Muscle pain back and shoulder on pacemaker side.

I have had my pacemaker for about a year and a half. It is to correct my arrithmia. It is working well but recently I have developed a problem where I have a lot of muscle cramping in my left shoulder back and neck. The muscle cramping moves around from shoulder across back and up the neck. It is a tightening of the muscle and causes a lot of pain.

Has anyone experiences this or similar symptoms? Would love to hear from you.

Jack

1 Comments

Nerves and muscles

by Theknotguy - 2021-07-05 23:39:18

Jack:

Post implant I used to get muscle spasms on my left side just at the base of the neck.  They would be so bad I'd just have to stand in one spot until they finally released.  I'd also have pain going up into my left jaw, sometimes it would go all the way up into my ear.  

We eventually traced the pain being caused by the leads going into the artery just under the clavicle.  The leads irritated the nerves and caused the pain.  The muscles in the neck area got extremely stiff so it became a cause and effect where the leads irritated the muscles and the stiff muscles kept the pain going.  

For me, hot and cold packs helped as well as Tylenol.  What really helped was working with a licensed massage therapist.   Key word here was licensed and therapist.  She went back to massage school and learned about working around a pacemaker so there wasn't any problems as far as that.  There were other problems because I had CPR a collapsed lung and a chest tube.  Each caused it's own problems and the massage therapist worked through them.  

I don't know if a massage therapist will help you or not.  But it's what worked for me.  I hope everything else is going well and you are adjusting well to your pacemaker.  
 

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