Pacemaker issues

I got my pacemaker on July 19, 2023. From the time I got it I've had two continual issues. When I'm riding in the car, truck is worse, bumpity, bumpity, down the road, I get a strange uncomfortable feeling in my chest, an achy feeling and fluttering that makes me feel like I have a a piece of hard candy stuck in my throat. Secondly, intermittently, when lying down at night I have sharp pains at every heart beat for several seconds and then it goes away.  Has anyone ever had this happen to you? My cardiologist has run many tests and all have come back good. 

1 Comments

Welcome to Pacemaker world !

by IAN MC - 2023-11-17 12:27:05

Hello DMONTY .........  It is highly likely that both of your problems can be improved by adjustments to your pacemaker settings :-

i)  Bumpy Roads : I see that , like me, you have a Medtronic pacemaker.  Your cardiologist must have decided that a function called  "Rate Response"  should be switched on . Very simply , this is designed  to detect movement because when you walk or run you need a faster heart rate to ensure that enough oxygen  is pumped around your body.

Medtronic pacemakers contain a tiny motion - sensor called an accelerometer.. Every time you drive your truck down that bumpy road , the motion  fools your pacemaker into thinking that you are going for  a run so your heart rate jumps up. You can have the sensitivity of the Rate Response adjusted  which should help.

ii ) The Nightly discomfort : This sounds very much like the pacemaker self-test when your PM is set to check the voltage needed to trigger off a heart-beat . Change in voltage feels uncomfortable for a few seconds.

I had my self-test switched off. I could have asked for the  daily time of the test to be changed.

If these are the  causes , I hope you can persuade your PM team to make some changes to both settings. Best of luck.

Ian

 

 

 

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