PM Discomfort with sleep

My pacemaker is only 2 months old. I am having a lot of discomfort when laying down to sleep. I used to sleep on my left side. When I turned on my right side the pacemaker flips vertically and I have to push it back dow flat. Sleeping on my back is uncomfortable too. There just seems to ne a lot of pressure and some pulsing feelin going on at night. Is this normal? I don't know anyone personally that has a PM so don't know what to expect. Have a chk up scheduled next month. Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

TIA


9 Comments

Doesn’t sound normal at all

by Gemita - 2020-04-24 16:10:05

Hello Nany Goat,

Your PM sounds too "mobile" and I believe you should be speaking to your clinic and telling them what you have to do at night to keep your PM under control.  It does not seem very secure to me and you need to be having this discussion with your doctors.

After my PM implant I had some discomfort and felt there was slight movement of device while it was settling in but I did not have to keep adjusting it (as you suggest - pushing it down) to keep it into position. Have you always had to do this?  We need to avoid malfunction of PM due to manipulation of the device so I would urge you to speak to your doctors with some urgency.  I am unclear whether your PM might be malfunctioning due to over "manipulation" or whether the PM was not "secured" adequately at implant but these are questions for your doctors.

Good luck

PM Discomfort with sleep

by nany goat - 2020-04-24 16:49:00

It just recently started - within the last week.

Flip flop

by AgentX86 - 2020-04-24 17:25:03

Call your doctor ASAP. Pacemakers are anchored  into place by stitching them to the pectorals. It's not unusual for these sutures to tear loose causing the PM  to move around. Twisting 90° isn't good. It's not an emergency but your doctors are going to want to know about it.

flips

by Tracey_E - 2020-04-24 18:14:55

They can shift around a bit but they should not flip. I'd call sooner than later. Mine came loose also, not enough to flip or cause problems or even warrant fixing it, but enough to shift when I sleep on my side.  I find it helpful to sleep hugging a small pillow. 

Same issue as Tracy_E

by Benjijohn - 2020-04-25 02:06:56

Had to change my sleeping position. And to cause further discomfort 1 of my leads migrated closer to my collarbone

I am on my second crtd. It has been almost 2 years. My main concern was the extra pressure I was giving to the migrated lead when I moved. Numerous visits to my doctors, but they did not want to do another surgery to reposition it due to infection concerns

In any case, I am still hanging in there. But as Tracey pointed out, your situation seems to be different. Flipping may cause extra problems like tangling the leads etc

I know these are very hard times with the coronavirus. But you should call and see your doctor asap

 

Benji

by Tracey_E - 2020-04-25 11:07:02

I discussed it at length with my ep. He left it up to me. He was not worried about damage to the lead, and he said infection risk is always there with any surgery but he felt it was extremely minimal and shouldn't factor into my decision, so it was just a matter of what I wanted to do. 

Are you thin ?

by Blondpacer - 2020-04-25 11:31:17

I'm very thin in that area. I can only sleep on sides. I have a pillow top bed but I put soft throws underneath sheets. Maybe a body pillow might help. They are on Amazon. I have neuropathy now so full body pain even chest. I hate to go to bed now. 

PM Discomfort with sleep

by nany goat - 2020-04-25 12:25:04

I'm about 200 lbs. 5' 6" but have lost 50 lbs over the past 8 mos. Just a lot of soreness where the PM is and uncomfortable sleeping. They are trying to keep me out of the clinic until May because I am also diabetic and have immune disorder so very high risk for COVID.

weight loss

by Tracey_E - 2020-04-26 11:14:51

Congrats on the weight loss! Weight loss will change how things sit, so if you are going to have it repositioned, I would wait until you are done losing weight. 

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