Had my PM put in July 1 2014

Had my Pm St. Judes 5820 2 lead Tuesday at 12:30 PM. All went well. I am sitting up in my private room and start having twitches on my lower right side. It continued thought the night asked 3 rn's and they said it was not pacemaker related. The next morning it was a complete twitching /spasm of the right side you could see it through hospital gown. Told pacemaker guy about it and he said it is a pacemaker problem. One of the leads was shocking a nerve. He turned the power from 1 volt to 2 volts it disappeared and when he tried other settings it would reintroduce the spasm. It really sucked I went from a race car with spasms to a regular car with no spasms. I hope it can be reset higher after some scar healing at point of attachment.

You know is there a real comprehensive source on pacemakers or maybe we could have a sticky post with all people have learned from having pacemakers. All I walked out of the hospital with was a little silly book and few instructions. Heck my magic bullet blender had 50 times more instructions. Just seems real odd.

4 Comments

blender LOL

by Gotrhythm - 2014-07-05 03:07:27

You are so right. The simplest appliance comes with more instructions and precautions than a PM.

Although there are several books on living with PMs on Amazon, I can't point you to one single,comprehensive source. The trouble with single sources is that not all PMs are the same, nor do all people need the same settings. And that doesn't count ICDs and CRTs. You need to know right much, just to know which parts of articles apply to you.

The best place I have found to get "The Manual" is right here. Several members, Inga, Donr, and others, are both knowledgeable and able to put their answers into intelligible, non-technical language. Use the search function, and ask questions anytime you need to.

One more thing. Ask for a printout every time the PM is interrogated or tweaked. You won't understand all of it, but you will understand some and you can ask question here about the rest. If you know what the settings are, you will be better able to help the techs get the settings right for you.

Diaphragmatic pacing

by golden_snitch - 2014-07-05 06:07:11

Hi!

Usually, you lower the voltage if you want to stop diaphragmatic pacing. So, I guess your pacemaker guy lowered it from 2 volts to 1 volt. If diaphramatic pacing occurs, it often happens in the beginning, because typically the threshold (see explanation below) rises ~ 2 - 6 weeks after the initial implant, and then decreases again to a chronic plateau. To be on the safe side, the cardios therefore program the output higher, so that no matter how much the threshold rises, pacemaker stimulation is still effective.

As long as the output higher than the threshold, this shouldn't affect the pacemaker function at all, except that you get more battery out of it. The programmed output voltage (amplitude) depends on the threshold that you have. The threshold is the minimum energy needed to effectively stimulate your heart. Most cardios, techs etc. would program the output to be 2 x the threshold, so that you have a safety margin in case your threshold increases. But most pacemakers today's also have a so-called "automatic capture management" that measures the thresholds in the atrium and ventricle every 24 hours, and adjust the output accordingly. Mine does so, and it automatically keeps a safety margin of 1.0 volt. So, for instance, if the threshold is 0.75 V, it would automatically set the output at 1.75V.

Best wishes

Inga

The manual for my pacemaker

by jpotts - 2014-07-06 05:07:06

Ureka, I found it last night now to digest it. It was fairly well hidden. Real Technical.

Thanks I knew they were somewhere.


Jim

Pacing and blender

by jpotts - 2014-07-06 05:07:37

Yes it was 2 volts and he turned it to 1. Yes, I goggled it mine has that option also. I have no idea if it is turned on or off. I assume on. Diaphragmatic pacing seems novel It would have taken me a while to come up with that. Thank you very much. I will have to read all of your post and replies to learn.

Thank you

Inga

I have turned over a lot of rocks on the St. Judes 5820 to see what bells and whistles it has but seem to come up blank. I guess I am more curious than most as high tech stuff is what I play with and do for work. I just find it odd information on my pacemaker is hard to find. It is kind of like a puzzle for me to solve. I will see where this journey takes me. I will read all of their post and replies and yours Gotrhythm.

Thanks for helping me break the learning curve,

Jim



You know you're wired when...

Your pacemaker receives radio frequencies.

Member Quotes

I am just now 40 but have had these blackouts all my life. I am thrilled with the pacer and would do it all over again.