Day 6...

Don't worry

by doublehorn48 - 2019-04-02 10:26:34

Someone posted that the first 24 hrs were the most critical.  The leads are put in with some "slack"  they aren't taunt.  In the past I have raised my arm, without thinking , the first day after recieving a pm with no problem.  Have a great day.

we all do that

by Tracey_E - 2019-04-02 10:41:08

No one gets through 4-6 weeks without accidentally raising their arm at least once. They can tell immediately when they do the interrogation at your follow up, and you'd feel like you did before if it stopped pacing. Don't worry about it. 

After the first 24-48 hours it's all just precaution. There was even a study that had patients given no restrictions and they had no more incident of leads coming dislodged than the group given traditional restrictions. When they come loose it's more likely because the heart muscle didn't like the lead or it wasn't in a good place, not anything we did. They are not put in tightly, when it comes out of the vein sometimes there is enough slack that they coil it behind the box, so if you think about it it's physically impossible for any arm movement to pull on it hard enough to affect it all the way down in the heart. 

Don’t Panic Yo!

by kmcgrath - 2019-04-02 18:07:14

I just received my third ICD/PM, this time with a replacement lead, and my recovery went fine even with the occasional mess up during sleep. I occasionally found that I had raised my left arm over my head during sleep with no repercussions. I cheated a bit with returning to full swing golf  a few days early, and outside of my handicap going up about three strokes, everything is fine so far. My swing actually feels a bit smoother with the new slightly streamlined Medtronics device.

Sling

by RedRocksGirl - 2019-04-04 01:55:05

My EP wanted me to sleep with my arm in a sling as a precaution to not put my arm above the shoulder accidently while sleeping.  I did for almost the first 2 weeks, but it kind of bothered me at night.  The second night that I had stopped using it, I woke up and started to stretch my arms and about had a panic attack as I realized I stretched my left arm all the way over my head! (I dont think I was awake enough to even remember I'd just had an ICD put in!) Everything was fine, but I do think the sling isn't a bad idea while you're sleeping so you don't accidently raise your arm too high unknowingly.  :)

Sling/shoulder immobilizer

by Newbie4444 - 2019-04-04 14:27:25

RedRocksGirl- I did the same thing! Woke up for 2 or 3 mornings and stretched both arms way up above my shoulder subconciously before I was fully awake and then was like Oh No!!! What did I just do???!  So I've been sleeping with a velcro shoulder immobilizer I bought off Amazon which prevents me from doing that anymore.

Day 9

by AmazonHunter - 2019-04-05 09:55:51

Thank You all for the words of encouragement.  I am doing very well.  I had follow-up visits this week and most of my restrictions have already been lifted.  It is still hard to believe that I have a pacemaker though.  Things could have been much worse that is for sure.  I am very thankful that I payed attention to the signs and got to the hospital and also for todays technology.