Concerns

healing

by Tracey_E - 2017-06-05 09:13:58

Welcome! Glad you found us. There are others here your age, hopefully they will say hi. I should have had one in my teens but procrastinated until I was 27. I'm on my 5th device now and have two kids your age. It doesn't slow me down a bit. And I am still the youngest at my doctor's office! Be prepared for a lot of years of hearing "you're so young to have a pacemaker!!"

We feel all sorts of odd things as we heal. The heart is getting used to beating faster, the muscles are getting used to having a hunk of metal in there. We hurt so we sleep in odd positions which makes us sore. They usually adjust the settings at 4-6 weeks so you shouldn't feel the beats after that. The pain should go away as you heal. If you find yourself short of breath, with the same symptoms you had pre-op, with chest pain, then you need to be seen. When in doubt,give them a call and they can tell you if they want to see you or not. 

I found ice worked best for pain. 

Give it time

by shelee - 2017-06-05 09:29:01

Hi, I am on my 4th pacemaker box and each time it's like starting again. At the end of the day it is a foreign body inside you. I think it takes a good 4 weeks before everything settles and begins to feel normal. Eventually you will forget the pacemaker is there. Good luck.

nineteen

by dwelch - 2017-06-06 01:06:00

I was also 19 when I got my first one, I am now 49 and on pacer number five.  Similar symptoms after 30 years of PMs number five I am getting some big beats now and again.  Just saw the doc about it today.  TraceyE can probably correct me on the term I think the doc was talking about PVCs but it may be some other term.  The doc told me my description was almost directly out of the textbook, and normal.   Basically it wasnt skipping a beat, pausing then giving me a big hit, but instead it takes an extra beat too early (that you cant feel) has to refill the ventricles then you get the next hit which you do feel.  She put me on a 24 hour monitor, perhaps for no other reason than to confirm (prove to me) its no big deal.  Me being an electrical and software engineer is probably a handful for her to deal with...

So every practice/insurance/state/country is a little different but if you just got the device yesterday I assume you spent the night and they checked it out one more time before you went home?  You should be going in some number of days or weeks for a check.  It might just be to check the incision is healing, no infection, but I have always had a pacer interrogation done then as well (take their laptop/computer and talk to your pacer and run a few tests at least one per lead).   Ask for a copy of the printout.  or I would like my copy of the printout, it might be a shorter version of the one the doc gets, but you want to know/see things like upper/lower limits, a number of items that help you communicate with the doc, and to communicate with this community (I cant sleep, okay what is your minimum set to?)

If you cannot wait, dont think you are comfortable waiting for that visit, call them get a visit sooner.  That is what I did and actually got in the next (business) day perhaps dumb luck...If you think this is an emergency then go to the ER...but still see your doc after the ER the ER docs might want to jack with things and then dump you off to the world, see your doc after as they are the ones watching you long term and their settings are the ones you want to have.

As far as the pain, I dont know about that personally, but definitely bring it up on the phone with them or if you get in for a visit.  If they cant schedule something you can certainly talk to the nurse first, and he/she may or may not help, depends on various factors, but you can ask for the doc to call you back at some point and that might get you a quicker response than an office visit.  Depends on the practice, town, number of patients, etc.

Each day for the next so many days is going to be a little different, your shoulder pain if any, how much you can move your arm, how well you sleep if at all, etc change each day.  Not bumping it is a big deal, after a while you naturally protect it or just stop doing things that might bump it or cause pain, takes a little while...All part of the normal process we have all been through.

It is going to take some time for them to dial you in, maybe at 3 months or 6 depending maybe the whole first year.  Also as you transition from childhood, and hopefuly you were fortunate to be quite active, into adulthood which has a lot of sitting behind a desk, vegging on a couch to recover from a day of sitting behind a desk, you might need some more tweaks, maybe not until pacer number two or three...Hopefully what you are feelilng is normal and/or just part of dialing you in.

There is a weath of knowledge and experience here, you are not alone, not the first young person, not the first one with big heart beats, etc...Like TraceyE and myself and others here you are in that special subgroup that start young and will hopefully have several pacers over the course of your life.  Walking in for a replacement at 49 which is still young for this, is this your first replacement?  Nope this is pacer number five.  And get to enjoy their reaction.

Thx

by troach3 - 2017-06-06 02:08:52

Thank you all very much for the info. The pain went away, and yeah i guess im just gonna have to get used to all the weird things the pacemaker is doing to my heart

33

by Charlene - 2017-06-09 19:45:53

Hey, I had my first pacemaker at 33 which is considered young by some, I loved the manual the hospital sent me home with had elderly people on the cover. I love when you tell people you have a PM, they either look sad or think you'll die on them, but the best bit is by fair how great you will feel when you've fully recovered, my consultant said at my first check-up 'the confidence it gives you is totally normal', and when I go for my yearly check up the team look so pleased to see someone 'young'. Mines MRI save and every time I have a check-up the lady doing the test looks so excited she calls in the Rolls Royce of pacemakers. Hope you recover well.