lot of statistics because there aren't that many of us. I've always been told that as long as I take care of myself, there is no reason I shouldn't expect to live as long as anyone else. My problem is fixed with the pm. My drs have always told me to get on with my life and not worry about it. And so I have :o)

Mental thoughts, we are all different. For me, I don't ever remember not having a heart condition, so it's just a part of me. It doesn't bother me, it doesn't get me down, I don't worry. I feel good and rarely give it a thought.

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