just had dual chamber implanted

And I'm wondering if it's normal to feel some discomfort in my chest. I am pretty sure it is where the leads are going through the vein, and I already know that it took the surgeon some time to find nerves in my heart that are good. I'm hoping it's just irritation in the vein… should I be concerned? I had the pacemaker inserted 4 days ago.

2 Comments

It's quite normal

by Theknotguy - 2015-01-13 08:01:04

Welcome to the club! You're in the part of Canada that sends all that cold polar weather our way. Oh well.

You'll get all sorts of weird feelings right after the PM is implanted. I had pain starting under my clavicle on the left side going all the way up into my jaw. As the swelling went down the feelings gradually diminished. Normally you don't have anything inserted under the clavicle so your body has a hard time interpreting what you're feeling.

If it isn't a sharp pain, or you aren't running a fever, for the most part you can ignore it. Kinda hard to do because the brain doesn't know what's going on and it's yammering in the background. Eventually you start to learn what to pay attention to and what to ignore.

For some reason, at seven months my PM pocket started itching like crazy. Just be standing there and it would start itching. Guys were laughing at me because I was scratching so much. No big deal, just continuing healing.

You'll see a lot of people on the forum saying they can't lay on their left side because of the PM being in the way. Same for me. It was over a year before I could lay on my left side while sleeping. I'd always feel the PM pinching between my rib cage and shoulder. But now I've got enough scar tissue and I don't feel it as much. Don't tell you this to discourage you just that it may take some time for things to heal. Eventually things do get better.

Hope everything else is going well for you.

Thank you!

by Canadagurl - 2015-01-14 10:01:25

Thank you so much for your reply! I was fairly certain that the pain/ discomfort was normal, but the more you focus on it, the worse it gets. All of this time off of work is making me go a bit crazy :)

You know you're wired when...

You can take a lickin’ and keep on tickin’.

Member Quotes

At age 20, I will be getting a pacemaker in few weeks along with an SA node ablation. This opportunity may change a five year prognosis into a normal life span! I look forward to being a little old lady with a wicked cane!