Decision to get an ICD

• by Donny
• 2019-09-16 21:10:45
• General Posting
• 790 views
• 0 comments

Hi, thank you for the support that this group offers!  I’m a 62 year old male and am trying to weigh the risks and benefits of having an ICD implanted and would love any and all perspectives and inputs that you can provide.

According to my doctors, I am on the “cusp” of needing an ICD. I have a slight risk of having a heart attack, but only slight. I guess any risk is not a good one. I have medium hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, meaning that the wall of my heart has thickened to a point between normal and high risk.  I had two short tachycardia events while wearing a holter monitor for 2 weeks.  I have many PVC events constantly.

Unfortunately, I have no family history to weigh into the equation since my parents and grandparents all died at an early age from other horrible things like cancer.

The thing that really torques me off is that I am pretty healthy otherwise and exercise hard 3 times a week, including HIIT cadio (high intensity interval training) and strength training just so I wouldn’t have heart problems!  The doc said there’s nothing I could have done to prevent this as it’s all gene related.

Of course, I need to make this decision for myself, but are any of you in the position that I’m in?  Meaning, haven’t had a heart attack yet but have the potential to have one and made the choice to get an ICD?

Finally, the question for everyone on this forum – what side effects / other problems have you had getting an ICD? Anything I should be aware of like lead brands with problems, complications afterwards, inappropriate shock issues, etc?

I know that’s a lot of questions, but thank you all for any help you can provide. I appreciate it more than you know!

Best to everyone,

Donny

PS - being new to the forum I wasn't sure where to post this, so I will also post in the ICD section of the site. Please forgive my redundancy.