Pacemaker Club: Painful?

Painful?

by ML
2008-02-18 11:02:39
ICDs
1986 views
2 comments

I have A-Fib and continue to have frequent episodes of PVC's and I have read that they can lead to vtac. I know at one point my cardiologist brought up the possibility of a ICD. I already have a single lead pacemaker for sick sinus syndrome that does nothing for the A-Fib and PVC's and struggle with this at 41 years old. D/t my age and sensitivity/reactions to many meds, they have maxed on what can be done with them. I am on Flecainide, Verapamil and Fosinopril. For those of you that do have the ICD is it painful when the defib shocks you to restore normal rhythm? I read somewhere the person though they were having a heart attack the first time it happened.
Thanks for any info. Moira

2 Comments

shock

by thomast - 2008-02-19 04:02:55

I have been zapped twice in 2005 not long after my PM, ICD was implanted. As I have said before I would eqate it to touching the sparkplug on a lawnmower

I think it depends on the person

by turboz24 - 2008-02-19 12:02:48

MY defib has gone off 4 times. I really didn't find it all that bad. A friend with an ICD who has been cardioverted over 100 times said it was like getting hit in the stomach with a bat. Well, when it happened the first time, I was expecting something bad. I'd say it was a little more than say a novelty buzzer/shocker but less than say a pet electric fence. I was actually waiting for the shock, since I was vtaching in the high 200's and that was way more uncomfortable than the actual shock.