Painful Pacemaker Implantation

I had my pacemaker inserted one week ago.
Very painful when I woke up. Left arm, arm pit, back of left shoulder all hurt terribly. I was told most patients have just an ache, take tylenol and of course ice it. I have been taking some Lortabs (Vicodin) left over from my hip fracture. Actually, this hurts much worse than the hip fracture.
Ice hurts the back of my shoulder, neck has been hurting from the sling I think.
Had large bandage removed today. The pacemaker site is very swollen but no signs of infection.

6 Comments

Dissipate

by oldearthworm - 2015-10-28 01:10:05

Dissipate , NOT diddipate .. an accidental posting .. we do need an editor ..

It takes time

by JenSF - 2015-10-28 01:10:30

It sounds like you're having a rough time! I'm not sure that I would agree with what you were told that "most people just have an ache." You'll see on this site that there are many different responses to surgery and that a lot of people do have pain. I know for me that every time I've had surgery it has been very sore and painful, especially the first few weeks. However, it does get better with time. One week out from surgery is not very long. I think you'll find that in another week or two you'll be in a very different place and hopefully most of the pain will be gone by then.

Take good care!

Symphathy

by oldearthworm - 2015-10-28 01:10:51

My sympathy ..I have been so fortunate ..I may be wrong , but try heat on the neck and shoulder , I do this in the shower , HOT water in this place - feels so good .. as does the hot towel . The pain will diddipate , give it time .

Lose the sling

by Lurch - 2015-10-28 04:10:36

Please do not wear a sling continuously. If you do not use you shoulder the joint will "lock up" and cause you more problems.

You need to move your arm, just don't lift with it and don't raise it above you shoulder for a couple of weeks.

I wish you luck on the pain you are experiencing. As JenSF said, everybody is different in how it affects them.

Looked at like a Cry-baby...

by Yolande77 - 2015-10-29 06:10:48

When I woke up I was also in a lot of pain. The nurses looked at me as if I'm a cry-baby and also told me it is not supposed to be so sore. That really made me doubt myself, which is not right. I think it makes a difference if they insert the PM under the muscle or just under the skin. Mine is under the muscle and still very stiff in my shoulder, chest and armpit. I'll start next week with rehabilitation exercises. Speak to your doctor and listen to your body. He should be able to explain to you what they did when they inserted the PM. Just understanding what happened in there made a world of difference to me as I could then understand why I felt so much pain and I am NOT a cry-baby... :(

Doing better slowly

by GoldenGirl - 2015-11-03 01:11:32

I was looked at like a cry baby too. That's why I posted my message. I've been taking Vicodin (norco) left over from my hip fracture. The hip wasn't as bad as this pacemaker (Much less pain, seriously with the hip). My pacemaker was also put under the muscle, the pectoralis minor. It hurt under my arm quite a bit during the first week.
I hated that sling, it did pull on my neck and upper back. Was supposed to use it the first week all the time but I kept removing it and I've thrown it away now. Yeh!
Last week I went to an orthopedic MD about my shoulder, he didn't have a clue and tried to get me to lift my left arm up, then tried to test my arm strenght. I refused, reminded him I just had a pacemaker put it.
The pacemaker site swelling is decreasing, I've been icing it several times a day.
Still burns like anything when water touches where the pacemaker is so I'm still trying to keep it dry in the shower.
Thanks so much for the comments!

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