Need advice

Has anyone gotten their pacemaker removed permanently? Long story short I am not using it at all anymore and have 9 years battery life left, plenty of time to see if I will use it again before having the option to get it removed, replaced or get a monitor. Not sure what I’m going to do yet. I sometimes have anxiety just thinking about it, like what if I didn’t need it all along and would have gotten a second opinion (even though it was an emergency type of situation). 

3 Comments

Removal is not without its challenges

by crustyg - 2019-09-20 06:51:33

You could have the box removed quite simply - bit of local anaesthetic and some sutures and it's gone.  Removing your leads might be more of a challenge after a year and, arguably, not without its risks.

From a long-term physical health perspective, I suspect that it's an even balance between leaving it in and removing it all.

From a mental perspective - that's unknowable for us, but not unknown *to* us. Although I'm 100% paced, I'm not PM dependent (yet), and in the first weeks after implantation when it was more or less at factory standard, it wasn't set as I had thought we had agreed (wrong mode, too low maxHR, not responsive), and I was very upset and considered having it removed.  Then it was tuned, set to the correct mode, response factors changed and I'm delighted and enjoying my return to a full life.

Pardon me for being impertinent: I *think* you need help from a different source - not here but in the privacy of a quiet consulting/counselling room. I've been there too.

If you have the pacemaker removed, what's the best thing that will happen? The worst?

by Gotrhythm - 2019-09-22 18:07:59

I have no thoughts about whether you could, or should, or would have your pacemaker removed.

What I do know is that second guessing yourself will drive you crazy. Fear of making the wrong choice can paralyze you. Sometimes, all you can do is weigh the best possible outcome if you do nothing against the worst possible outcome if you do nothing. Which way do you have the most to lose?

In an emergency situation, if the worst possible outcome is that you will die if you don't get a pacemaker, then you get one.

Now, you realize you didn't need a pacemaker, but that doesn't mean you chose wrong. Knowing what you knew at the time, you chose to live. You made the best choice you could. 

It seems to me that in considering removing the pacemaker, you have the same things to weigh. What's the best possible outcome of having the pacemaker removed? What's the worst possible outcome?

If it was me, I would also be considering that the pacemaker I have, needed or not, is already paid for, and there is no returning it and getting my money back even if I have it removed. But that's just how my mind works.

i am in the same situation as you are.

by davey - 2019-09-23 01:25:01

I am in the same situation as you are, they have told me i dont need it either, in fact a bit worrying they are saying i never needed it,  yes, i know it all seems a bit far out and is this for real, it is for real , i have asked them to remove it, i dont need monitoring im at no risk .

But, its a tricky one, no one else can decide its purely your choice, would be interesting to know condition it was fitted for ? for you..

Mine , was fitted for two conditions , the first conveniently disappeared, the second appeared but with an address that didnt exist,  unreal...

 

You know you're wired when...

“Batteries not included” takes on a new meaning.

Member Quotes

Since I got my pacemaker, I don't pass out anymore! That's a blessing in itself.