Just had surgery on Tuesday 5/17/16

I just had my surgery 4 days ago. I wore a sling for the first few days. I was wondering about the possibility of pulling the leads out. I slept without the sling on and woke up with tremendous pain in my shoulder. I don't know if I moved wrong in my sleep. But I was concerned about pulling the leads out.

8 Comments

Shoulder

by Cate705 - 2016-05-21 06:05:28

I also had a pm 8 days ago. My sling came off day 6 and already my shoulder is feeling better each day. I just think with your arm in the sling and not moving normally you develop some soreness and stiffness. When your arm is out of the sling just remember to follow the Drs instructions about limiting your left arm movement.

Avoid frozen shoulder

by chatterbox3110 - 2016-05-21 07:05:34

I had a sling only whilst I was in the surgery recovery area, it was taken off me when I got up to the ward as they said a sling will give you frozen shoulder and you need to keep the arm moving gently. I even slept on the side of the implantation the first night as I found it more comfortable and less of a drag on the wound.

Don't worry too much about the leads, they are quite robust, and before you left hospital they'd have checked to make sure the leads were in place.

Just make sure that you don't over exert the arm, lift anything heavy or raise your arm up for first 6 weeks and you should be fine.

Welcome to pacemaker world!

Sling

by Grateful Heart - 2016-05-21 10:05:09


Get rid of the sling. Move your arm, just don't raise it above your shoulder for the first 5-6 weeks.

Grateful Heart

Not to worry

by Good Dog - 2016-05-21 11:05:57

You should be fine as the possibility of pulling-out your leads is very small. On the outside chance you did, you should get a warning as you will likely not feel well (same or similar symptoms as before the PM). Additionally, you will have some aches and pains during the first few days that should start to subside gradually. I'll bet you will be seeing the doc and will get an EKG sometime in the next few weeks. If not, you can always request one if you aren't feeling well or just for peace of mind..

Another vote to dump the sling

by Lurch - 2016-05-22 01:05:37

When my EP came into my hospital room immediately after the implant of my ICD he saw me wearing a sling the Nurse had put on me. He took it off and tossed it across the room! Told me to wear it only when sleeping for the first few nights and when doing something where I needed to remind myself not to overuse my left arm for the first week.

The link will take you to an interesting article regarding the appropriateness of using sling post implantation:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2626349/

Sling

by Icuh8n - 2016-05-22 06:05:35

Before the pm implant, my ep told me the hospital may put a sling on and they did. Next morning when he checked up on me he took off the sling and threw it in the rubbish can. He told me to move my arm around asap. I followed his instructions but didn't get nuts with the motion of going up and down or whatever exercises you use to move the arm and shoulder. Do it so it doesn't freeze up and to get the blood flowing. PM works great( Boston scientific) g158. Very little Afib since Feb.24,2016 implant. But I would get your arm in motion alittle at a time but don't overdo it.G good luck and enjoy.

sling

by fjj17332 - 2016-05-23 02:05:15

the sling caused the shoulder pain. give it at least 2 weeks so the leads can take hold. u will be OK

EGAD, Fling That Sling!

by AngrySparrow1 - 2016-05-24 07:05:04

Slings cause a lot of problems and suffering. Some people never get over the damage slings do.

Your implant doctor is not a orthopedic person, nor are they knowledgeable about body mechanics.

Slings through your spine out of alignment, cause all sorts of problems besides spinal alignment. You need your system working, nothing is broken, just a tidy slice (hopefully), with a titanium clad computer inserted and a lead or a few leads.

As other members have pointed out, you do not need a sling, unless you want to have the very high probability of some serious pain that may never entirely leave.

Muscles seize up when not used, scar tissue forms and strangles the muscle, tendons so they can not work properly, then you get pain, stiffness, loss of use and a lot more pain. Neck pain, maybe ribs, shoulder, elbow and wrist, maybe it might even cause further problems with your lower spine.

The vast majority of people with shoulder pain from lack of use could have avoided the problem with simple exercise and use of the involved shoulder.

My mother ended up walking around like she was a Stroke survivor after her shoulder replacement, she could have avoided the constant pain, the inability to use her arm and tilting to one side if she had simply used her arm for gentle exercise in a consistent manner.

Get rid of the sling, use your arm GENTLY. Well lubricated things move better, synovial fluid will do its job if you let it, movement also helps in healing, gets rid of the edema (goopy crummy stuff), brings in fresh blood and oxygen to aid in healing.

You know you're wired when...

Your device makes you win at the slot machines.

Member Quotes

We are very lucky to have these devices.