terrible experience with My ICD , Want to take it off !!

i`m a 28 years old male from india. i had my single chamber ICD implanted almost 1 year ago. reason was i had a sudden cardiac arrest when i was sick due to a food poisoning. didn`t have any isuues before even when i had "dengue fever". My EP didn`t really force me to go for an ICD immediately. He asked me i can get a one if i want .but i had no idea what so ever about ICDs and cardiac arrests. so i got my device implanted exactly after 1 month of the incident. My experience has been terrible since day one. i got few inappropriate shocks within 1st month. and i cannot do any exercise or running because my natural heart rate is between 80 - 95 and i get shocked if i try to do. tried few medicines many months and none of them slows down my rate. and the worst case scenario is medtronic ICD ttriggers an alarm similar to "french police siren"  for every 4 hours after i got shocked. i`m really fed up with this thing and programming of EP doesnt seem to be working for me. only option for me is to take this thing out of my chest and live a quality over quantity life. really appreciate your ideas and suggestions about my situation !!!!!  

2 Comments

find a new doctor

by Tracey_E - 2021-02-22 17:57:19

You need a doctor that listens. Many people with icd's work out without issue. They should be able to turn the alarm off. This sounds like a doctor issue, not an icd issue. 

Have you looked up the survival rates of SCA? Very, very low so you are fortunate to have survived it once. If there is even a small chance it can happen again, the ICD will save your life and is worth keeping. 

find a new dr

by islandgirl - 2021-02-25 23:29:09

I agree with Tracy....find a new dr.  I received a Medtronic ICD following a SCA.  My cause (I had a pacemaker for sick sinus syndrome) was electrical.  I went almost 2 1/2 years with no shocks until I suffered another SCA (with asystole) and was revived with 4 shocks from the ICD.  I have never had any inappropriate shocks, and for the last year have had probably a total of 15-20 shocks.  After adjustments, working with settings (my EP will spend time with Medtronic on the phone with specific settings), several ablations, medication adjustments, I have had no ventricular arrhythmias for about 6 weeks.  Know that we are one of the few (mine was out of hospital) that survive SCAs.  I have no alarms set on mine...I assume you EP is responsible for the alarm setting.  I do wish I had an alarm before I were to get shocked so I could get on the ground, but Medtronic took that feature off of my device.  Know you are protected if it ever happens again.  

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