curious about what I'm feeling

My name is Amy. I am 25 years old. I've been going through alot in these last few years. When I was 23, I had a implanted loop recorder (heart monitor) put in on July 31, 2013. Due to random passing out and frequent dizzy spells. This is when I was told I had atrial fibrillation (Afib) now 17 months later they take out the loop recorder (heart monitor) and I had pacemaker implanted on Wednesday November 5, 2014. This is very new to me, really don't know what to expect. I feel an empty feeling in my cleavage where the (heart monitor) was for almost a year and a half. But more importantly I feel every muscle from my neck, to my collarbone, to my chest being pulled/ stretched to the max. I'm trying my best to keep my left side still but the slightest movement feels like I'm pulling every wire out one by one. Also I feel this constant buzzing/vibration feeling is this normal? Is this feeling the pacemaker working? Someone please help. So I'm not panicking over something that may be normal.

5 Comments

Hi Amy

by 2219kg - 2014-11-08 07:11:43

I'm 33 and I got a pm six months ago. The pulling feeling will go away soon. I have had trouble with my shoulder but in the last week it has finally started feeling better. I freaked out for a good two months about pulling my leads. I don't recall a buzzing feeling but theknotguy is correct. They will turn down the power at three months which should help with that. Best of luck to you!!
Kelly

Everything normal

by Theknotguy - 2014-11-08 10:11:55

Everything you've described is normal. I'm sure you didn't want to hear that. But - and a big BUT, your body will settle down and you'll be able to get on with your life.

There are quite a few people on the forum in the 20 - 30 year age range so you have a lot of company and a lot of people with whom you can discuss issues. So you are not alone.

The empty feeling in the cleavage area will eventually go away.

The sore muscles in the neck, collarbone, and chest area will also go away but, you'll want to get muscular therapy. In the meantime, you'll want to keep moving. Not hard exercise, but just keep moving. Hydration - mostly drinking water - not anything else - warm packs - cold packs - and tylenol will help in the meantime.

The constant buzzing/vibration feeling may be due to them having the voltage set higher on your PM. They do that after it is first inserted to get your heart accustomed to the PM running the show. If it gets too bad they can turn down the voltage a little. They will turn down the voltage about the 8 week to three month time period anyway. No big deal, I was sitting in the chair watching the tech when he did it.

Other items - you don't want to raise your elbow above your shoulder on the PM side for 4 - 6 weeks. You won't want to lift anything heavier than a gallon of milk for 4-6 weeks with your arm on the PM side. You'll forget and do it anyway - don't worry - just don't make it a habit.

The leads going into your heart will let you know if you pull on them. So limit the stretching on the PM side. You can stretch a little but the leads will let you know when you've gone too far. It's very hard to pull the leads to where it will cause damage. So don't worry about that. After four to six months your body will grow around the leads and they won't move. At the one year mark I can throw the tennis ball for the dog as hard as I want without any pain. So the pain in that area will go away for you too.

Drink plenty of water. I was drinking 6 1/2 liter bottles of water per day. But then I'm about 200 pounds so I need more hydration - you can probably get by with 4 1/2 liters per day.

Keep moving. Mild exercise - walking is good. Keep the arms moving but no heavy stuff for the first 4-6 weeks. Hmmm. Christmas is coming up, so window shopping at the mall probably would be good exercise for you. Just don't purchase large packages and carry them for the first 4-6 weeks.

For the sore muscles I got a prescription and saw a licensed massage therapist. Key words are licensed and therapist. She helped me with the muscle soreness. If your cardiologist will do it, get a prescription from him for the therapist.

Other therapy will help. I also saw regular physical therapists. Instead of no pain, no gain they said if I left the session hurting they didn't do their job. The physical therapy helped a lot too.

I have afib too. My sessions last anywhere from 4 to 24 hours at a time. So I really understand your problems with afib. At about the 90 day period, see if your Boston Scientific PM has a software afib setting. Your EP / cardiologist probably won't have that turned on at first because they will want to see what your heart does with the PM. At about the three to four month period they will make a decision as to what to do next.

You can also solicit responses from other 20 - 30 year old people on this forum. They can give you a lot of information. Since I'm over 60 I'm probably too old to give you good information about what happens at your age range. But you are still more than welcome to ask.

If you get really depressed you can also opt to see a psychologist. It's not a failure on your part, just another person who can help you get your mind around what is going on. I had read a high percentage of people with pacemakers get depression so I opted to talking with a psychologist who specialized in heart and trauma issues. She helped a lot too. So that's another option available to you.

In the meantime, hang in there. You've got a long life to live and a lot of things to do. So get out there and enjoy life. You have my best wishes.

Welcome to the club

by cabbie - 2014-11-09 07:11:44

Hi welcome to the club. As you can see there are great members like theknotguy who will take the time to respond and address your issues. Best of luck, youth is on your side!

Keep on keeping on...

by dnewman - 2014-11-14 11:11:46

Looks like you've gotten good responses to your posting. Got my first PM 8 years ago when I was 47, so I was somewhat older than you are now. However, I still felt pretty young. Thinking back, while it was quite an ordeal at the time, I bounced back fairly quickly and in a couple of weeks, I was good to go.
Well, the battery got down to about a month left, so I had a replacement put in on 11/5/2014. It's been about 9 days now, and I am not bouncing back so well this time. Reading the responses above reminded me that we're all different and each one of us is different at different times. So Keep on keeping on but don't overdo it. You'll know when you have done so, and you'll slow it down accordingly. Thanks for posting, and thanks everyone for your responses to Amy's questions.
Peace,
Don

It's been 3 weeks

by Amylynn - 2014-11-26 09:11:09

So first I would like to thank everyone for the advice from my first couple questions. Now I'm 3 weeks with a pacemaker and I return to work in 3 days. I'm concerned it might be to soon, only because the area is still very sore, and still have a tugging sensation, especially if I try to reach, (even slightly) with my left arm. I'm a cashier at Save alot, the shopping cart sits to my left, register and belt to the right and I'm short so I have no choice but to reach/lift with my left arm to get the groceries/items into the cart. I'm not sure if I should wear my brace and just do my best with only the right arm? But my first thought is my poor back after all of that extra twisting... I just don't want to risk possibly tearing out a wire or over stretching the healing muscles or anything like that. I absolutely have to get back to work but don't want to put myself at any risk. Any suggestions???Thank you in advance, Amy /25

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