Those strange pacemaker "shocks"!

• by Gellia2
• 2007-10-16 05:10:13
• General Posting
• 1420 views
• 0 comments

I'm the lady that was getting "shocks" from her pacemaker. I got some great information here that relieved my mind until I was able to get to my EP today. As I felt the shocks were from the impedance check of my atrial wire, that's what we checked first. Yup! That was exactly it. Because I have Unipolar leads, the pacemaker battery (called the "can") becomes part of the complete electrical circuit. The charge goes down the unipolar wire to the heart muscle and then travels back to the can via the same wire to complete the circuit (a bipolar wire has two wires inside the one insulation and the circuit is completed in the wire itself). I was then getting an impedance check in the way of an electrical "shock" or impulse to the muscle lying over my pacemaker battery and stimulating it. This would occur in three sharp jolts of 7volts every three hours. Yes, the pacemaker is supposed to do that, but it's not always necessary to have this feature turned on. My EP just turned my off as I don't need the atrium checked. I pace my ventricles all the time, no need to check to see if they need it.
I hope this information helps anyone else out there that has gotten shocks from their pacemakers. I told my EP I was getting shocks and he said, "Well, let's see what we can do to stop them." THAT should be the attitude of all doctors.
If anyone wants more info just send me an email!
Happy pacing and best to you all.
Gellia