battery problem

havent been on for a while!  i was recently notified that my st jude crt-d battery may stop at any time. hospital is not necessarily replacing them since incidence of malfunction is supposedly  1%. the vibrator will go off if it stops. 

obviously this leaves me bit anxious in general and doubly so becasue we do a fair amount of traveling. anyone have more information?? tracey?  don? 

5 Comments

recalls

by Tracey_E - 2016-11-19 11:12:55

I don't have an affected device so I only know what I've read from others here and a few news articles. It sounds like SJM is paying for it, for the most part, so I don't know why the hospital would drag their feet on it. If it were me, the reason for having a defib is to save my life, so I don't think I'd want to risk being that 1%. Odds are small, yes, but stakes are high. JMHO. Have you had a chat with your doctor? If you are the 1% and it fails, then it's an emergency situation to get it replaced. Again, small odds but high stakes. 

I agree

by Grateful Heart - 2016-11-19 22:22:22

The hospital may not be in a rush but what does your Cardio think?  How would you know yours is faulty until it is ...and then it's an emergency.  Here is the communication from the FDA.

http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/Safety/AlertsandNotices/ucm524666.htm?source=govdelivery&utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery

Like Sparrow said, advocate for yourself, this is your heart and your life.

Grateful Heart

pacemaker recall/failure

by Thomas902 - 2016-11-19 22:44:04

I had one of the pacemakers from St Judes that was subject to the recall.  I'm 100% dependent so failure means no pulse. My Dr. didn't hesitate, called me for an appointment and we arranged a replacement the following week.  St Judes paid for everything and the tech had the new one all set up.  Any chance of failure is to much so I'd push and St Judes, so I'm told pays.  Good luck.

St Jude failure

by penquin - 2016-11-20 02:29:21

5 months ago my cardiologist told me my St. Jude pacer was not on the serial numbered failure list..and the failure probability was low. Guess what-read my postings where both the pacemaker and I nearly  died 6 weeks ago. My emergency trip to the hospital and no voltage to my heart -,changed his mind in 4 hours.(scared BOTH of us).

battery

by capecod - 2016-11-20 08:45:25

thank you all for responding. i had spoken to two techs who do my interrogations. i will call both my cardiologiat and electro guy who put in device this week. 

unlike dependent pacemaker folks, they primarily implanted  crt-d because my chambers were not beating simultaneously. my EF was 10-15 and since implantation 2 1/2 years ago it is now 35-40. the defib was a bonus. BUT i am still anxious and will talk with both docs this week. will let you know

thanks all for the advice!

You know you're wired when...

Your old device becomes a paper weight for your desk.

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