Worried - Now

I really don't know what tothink when someone tells me that the thing that keeps me alive is in going to kill me? I am 100% dependant and without ventricular pacing would not be around to complain, however now I have to worry about my family losing me ealier than maybe they would have because of this thing. Sorry, but I don't always handle this well and don't need bad news that I cannot change. Please be more sensitive to what you say, be it fact or not. Thanks for making my day!!!

7 Comments

try to keep a sense of humour grandma d

by jessie - 2008-10-14 04:10:17

i know it is hard but so many people are fine after several years so you can't worry too much about the surveys. live your life as best you can and the hell with the rest. jessie

Amen Tracey

by Angelie - 2008-10-14 04:10:22

I don't read too much into those studies. What can I do about it anyways, this expensive hunk of metal is already planted in my chest (which is still itching...I might add....HA)
I think technology is cool. I think it's cool that I'm only in my 30's. By the time I'm in my 50's, pacemakers will have IPods built into them. I'm so excited for the future.

Oh, technology.

by Broken Hearted Jane - 2008-10-14 04:10:22

Ha, Angelie! I hadn't even begun to explore those possibilities in my mind! I think I'd like a GPS as well as an iPod built into my ICD.

Too much worry...

by chip - 2008-10-14 07:10:25

It has been my experience that a person can find a study out there to backup anything they’d like to believe.

Since the pacemaker is keeping you alive and you are able to enjoy the extra gift of life don’t worry so much about “the little things”.

After all – people do studies for a living and sometimes have to justify their existence!

With all due respect - Think about it.

Live well & God Bless

Lead Placement

by bobad - 2008-10-14 10:10:18

Grandma, studies have shown that lead placement largely negates ventricle degadation. Leads used to be placed directly at the apex of the ventricle. Now the lead is placed higher, and this makes the signal much more gentle to the heart muscle.


Best of health,,,

no reason to worry!

by Tracey_E - 2008-10-14 12:10:09

Please please please take these studies with a grain of salt! They take lots of complicated data, leave out the context and boil it down to an oversimplified statement that might be misleading but makes a good sound byte on the evening news. There are patients who have had pm's for more than thirty years and are still doing great. I've been 100% ventricularly paced for 15 yrs now, I feel fabulous and all my numbers are excellent.

We're all going to die of something eventually and I truly feel that my odds are higher of going in a car crash or getting cancer from the crap in the food we eat than they are of having problems with the pm or the pm damaging my heart. I read the studies, but I don't lose sleep over them.

Risk of 100% pacing

by ElectricFrank - 2008-10-15 01:10:44

It's so easy to let something we know about scare us when we have all sorts of other risks. You probably have a much higher risk driving or riding in a car. If you fly keep in mind the modern aircraft is 100% dependent on several computer systems to stay in the air. And finally, aging will eventually get us all.

By the way 100% dependent doesn't necessarily mean that your heart would stop if the pacemaker quit. I am 100% paced, but if mine quit I would just drop back to a HR of 35-40 bpm and feel lousy til it was replaced.

So, I'm concerned that I have given you more to worry about rather than less.

frank

You know you're wired when...

You can hear your heartbeat in your cell phone.

Member Quotes

At age 20, I will be getting a pacemaker in few weeks along with an SA node ablation. This opportunity may change a five year prognosis into a normal life span! I look forward to being a little old lady with a wicked cane!