Pacemaker Club: shoulder / arm pain

shoulder / arm pain

by coffeesnoob
2016-08-09 06:57:25
Surgery & Recovery
1305 views
2 comments

I have had my pacer for about 12 days now. I have had pain in the back of my neck, in the shoulder and some tingling and numbness down my arm. This is all on the same side as the pacer. None of the pain is excruciating and I have good movement. I am asking if this is quite typical or not. The sore shoulder doesn't worry me much but the tingling down my arm kinfd of concerns me. It's not my whole arm just the back side from about my elbow to my little finger.. Also is it the doctor who makes adjustment to the pacer or does the tech from the company do it. I go back thursday for a device check up but I don't thing I see my doc...

2 Comments

recovery

by Tracey_E - 2016-08-09 10:58:51

It's not uncommon to get random pains, tingling, numbness. Some is healing from the incision and any nerves that got cut, some is we are sore so we may sleep in odd positions. If it gets worse, doesn't improve or if you see streaking or a red area, ask to be seen to rule out clots. You shouldn't be raising the arm overhead but other than that try to use it normally so it doesn't stiffen. Ice helps a lot as does gentle stretching.

Offices vary but it's not uncommon to see only the company rep or a nurse trained in adjusting, esp if you're only scheduled for a device check. I rarely see my doctor unless it's for my annual visit or something is going on. At my doc's office, the nurse takes vitals and asks a few questions before I see the rep, so if I have something going on or the rep finds something in the report, I'll either get a call in a few days from the doctor to discuss or his staff will call to schedule an appointment.

Pain

by Jeffand - 2016-08-11 00:45:20

I had similar pain the first couple days after implant, but on the opposite side. Then at the 6-week mark when I could lift my left arm again I got the same pain again on the right side. For me the difference in arm use caused it.