Pericarditis, chest pain, pvcs, sob

• by Hokeymama
• 2013-07-28 06:07:33
• Complications
• 1849 views
• 1 comments

Hi! I have been going through the forums and finally decided to post my own question. I am 42 year old mom of four, with no known family history (I'm adopted), and I just had my pacer put in on May 17 for sick sinus/ bradycardia. I was hoping to feel marvelous right away, but haven't been doing so hot. After surgey I could hear a loud squeaking sound(like a rusty swing) when I would listen to my heart sounds. Being a nurse, I had many coworkers listen too, and they all asked if it was supposed to sound like that. Anyway, I did call my EEP(spoke to nurse) and they weren't realy sure. I had questioned whether I had developed a murmur from the procedure. I had my follow up visit and expected to see my EEP, but was dissappointed to find out I was only seeing a tech to check the pacer and settings. I mentioned my concern to her, but of course she was unsure and it seems I could just not get someone to listen to it. Anyway, I did have some episodes of mild chest pain and shortness of breath and did end up seeing my EEP. Of course, like a car going to the garage, the sound was gone(for that day..haha). She thought it sounded like a friction rub and said I most likely has a pericarditis from the pacer placement, that hopefully would resolve since it seemed the heart sounds were better. As time went, however it didnt resolve and the rub could be heard intermittently, and I was having PVCs when I would lay down at night. By the end of June we tried a week of Prednisone. I had some issues still the first couple of days, then felt great for about 10 days. For the past two weeks now I have progressed to having anywhere from mild to crushing chest pain and PVCs that feel like a champion boxer is punching me in the chest. When I lay down at night is the worst and they start with every third beat, then every 6 beats or so, and so on until after about 20 minutes they become sporadic and I eventually fall asleep. I know that doesn't sound much, but it feels like forever. Unfortunately, I am now getting them at times during the day too, and with the slightest of postion changes. Also, I have become increasing short of breath at times. I have a lead revision scheduled for Aug 12, and the plan was to do the Prednisone for four weeks until then, since I responded fairly well to it the first time. I have been on Prednisone(a double dose from before) for a little over a week now, with no improvement. My husband ended calling the office at the beginning of last week out of frustration and the nurse got back to me after a couple of days. My EEP has been out al this time and returns Aug 12, so she talked to another surgeon and he was going to schedue my lead revision this week coming. Next thing I know, the nurse called me back and said that this EEP doesn't feel a lead revision woud help and put me on Indocin and Colchicine. They told me to call back when the chest pain resolved and then we would wean the Prednisone (unless I need to earlier of course). I have been on them for 3 days now, with no change.
Any comments, suggestions, experiences...?