Symptoms after surgery

WARMING SOUPS AND HOT WATER BOTTLES

by Gemita - 2019-12-01 16:51:26

Dear Nicky72,

So sorry to hear of your father's distress.  It is absolutely miserable when we dont sleep and feel so cold at night.  Please make him warming soups which will be easy to digest and give him hot water bottles to take to bed.  

My hubby (81) has the same problem with cold extremities, in part due to nerve damage from diabetes/strokes and also from his medication (beta blockers) and other heart meds which will slow circulation.  Did your father have cold extremities before the pacemaker implant ?

Your father has only just received his pacemaker so it is still early days, but if his symptoms do not improve in a few days I would see your general doctors just to make sure that all is well.  They might do some bloods to check for several conditions which could be causing this.  I would also perhaps let your pacemaker clinic know of his symptoms. 

Both hubby and I have pacemakers and it took us a few months to recover from the procedure.  It may also take a little time for your pacemaker clinic to make sure that your father's pacemaker settings are adjusted correctly for him.

Whatever you do, keep calm and try to stay optimistic. It will get better.  Take care both of you xx

sleeping

by dwelch - 2019-12-02 16:11:44

on the topic of sleeping it takes weeks to be able to sleep comfortably again due to the surgery itself.  it took a week or so last time to get through the night then another so many days or a week to be able to sleep on that side at all.

so from a cant sleep perspective there is the physical.

There is also the mental there is a lot of anxiety that you get with these things which this site tries to resolve as most of the fears are not worth worrying about, but that doesnt help so he may not be sleeping due to anxiety/stress as well.

They may have bumped up his lower limit above what he was used to before.  My rate was in the 30s at night before my pacer and they set my minimum to 60 initially, that took a while to be able to sleep.

And as pointed out above how was his sleep before all of this, before the heart issue?

for the legs and cold feet not sure, talk to the doc.  dont be afraid to call.  there should be a few week appt already scheduled then a few month one if he cant make it to the few week one just call, sort it out with the nurse/staff and they will figure out if you need to come in early or have you try things/whatever.  not something you would expect from a pacer btw. but dont be afraid to ask them.

Not sleeping at night

by Elevator tech - 2019-12-03 00:13:54

 I’ve had my pacemaker two months now at first I had a lot of anxiety couldn’t sleep at night but now I’m getting used to it make sure you do a little exercise in the afternoon You know like 10 hours before you go to sleep I don’t know I really don’t know I wish I could help you Hope your dad’s OK good luck I think he’ll be fine. Make sure he walks a little bit every day