Stopped working

Hi everyone, just wanted you all to know that my pacemaker has stopped working and i have to go in in a few days time to have a new one. Mine lasts for 3 years and in May this year i started beeping, went to the hospital and was told that my batteries were going and that i have 3 months to change them before they went completely dead. As i was alarming 4 times a day and was quite loud i had the alarms turned off. To my surprise on thursday i was beeping again. Went in friday and was told it was completely dead. Im not very happy as i cold have had a run of VT and collapsed again. So have to wait until they get it out to check why it has happened. They said it was very unusual. I am still here and will be going in tomorrow for bloods and x.ray and prob wednrsday for op. Be aware if you here it beep. I have very good hearing or i prob would nver have heard it.

8 Comments

interesting

by jessie - 2007-07-23 01:07:28

i have a medtronic dual lead but i was not aware it could beep either . i go for my check sept 19th so will ask. i believe mine is good for 5 years. i know now it is getting better every day the technology. it must have really frightened you tho and i wonder myself why they waited? i think in my case they can't wait. so hope all gooes well eileen jessie

Hi EIleen,

by Gellia2 - 2007-07-23 03:07:31

Wow! I have never heard my pacer beep! I've had many replacements but we always caught it through monitoring and I never waited very long for surgery.
What kind of pacer do you have? I go tomorrow for my first check up after surgery on the 12th of this month to replace my 7th pacer now. I got 5 1/2 years out of this one.
Good luck with your surgery. They have really improved both the surgery and the pacemakers since my first.
I'm sure you will do fine!
All the best,
Gellia

Beeping

by mike thurston - 2007-07-23 05:07:16

I have a Medtronic Concerto ICD/Pacemaker. It has an alarm and the Med. Rep demonstrated it for me at my first interogation. He said it is set to alarm at 9 a.m. in the morning if it wants me to get looked at. The device does a self check every night around 1a.m. If it does alert me it is not necessarily because something is real bad - it just means get checked out according to the rep. It is not real loud and that is why they picked 9 a.m.
They make the assumption that you are awake but things would not normally be too hectic at that time of day. Guess they could set it to whatever time would be best for any given individual. Crazy stuff - I try not to think about it too much.

Mike

Scary

by hooimom - 2007-07-23 11:07:03

Eileen,

That is pretty scary. Why are they making you wait to replace the battery? Are they concerned about a problem before then? I'll listen for a beep from now on. I just always thought the PM interrogaton would say there was a problem and it would be fixed before it ever got this far. Silly me!

Your battery only lasted 3 years? I am hoping for at least 5...10 would be great! Is this your first replacement?

Michelle

Battery alarm.

by Stepford_Wife - 2007-07-23 12:07:53

Hi Eileen.

What brand is your pacemaker? I have a Medtronic, and just celebrated my 3rd year July 19. I was curious if only a certain brand is equipped with an alarm.
I'm not aware that mine is, and my manual doesn't mention it.
Don't you feel like C3PO? ( Star Wars ) Lol.
Yesterday, while watching a show on TV, I kept hearing a distinct beep, and I wondered if it was me, until I muted the sound, and it turned out to be part of the music from the show.
Is it coincidence that you would be posting this message today? Hmmmm!
Good luck with your upcoming surgery, hopefully you'll get the latest state of the art PM, that'll last a long time.

~ Dominique ~

Dead Battery

by Silversmith - 2007-07-23 12:07:58

Eileen,
Can you please tell us what brand and model no. pacemaker you have. That is scary. If it had been me, I probably would never have heard it as I can hardly hear a freight train 100 ft. away even with my hearign aids.
Thanks
SS

What brand

by Pacemaker_pal - 2007-07-30 05:07:22

Is your device a Guidant ICD . If it is and you know the model and serial number use the link below..It is only for ICDs

http://www.guidant.com/webapp/emarketing/lookup.jsp


It may be part of an advisory which started that going from ERI (time to change battery indicator) to EOL (end of life) may be very short.

(It is mainly ICDs that bleep and there are several different things it bleeps for including lead problems and battery depletion, bleeps maybe turned on or off depending on the center)

Had Battery change!

by Eileen - 2007-08-03 07:08:25

Hi everyone, Still here. Had my battery changed last thursday evening. Wasn't too pleasant i can say. Sorry to you all who have pacemakers, i do have an icd and pacemaker in one. Apparently when i was beeping in May it was telling me i had 3 to 4 months left to ger it replaced. As she turned off the alarm as it was beeping 4 times a day, i head it again a few weeks ago and because it was already turned off i was scared as to why? My device had come to end of life quicker than it should have. They have contacted the manufactors and sent the device away to find out what the fault was. It is very rare so dont worry. But i know most of you have just pacemakers anyway. As i have a new model now i will post details later. I am now hearing beeping all the time and think its me. I can tell you it is sooooo imbarrasing as it is so loud. Anyone looked on Medtees.com as they have some fantastic T.shirts for us!

You know you're wired when...

Your pacemaker receives radio frequencies.

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