Strange sensations when healing??

Hello all,

I just got my first pacemaker exactly 1 week ago. I am 22 and got surgery because I have a low heart rate (high 40s) and fainted from time to time, when apparently I would flat line for a few seconds. My pacer is set to kick in only when my rate goes below 40.

The first weekend I had my pacer, I had impulses in my left chest frequently throughout the day that I assumed was the pacemaker pacing. When I went to the doctor on Monday they checked my pacer and it had not paced once and they said everything looked perfect, and that the sensations were probably just part of the healing process and my body and nerves adjusting to the foreign object.

Everything had been fine and I was only having a few strange feelings every once in a while, but the past two nights I have had episodes off and on when I am sleeping where my heart is beating regularly, but I can feel it, almost as if it is tapping up against my chest when I'm lying on my back. When I sit up or lay on my side it goes away immediately. Then I lay on my back again and fall asleep and a few hours later I would be woken up by the same thing. When I laid with my back elevated the "tapping" was stronger, and it almost felt like a chord was being plucked - honestly like someone was playing guitar in my chest, as weird as that sounds. I wasn't in pain or anything, just something I wasn't used to. I felt fine breathing wise and wasn't lightheaded or anything. Is this "tapping" just healing, or is it the pacemaker working, or is it something I should be concerned about? I go back to the doctor Monday for my follow up to have the pacemaker checked again.

Anyone with similar experiences or advice to share would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks!

3 Comments

Same Experience

by rrwags3 - 2014-03-13 11:03:49

I'm 42 and have had my pm for about a month. I experienced the exact same thing at about the same time you did. Due to misplacement of a lead a had to go back under a second time to have a lead adjusted. This extra trauma caused me to have a little pluracy and was prescribed Percocet for the pain, which totally made me super paranoid. Sorry for long draw out explanation, but then I had this same feeling you had in the middle of the night which totally freaked me out. My wife almost called the ambulance while I was in a slight panic attack.

Thankfully I talked her out of calling the ambulance. I stopped taking the poison Percacet which helped with the paranoia.

This feeling will pass. I'm learning that this PM deal we all live with is 99% psychological. Your Doc says everything looks great and you need to trust your PM is doing what it's supposed to do. Ask lots of questions with your doc and nurses. And especially on this site. This site has been a Huge Blessings for me. Your body is getting used to your new little buddy. Let your body heal. Every day and every week seems to get better and better.

You'll be fine, just give it some time.

Rrwags3

Not in your head

by onthesnap - 2014-03-14 02:03:54

I am a nurse and I worked with pacemakers for many years. There are some pacemakers that have the ability to "test" themselves. I used to get a lot of patients who thought they were feeling their heart beat when in fact they were feeling the actual pacemaker or they were getting muscle stimulation from the pacemaker lead, due to the unipolar lead configuration change that was needed for it to run the test. You see when the lead changes from bipolar to unipolar the energy from the lead has to travel from the tip of the lead to the, which is in the tip of your heart known as the apex, back up to the actual pacemaker. When that energy travels through the chest it sometimes stimulates the muscle in the chest. Causing them to twitch. The fact that you say it is happening in about 4hour intervals and that you can ease the sensation by repositioning tells me that it could very possibly be the device running its checks. I would ask your doctor what kind of device you have and if it is the type that will run thresholds on itself. It may be as simple as making a small programming change. Or just waiting for more scaring around the lead. I found that my patients at least got some peace of mind knowing that it had nothing to do with their heart and it was not all in their mind. Some even learned to appreciate it because they knew it was a safety precaution by the device. Either way you were right to report it to your doctor as you should continue to do anytime you are worried about your heart.

Thank you!

by bhsoccer12 - 2014-03-14 04:03:45

Thank you for your quick responses - that helps a lot. It's always nice to hear from people that have gone through the same experiences. I'm sure as time goes by and I get used to it I will feel much better about it all. In the meantime, reading these posts helps greatly!

You know you're wired when...

You always have something close to your heart.

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Since I got my pacemaker, I don't pass out anymore! That's a blessing in itself.