Left arm pain

Left shoulder pain

by WazzA - 2019-12-14 19:58:11

I hear frozen shoulder mentioned as post op pain, it can be excruciating & can take a long time to pass. If it is, it is just a case of riding it out & being patient I think. 

Best wishes.

Leads insertion

by Theknotguy - 2019-12-14 21:27:53

Where the leads go in to your heart under the clavicle it is a very sensitive area.  After my pacemaker insertion I had pain going up from my shoulder into my left ear.  I'd also get severe muscle spasms on the left side of my neck.  I'd have to stop what I was doing and just wait until the pain went away.   Like you, the doctors didn't see any problem.  

I've worked with a licensed massage therapist for six years.  Key words are licensed and therapist.   I say this because another member on the forum also went to a therapist and had a bad experience.  However my therapist went back to her training school and got some additional training.  My therapist did a lot of work and she has been finally able to relieve the stress and the pain.  Once again, the doctors didn't even see my pain as a problem.  

Based upon your description I feel you're having the same problem I had and still have.  Contrary to what your doctor says, physical therapy may help however I did physical therapy and it did help a little but, in my case,  the massage therapist helped more.  I wish I could give you an easier solution but the massage therapist is what worked for me.  

If I can keep my back muscles loose I usually don't have any problems.  However, if I get really tense I'll get the neck spasms.  Most of the problems do go away with time but in my opinion, the irritation from the leads is an ongoing problem.  

Hope you can find a solution quickly
 

Question

by Pacer2019 - 2019-12-15 23:44:48

When you guys say your doctor says just deal with it without treatment is this your EP or Cardio guy ?

So sometimes I feel like I walk into a doctors office and tell him too much.

like if my shoulder hurts I start the story with my pacemaker surgery blah blah blah. 
why not show up at a doctors office and simply say .... my shoulder hurts let him figure it out. 

I have been going through something similar with a light headed feeling ..... I tell the EP and he shrugs .... the cardio guy does have me doing a nucluer stress test Tuesday .... but mostly because I want it done and told him I felt pressure on my chest.  

but I have found the most help from a PA .... he is looking more at the big picture with no assumptions- so far he had my carotid artery scanned and ordered an echo cardiogram. He has no preconceived notions and is starting from scratch not ruling stuff out. 
 

with the shoulder if mine hurt and I didn't have a pacemaker in my chest with wires what would I do ? Who would I ask ? Not an EP or cardiologist.

find a GP and let him figure it out on his own without making assumptions.

"going through something similar with a light headed feeling"

by AgentX86 - 2019-12-16 12:01:17

Yep.  I'd been complaining to my cardiologist, EP, vascular doctor (watching my carotids and other blood stuff in myhead) about a "light headed" feeling that only happens about one day a month for the last two+ years, before my PM implant (I thought that would fix it).  During that 24 hours, I may feel it a half to two dozen times but never any other time.  The days it happens are always about a month apart (as little as three weeks, as much as five).  Everyone just patted me on the head and basically shrugged.  ...until two months ago, when I had a full blown kicking on the floor seizure.  Even then, "you get one free seizure", whatever that means! It was impossible to see a neurologist, too.  The hospital I normally use had a six month wait to see a neurologist.  The one I did find, I think is a quack, trying to rip the system (and me) off for as much as he can.

It is the symptom

by Pacer2019 - 2019-12-16 23:16:34

That caused me to go to the ER were I was informed my heart rate was 40. 
 

I did get a taste of realty last week at my PM interrogation when they switched it off and my heart rate immediate went to 40 like it was ..... what infelicities now from time to time is no where near what that felt like !  So I a, better than I was for sure. 
I just received my blood test results from every thing imaginable ... metabolic, lipid , CBC , thyroid , and even testosterone !

for the stuff I have control over I'm lookimg good ....I'm very proud of my LDL at 62 ! 

im waiting for my heart and artery scan results and tomorrow is the nuke stress test. 
I guess next step is move away from the heart stuff and on to the neurological.

Did you ever learn the cause of your seizure? 

Frozen

by Gotrhythm - 2019-12-19 14:58:04

The kind of pain you are describing is exactly what I had when I had "frozen shoulder." And yes, even though they call it "shoulder" the pain was actually in my upper arm and only when I moved it a certain way.

The condition happens when for one cause or another you hold the shoulder still for too long. It can happen after a pacemaker when one is too diligent about following the doctor's instructions.  But in my case, I slightly injured my shoulder, and because it hurt to move my arm, I moved it less and less, and as the pain got worse, I moved it still less. It's a vicious cycle and the cure it to get it moving again, but you're likely to need professional help to do that.

If the problem is frozen shoulder, do not expect your cardiologist to diagnose it. All they will do is rule out any heart related concern.

A therapeutic technique called myofacial release can help it heal or you may need physical therapy.