Sensitivity to pacemaker

Pacemaker manual?

by AgentX86 - 2020-02-23 21:57:21

I guess we're famous!  ;-)

Four months isn't a lot of time.  Mine was quite sensitive to the touch for about eight months, then all of  sudden it stopped.  ...or at least I think it was all at once.  I just forgot about it and somewhere in the nineth (or tenth) month, I happened to think about it.  Stinging or itching is perfectly normal as any nerves that were cut heal.  It can take several months.  However, he probably should mention it to his doctors when he sees them. In fact, tell them everything that bothers him.  I wouldn't think it was an emergency, as long as he doesn't have other symptoms (remember, we're not doctors here).

Edit:  Oh, and welcome to the group.  Hope you hang around.

Odd stinging sensations after implant

by Selwyn - 2020-02-24 07:12:20

 In addition to the above, unfortunately some of the 'absorbable' suture material takes ages to dissolve. It can be quite prickly, especially if the knot is buried within the orginal incision wound. 

Sometimes you can feel a bit of a bump/lump. Difficult to resolve without a risk of infection, when it involves an implant,  and so the best idea is just to grim and bear it until dissolution. 

Stinging pain

by Theknotguy - 2020-02-24 09:36:58

There is a lot of tissue healing that goes on well after the surface skin wound heals.  I've written about it several times on this forum.  

At nine months I went back to doing volunteer work at a charity woodshop.  Am able to run all the equipment in the shop without any problems with the pacemaker.  As I was working during the day I'd be OK, but the next day it would feel like someone had wrapped sand paper around my pacemaker and scrubbed it around in the pocket.  Hot packs, cold packs, and Tylenol were my friends.  Sometimes I'd have severe itching in the pacemaker pocket.  As other people have reported, at other times I'd have the feeling of "ant bites" in the area too.  Finally there would be times where I wouldn't be doing anything and I'd have sharp pains in the pocket area.  

EP would just shrug his shoulders and go on when I told him about it.  And I never had any other problems as far as the pacemaker went.  So I have to chalk the feelings up to lower tissue and nerves healing.  At about the two year mark the feelings gradually went away and I can do anything within reason and not have any pain or itching feelings.  

Had to move 40 boards at 20 pounds each this past week and my pacemaker side was stiff for the next couple of days but no problems otherwise.  Actually where they stuck the chest tube in to fix the collapsed lung actually hurt a lot worse than the pacemaker side.  You'd think after six years that stuff would finally heal up but apparently it doesn't.  

So if you aren't running a fever, or don't have any other problems with the pacemaker, I feel the sharp pains are just due to nerve and tissue healing in the pocket area.  

Hope everything else is going well for you.  
 

Sounds like "ant-bite" syndrome

by Gotrhythm - 2020-02-24 15:25:52

Sudden, random, sharp but tiny stings? I had that--less and less as time went on, but overall it happened for a couple of years.

It really is a sign of healing. Nothing to worry about.