feeling poked by RV lead

I'm 3.5 months post op and have only just resumed some of my usual activities such as yard work and yin yoga. During these activities I often experience a sharp pain in the area of my ribs/sternum when moving or stretching gently from side-to-side or front-to-back that feels like I'm being poked by the right ventricular lead.

I have a known micro dislodgement of the RV lead and have complained to the PM clinic that I often feel a dull poking at rest. Should I report this sharper pain? Is this normal, even without a micro dislodgement?

2 Comments

Chest pains quite common with chest stretching activities

by crustyg - 2020-02-11 07:29:57

Hi: I do Pilates, Yoga, Bodybalance, and still get twinges from the PM pocket when we 'open up our chests'.  Not nearly as painful as in first two months, but still there.  It took me a while to recognise the difference between chest wall (==pocket) and deeper, cardiac pain.

I had a good chat with a very experienced EP tech about pain from inside the heart.  My PM and leads were inserted under local only (no sense, no feeling), and while pocket creation hurt a *lot*, lead insertion into the vein hurt a *lot*, I couldn't feel the leads being screwed into my heart muscle (active fixation).  Tech buddy said he'd only ever seen one patient who could feel a lead being anchored.  But we all know that the heart muscle has pain fibres to sense damage - that's why heart attacks hurt so much (and heart transplant patients have no angina pectoris - no nerve supply) AND an ablation for pathway destruction hurts really badly.

So it's up to you whether you report this sensation - only you can know where the pain feels as though it's coming from and if it has changed or got worse.

HTH.

wow!

by Pacemaker_Sally - 2020-02-11 19:32:19

Thanks crustyg! That makes so much sense and I completely agree: it is the "chest openers" that tweak the pocket and stretch the pec. I have already complained about feeling poked by the lead, but I'll see if it settles down over time and if not, I'll let them know at my next check up.

You know you're wired when...

You have the perfect reason to show off your chest.

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