How long until it's safe to move freely

Just had a dual chamber installed and am curious how long until I am free to move around and not be scared I'll rip my leads out of place? One of the doctors said it can take up to a month and a half for everyone to scar tissue around. Is this true?

Thanks for all your help everyone. This is such a great resource.

5 Comments

Recovery. . .

by Pinecone - 2016-04-10 01:04:49

Hello! I am 7 weeks out and will be returning to work next week. I am back to "normal" now. Scar's healed nicely. I feel my PM pocket has healed - no more swelling and pains. I can even sleep on my left side without discomforts. Right after implant, I got up and did most of the things I normally do around the house. I respected the restrictions my clinic put on my left arm (i.e. weight restrictions (no lifting more than 5 lbs); and avoid elbow above the shoulder, and extending my left arm backwards). All these restrictions help the PM pocket heal. Hope this helps!

Read this study report

by Lurch - 2016-04-10 04:04:55

While it starts off talking about sling immobilization, it gets into range of motion exercises they put patients through, and found that it did not impact leads...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2626349/

One month

by Good Dog - 2016-04-10 04:04:57

While it is possible to dislocate a lead by extending your arm above your head, it is important to know that it is highly unlikely that could happen.
That restriction is generally for one month.

David

Genral rule of thumb

by techiej - 2016-04-10 05:04:46

My EP & Cardio Dr's both told me 6 weeks...just to be safe and that this was a rule of thumb.

moving around

by Tracey_E - 2016-04-10 10:04:52

You can and should be moving around now. After the first 24-48 hours, it's highly unlikely anything you do will cause a lead to move and the limitations are precaution. Just don't overdo it with the sore arm by raising it too high or lifting anything too heavy, other than that try to move normally so your shoulder doesn't freeze.

I tend to agree with the study Lurch posted, it's just common sense. The leads are not put in tight, they go into the vein but there is always extra. They coil that extra and put it behind the device, which means moving the device around doesn't pull on it in the vein at all. When I had my 4th replacement 6 years ago, my doc said watch it for 6 weeks. When I had my 5th one last month, I noticed his instructions now say 2 weeks.

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