Things to deal with

Did anyone experience a cough after the pm was inserted? Also how about a tightness in the throat and a feeling of discomfort upon taking a deep breath? Just had mine inserted 10 days ago. Am a very active person and this is somewhat bothersome.

4 Comments

call

by Tracey_E - 2015-04-13 09:04:32

Hopefully it's just normal healing or you caught a bug or something, but you need an xray to rule out pericarditis. If breathing gets hard, go to the ER.

Yeah I did

by Theknotguy - 2015-04-13 10:04:12

Prior to me getting my PM my heart had developed its own irregular heartbeat. I didn't think anything about it because, after all, I lived with it every day.

After I got the PM I'd go on coughing jags because I was expecting the old beat now, wait, wait, beat now, wait, wait, wait, beat, beat. But with the PM I got the steady beat, beat, beat. So I'd be expecting a pause, but instead I'd get a beat. Then I'd start coughing.

It also didn't help they had the voltage set a little higher to help set the leads because I'd feel the tickle then the heartbeat.

I also got pain in my left side going all the way up into the jaw. I felt it was because I could feel where the leads went into the blood vessel under the clavicle.

After they dropped the voltage - about 90 days out - I didn't get the coughing jags and the pain going up into my jaw went away.

Since they broke one rib and cracked three ribs, I still feel the tightness in the chest. At a year and a half I'm still working with a therapist to help with that. At the time you're feeling tightness in the chest area I was in so much pain every breath was tight. But I'm guessing you are going through some of the nerve feelings I had.

Some people are more sensitive and can feel more. I can tell when I'm in afib. A lot of people can't. That's great because I know to the second when I'm in afib. It's bad when they're sticking needles in my arm. You may be one of those people who feel more of what's going on in your circulatory system.

If you track the way I did, a lot of the feelings will go away after they drop the voltage on the PM. Hope it happens that way. Dropping the voltage was no big deal, I was watching the tech when she did it. Didn't feel a thing and everything kept going on normally.

Hope everything goes smoothly for you.

similar symptoms

by LittlestEaton - 2015-04-14 02:04:40

I had my PM inserted 10 days ago as well. I have similar synptoms: the tightness (although my box is under my chest muscle instead of just the skin) and uncomfortable feeling in my throat as well as during a deep breath. I have noticed that the symptoms have decreased so I was thinking it's just a way for our body to get use to the devicd/healing from the procedure?

late but still possible

by Jane S - 2015-04-14 03:04:48

When you take a deep breath does it catch, and the tightness around the neck does it feel swollen or a bit like bubble wrap. You could have a pneumothorax.
Jane

You know you're wired when...

Your device acts like a police scanner.

Member Quotes

It's much better to live with a pacemaker than to risk your life without one.