Can you feel the pulses?

rare but not unheard of

by Tracey_E - 2015-05-13 01:05:34

It's unusual to feel it, but you aren't the first to report feeling it. They can often turn it down after the first few weeks. They like to start it higher until the heart gets used to pacing and the leads start to grow into place.

Hi Math Teacher.......

by Tattoo Man - 2015-05-13 02:05:24

........you say that you can 'feel a pulse' with your hand over the pacemaker.....??

Now you may be mistaking the PM functioning to pace your heart with a muscle spasm around the PM location site that manifests itself as if the 'tick-hiccup' that you describe...

I too get the same thing and can only ascribe the effect as a local muscle 'reaction' to a foreign body....when I experience this..and I have yet to establish any connection with any 'cause and effect'....

So,...maybe we just have bouncy pacemakers !!

Best wishes

Tattoo Man

Me too

by Porkypig - 2015-05-13 02:05:29

I could feel my chest move when a paced and more so when I layed down, it was driving me mad so called pacing clinc and found out it was pacing a nerve, a week later I had it changed and haven't felt a thing since. I hope you get your issue resolved soon. X

I sure do

by Tinkergirl - 2015-05-13 04:05:18

I feel the small pulses from my pacemaker all the time. It is slight, but there. I can also feel my heart trying to do it's pauses when I am laying in bed at night and then the PM jumps in. When I asked my cardiologist about the pulses on my visit last week, he said that is normal for a lot of people especially when it is pacing at a high percentage. He also said my heart liked to beat real low at night(20's) and pause so much he is not surprised that occasionally it will wake me up when I feel my heart trying to pause and the pacemaker working more diligently not letting my own natural pacemaker take over.

So yes, I know a lot of other people feel we should not feel the little pokes, but I do and it does not bother me at all, it is just my new norm...Now if my Ventricle lead jumps in to do it's thing that one used to really bother me until they turned it down, now I do not notice it at all. Just the top lead. I pace 98% atrial and 4.5 ventricle.

You will get used to all the little things the awesome PM has to offer and eventually it becomes a part of your life in a positive way.

Absolutely the pulses can be felt

by wxman - 2015-05-13 04:05:27

My Doctor also tried to tell me that you wouldn't feel the pulses. But when he was monitoring the dual lead pacer, I told him exactly when and how much I was feeling the pulses.

He then said that some people do feel them. But, it's rare. He said I was feeling each time the ventricle was paced. He reduced the voltage to it's minimum, yet I could still feel it. He just said I'd get used to it.

For me, the feeling reminded me of when we were kids and would take a 9 volt battery and place the poles on your tongue. Remember that feeling? The pacer leaves that same feeling briefly in my heart when it paces. Feels like that with a funny flutter--similar to PVCs. It's hard to get used to.

My pacer was placed because of bradycardia with brief periods of not beating. Also tachycardia, but that's handled with pharm.

Just Read this Info!!

by MathTeacher - 2015-05-13 05:05:03

Since Porkypig mentioned pacing a nerve, I just Googled it. This is a really interesting article on Diaphragmatic Pacing.

http://www.thepad.pm/2014/01/diaphragmatic-pacing-phrenic-nerve.html

It says it happens in dual lead PMs, and it's something that patients cannot learn to live with. Worst case scenario, the lead will have to be moved. No thanks; I think I could learn to live with it. Since it only happens when I lay on my back, I'm praying it will be an easy fix.

Yeah, me too.

by Theknotguy - 2015-05-13 07:05:17

Right after they implanted the PM and the voltage was set higher I could feel the tickle and then the "thump" when my heart would beat. Used to wake me up at night.

After they lowered the voltage in the PM I didn't feel it as often. After a year and a half, I rarely feel it.

There is a sequence the PM goes through where it actuates the ventricles of my heart. When that happens I can still feel when the PM kicks in. But it's rare that happens.

The only other time I feel the PM is during the PM check. But some people usually feel the PM actuating during testing.

Hope you can get adjusted quickly. Hopefully when they drop the voltage you won't feel the PM anymore.

And Me

by PeteFindlay - 2015-05-14 07:05:38

I was told that some people can 'feel' the difference between a natural ventricular beat and a paced ventricular beat - I can. This isn't the diaphragmatic pacing, it's just that I'm aware that the pacing is (was) so different to my natural beat. Immediately after implant, I was very aware, but I had them adjust settings after 3 weeks, and now it's very rare - usually just during the tests.

There's a lot of tweaking they can do to align the PM behaviour to your natural pacing, intervals etc. Worth exploring if it's uncomfortable and bothers you.

Pete

Me too

by Grateful Heart - 2015-05-14 10:05:07

I can feel it when they are testing my device but lately I have also been feeling sharp, sudden, fast electrical type shocks under my left breast (not a defibrillator type of shock). Sometimes it travels fast around the outer left side of my body and quickly goes away. Also feeling SOB when going up a flight of stairs but not all the time. I don't know if it is connected.

I called the Doctors office about it. I have not called any Doctors office for any questions or problems in over 3 years....so I was concerned.

They tried to recreate it by turning up the voltage as high as possible, each lead one at a time.....nothing. I did feel a steady pulse in the top part of my chest....that was new but it stopped after the voltage was lowered again.

Then on the long drive home from the Doctors office....ZING. There it is....Murphy's Law.

For me, I decided I will just wait and see if it shows up on the report eventually. I have complete trust in all of my Cardios but at the same time, I know what I am feeling. It's an attention grabber but apparently not dangerous since no one is worried about it....lol. I had something similar about 4 years ago and needed a lead revision. Time will tell.

I hope you get yours resolved soon.

Grateful Heart

Similar snag

by Chiefsub68 - 2018-10-11 08:37:56

I love the advice on here: it makes you feel that you're not alone. I had this "pulse" snag a few weeks ago at work and it has returned this week. I do wonder if it is related to stress.

Each time I get up to go to the loo, the kitchen, whatever, I can feel a sharp pulse to the arm side of my PM. The suggestion that the PM is pulsing a nerve would be the best explanation. Certainly the pulse fades if I lift my upper arm slightly and it returns but with less intensity when I put it down.

It's not a question, I don't think, of a more general heart problem. I walk and cycle every day and only last Monday did 30 miles (48km) with no trouble at all.