Shocks

Try Not to Worry

by Grateful Heart - 2017-04-02 19:34:12

Some things are out of our control anyway.  BUT.....there is a setting called ATP..anti-tachycardia pacing/burst pacing.  There are many parameters and settings within our devices. 

For example:  My device (ICD) is set to shock me if my HR gets to 220 bpm and stays there for more than 12 seconds I believe.  My heart rate has gone over 200 a few times due to exercise classes that I guess I shouldn't have tried.  Anyway, the highest recorded and noted by the interrogation for me was 217 bpm for 8 seconds.  The ATP setting kicked in to lower my rate back to normal.

Ask your EP if he set the ATP for you.....he should have.

BTW, I have had my device for 8 years and have not been shocked.  I hope that eases your mind.

Grateful Heart       

Thank you

by Bearclaw - 2017-04-02 19:51:49

Dear Grateful, thank you so much for posting this - this is immensley helpful. The more I understand the easier it will be for me. Your experience gives me hope.

My EP told me he is going to set it for 170 max and adjust the min so it it is faster than it runs now with the Bisoprolol (makes me very tired) and he said I will definitely feel perkier. I don't think 170 is very fast, maybe it shoudl be higher than that because what if I want to go to exercise class too!  I will have to discuss that with him. Thanks for the tips.

I am scheduled for April 13.  Will I have much down time?  I ususally spring up pretty well after most other things - never had an ICD before though.  Do they send you home with a sling so you don't lift your arm?

First hand experience

by Hamsquatch - 2017-04-02 20:04:28

Different people have a different tolerance for pain, I was cardioverted by my ICD twice within about a 5 second period while warming up on the treadmill. I would say my first symptom was exhaustion, followed by adrenaline (this was probably my body freaking out) with profuse sweating my shirt was literally soaked with sweat and had to be peeled off me and then the good old double zaparoo. 

I can best describe it as an extremely bad hiccup with a brief inability to breathe when it happened I wasn't sure what was happening at first I was trying to get a BPM reading and it said 58 then after the second one I knew for sure I was being cardioverted. By BPM maxed out at just over 300 BPM according to my interrogation, this was the first time I was cardioverted by my device so just played it safe and called 911. 

Now I dont know if I was "seeing the light" or maybe gym equipment (handles with BPM readers on treadmill) caused it but when I was cardioverted I could actually see the electricity just a brief flash of what seemed like an electric shock.

Re-read

by Grateful Heart - 2017-04-02 20:10:05

I just re-read your post and realize you do not have a device yet....sorry.  My settings are 70-160 bpm. My upper limit has  been raised a few times but that is different from your shocking rate...that will be higher.  In my case, the 160 is the maximum tracking rate of my device.  If my heart rate is able to go higher....it will (and obviously has). 

Down time:  We are all different so that depends on you.  I spring up pretty well too, surprising some ...lol....so you will probably be fine.   

If they give you a sling....ditch it.  Most of us have not had a sling and the problem is....if you don't move your arm you could wind up with "frozen shoulder".  Very painful and takes a long time to recover.  You want to move your arm normally (out from your side, cross your chest, front to back).  You just don't want to raise it over above shoulder height for the 6 weeks or so.  I never had a sling...it worked out just fine.

Grateful Heart   

Just wanted to add

by Jax - 2017-04-03 00:55:19

I never had a sling.   I kept my shoulder so still that I hurt my shoulder.  Had to go to PT for some exercises.  Pt said I had a deep bruise to my shoulder which went away in about a week with his exercises.   Was driving in about a week also.  Just don't lift anything heavy and try avoid hands over your head.   I will say I wore big blouses that I wished someone told me to have ready.   I don't know whether you're male or female but wearing a bra may be tough for a little while.   

Shocks aren't fun but being safe is 🤓

by 24&wired - 2017-04-03 03:48:21

I think that's the rarest of the rare for it to charge unnecessarily. I was first shocked at home folding the laundry and for a split second I felt dizzy and then a thud like a punch to the chest (I'm 5'0 and I weigh 90 pounds and and  but I immediately got up to call my parents. Then two weeks after I was shocked again in high school in front of an entire class of grade 12 kids imagine that. And that time I knew I was about to be shocked because of the dizziness. It's not the shock that's scary, it's the feeling of lack of control that's scary. I was 17, angry why I had to go through this until my cardiologist walked in the icu and said stop complaining, you would've been dead if it didn't go off...not the words a girl wants to hear but true indeed. All my paceys above have given great advice but as a veteran (3rd icd) the first will be frustrating when you won't be able to lift your arm and you'll feel heavy on the left side and it'll hurt. It took me a good two months but the subsequent surgery I was raising my arm in two weeks. The first time your body creates a muscle pocket that's why it takes so long. But believe me I don't even remember now that I have an icd unless I see the scar 😬

Shocks - thank you

by Bearclaw - 2017-04-03 08:11:06

What wonderful comments and thoughtful suggestions. Thank you very much for taking the time to help me understand. If I am not back with more questions, I will let you know how it goes after the procedure is done.

BC

ARM MOVEMENT

by BOBJ - 2017-04-03 15:07:48

As far as getting shocked. Not happened yet.

The shoulder movement - what worked best for me was after about 2 days only wear the sling at night. Mostly what I kept an eye on was ripping open my incision. 

Do not lift arm over your head until fully cleared by your ep.

Other than that I experimented with ways I could move my arm to keep it from getting sore and/or locking up.

Glad to be alive.

by Brit50 - 2017-04-16 09:02:33

Sorry to hear of people so young needing an ICD. I'm 60 so no complaints. 7 yrs ago after just 6 months with ICD I still thought I was invincible and playing touch rugby when it goes off. Just once...got lucky...I could feel it winding itself up so I immediately went to kneel position. Still hadn't learned and a couple of months later playing touch rugby again in the heat and humidity of Houston Tx and this time it went off 39 times whilst in the middle of a field, and ambulance having problem locating on GPS. The paddles at hospital and drugs managed to stop the VF.

I should be dead, so I am so grateful. Once, whilst lying on bed in emergency room after a slow VF or VT where there was no shock I remember looking at sky and trees and feeling very sad that I might never see such a miracle again. I hope this helps by attempting to put ICDs into some sort of perspective.