Don't "freeze"!

• by LuCas
• 2013-11-01 12:11:30
• Surgery & Recovery
• 1697 views
• 3 comments

Hello dear pacers,

It's been four months that I had my PM implanted.
I came here to tell you about a small (I guess small) complication that I have been suffering during the last month.
My cardiologist asked me not to carry heavy loads and don't stretch the arm above the shoulder level and not to comb the hair for one month...LOL (of course, not to use the arm where the PM was implanted), but seriously, I think I followed the instructions too seriously. One night, when I tried to turn to one side of the bed and cover myself with a blanked, I felt a very sharp pain on my left shoulder (the same side of the pm). I was doing a very common and innocent movemt with my arm. After that event, I have been feeling a terrible pain on the shoulder. It ached everywhere in the beginning. I went to a traumatologist, I had my shoulder analysed through ecography and apparently no rupture of any ligament, specially the 'mangito rotador' (or, in English, the rotator cuff tendon). I still have to go back to the traumatologist to see what is causing the pain. After the accute period, the pain is concentrated at the back of the shoulder and at the very position of the biceps tendon.

Well, during my first visit to the traumatologist, he said it could be that I had my shoulder too much moveless for a much longer period prior to the pacemaker implant and the problem increased during the period that I was too much moveless.

So this is a word for people who have had pm implanted recently. Don't be too much afraid to move your shoulder. It is necessary to balance things. Don't carry heavy loads that could cause problems to the stiches but don't stay too much afraid of exercises. They are important for the general health. If I'm not mistaken, our body is 60% water. So, we need to exercise so that the movable parts don't get dry and our tendons don't start to shrink.
I will be back here next week to tell you what the traumatologist conclusion was. Ah, and just to let you know, this pain gets terribly sharp when I use the notebook on the desk. I forgot to mention that to my doctor. It may surely have connection or possibly be the cause number one of the pain. I think I'll have to buy a usb keyboard for my notebook, so that I can write more comfortably.
I'll let you know as soon as I have the doctor's answer.

Lucio Castro
from Brazil.