Pacemaker problems? are his leads messed up. Help!!!

My husband is really sick.. He is normally a very active man, but since his pacemaker, supposedly the batteries, went belly up, and then he had another unit put in, he has been tired, sleeps all of the time, has no energy.

He had a medtronic put in in 2012 and it really seemed to help. About three years ago he had to have a new valve put in.. sorry if I am not to educated on the subject, but the doctors are always in such a rush and after they whoosh away I sit there and wish I could have spoken faster.. I like to speak before I talk, and I guess I am not quick enough.

Jerry had a medtronic put in March of this year.. He has felt crummy ever since. We went to his cardiologist.. this is the cardiologist who originally put his first pacemaker in.. we live in Arizona, but this cardiologist now only practices in Las Vegas.. We are in a small town between Lake Havasu and Bullhead City. 

There also seems to be a problem finding a doctor in this area for anything. they do not like Medicare patients and it is very hard to get much help at all. The doctors pick and choose and it feels like, "if you don't have the good insurance "MONEY" we aint got the time". I hope that I am wrong.. My husband is so grouchy and tired because he just doesn't feel good at all, and it has been going on,  his not feeling well, for too long, now.

He worked outside most of his life, high voltage lineman.. he's a really good man, and his last job was working as a produce man, florist for minimal money.. he's a grandpa and let's just say our family was attacked.. 

Our garage caught fire, which he fought the fire, saved the garage until firemen could come assist.. he'd only had his new pacemaker in for 2 1/2 months. The garage behind us blew up and burned down along with the other neighbors house.. but good old Jerry, he is old school and he fought the fire like a healthy young man. I evacuated our cars that we worked hard for all of our lives.. he's quite a man for age 81 or for any age.. the guy who started the fire ran and hid, the other guy just let his burn.. The thing is.. I THINK HIS WIRES EITHER GOT DISCONNECTED OR SCAR TISSUE, SOMETHING IS WRONG!!

They checked his pacemaker and it is working.. so I guess, if the pacemaker works, he could die and as long as it is working fine he is supposed to be okay.. but HE IS NOT OKAY.. SO PLEASE, please help me save my husband !!

What could be wrong? He is afraid to leave his house b/c of the fire, previous burglary.. he also has two horror stories from hospitals in Vegas. They don't seem to care once you are on medicare.. help, please.

Thanks, Dodie

 

 


4 Comments

pacing

by Tracey_E - 2019-07-28 09:07:28

If they interrgated the pacer and everything is ok, then the new pacer is connected and working. A disconnected lead would be impossible to miss. 

It's possible the new one is not on the same settings as the old one, or the new one has bells and whistles the old one didn't that may need to be fine tuned.

What you are describing does not sound like just pacing, tho. Maybe start with his GP and see if something else is going on? Is he depressed? 

Questions

by Cheryl B - 2019-07-28 20:53:57

Hi, Dodie:

I, too, felt "whooshed" out of my EPI appointments at first, and didn't have a chance to ask questions. I also felt like I wasn't asking "smart" questions.  Now I write my questions down as they come up, and then take that whole list to the doctor.  I also have a new EPI doc because I wasn't comfortable with the last one.  Sounds like you are very concerned about your husband's health.  Well, then you might need to make his doctors see how concerned you are.  Let them know how he's feeling and don't let them hurry you out of appointments until you've had every last question answered.  Your husband has been through a lot.  But Tracey is right, if there's a problem with the pacemaker, it will show up.  I had to have my first one fine-tuned a couple of times.  He might need to speak to a counselor also.  I see one every couple of weeks just to talk.  But you keep after them until it's right.  You also might have to go find a doctor who will listen.  They are out there. 

Cheryl B.

 

Rocketman .. Saw nurse practicioner today, this is Dodie

by Rocketman - 2019-07-31 03:10:26

Hi has titanium in his back, so he had to go see his nurse's practicioner for medication for his back.. He relates better with women, and he likes her, so it sounds like he got a little help today. His blood pressure was good, but they wouldn't even tell him his heart rate, it was so high.. I am not kidding.. also his legs have gotten spotty from the calves down, left foot is kind of blue. He has developed some leaking coming out of his legs.. I also have this weird notion that scar tissue may be interrupting the pacemaker signal.. at least his cramps have subsided the last two nights. This poor man, we will be watching television, and all of a sudden his fingers start cramping.. and when we go to bed, then the leg cramps start, especially at the inner thighs in the groin area.. He hates lasix (furosimide), even though he is taking potassium I try to get him to take calcium, magnesium and zinc.. I have him drink juice, eat tomatoes.. another thing, this man does not like to always eat! ! He likes to only eat at dinnertime, and sometimes even that is a challenge.. Once i get him to eat he usually eats way more than me. He always has been a big man, popeye arms, meat hook size hands, small hips, big shoulders, but he did the high voltage linework climbing poles and it kept him very young for his age.. And today he told me he feels like he is getting to be a decrepit (don't know how to spell it, sorry) old man.. I told him he just needs a good doctor to manage his heart problems.

He is under quite a bit of stress, but not until lately have things just added up.. Our seventeen year old daughter has been gone a year.. she has had one heck of a life, she's actually our granddaughter but we adopted her after a two and a half year battle with DCS.. Talk about stress.. but, after now hitting rock bottom she wants to come home. back to rocketman and me. 

So, his nurse practictioner gave him antibiotics for his legs, is running lots of labs on him and gave him a referral to a different heart doctor.. Oh, what is an E.P.I. doctor?

Thanks so very, very, very much for your kind support and wisdom, I greatly appreciate it. Dodie

 

hi

by Tracey_E - 2019-07-31 10:28:10

Blue is not good!!! Stay on them to follow up with antibiotics to be sure they are doing the job. .

EP is an electrophysiologist which is a cardiologist that specializes in electrical problems of the heart. Many of us here see an ep rather than a regular cardiologist, electrician vs plumber.

If scar tissue was built up on the leads, it would take more current to get the heart to respond to pacing. This would show up in the pacing report, and can be fixed with settings. If his heart rate is normal, his pacer is working. 

All the pacer does is make the heart beat faster. It can't control how hard the heart beats, how well the blood circulates once it leaves the heart, how much oxygen we are getting. It's easy to blame the pacer but it's just a small piece of the puzzle, and often the most dependable. Try not to get caught up in thinking of ways it can fail and miss something else that is going on. I hope the new ep has some answers, and the antibiotics help. 

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