Left arm color

I would get it checked

by Gemita - 2024-09-06 04:24:33

Lavendarleo, any unusual, sudden changes in colour (purple, red, blue for example) or any severe swelling of the arm should be reported quickly following implant in case this is caused by a blood clot.  

The colour pink, a natural skin colour doesn’t sound too alarming but as you are so concerned about how different the arm looks and feels compared to your other arm, I would ask your medical team today for advice or to even go through ER for some checks just to be safe.

Some bruising, slight swelling, arm weakness, shoulder pain and other pain symptoms near and beyond the implant site immediately following pacemaker implant, can all be expected and are often perfectly normal.  It can take up to 6 weeks and sometimes beyond for healing to take place, but of course if the arm colour change is your main concern, I would get it looked at quickly.  Please let us know what your medical team advises

Pinkness

by piglet22 - 2024-09-06 04:30:56

I can't offer any more information than Dr Google, but there are a lot of possibilities from the obvious like sunburn to rosacea.

Implanting a pacemaker for the first time is more invasive than replacing, so can't be ruled out. I can imagine that at the implantation site you might have some swelling/bruising, but I can't see that the pacemaker itself would cause your arm to respond unless there is some infection.

Bruising can take weeks to spread from an injury site and I was really surprised some years ago when a pelvis injury slowly bruised my whole leg.

Things should have settled down after two weeks, but I see your DOB is 1950 and our skin becomes more fragile with age. We can bruise more easily and medication can affect things.

I would be getting professional advice and that means either your GP or an Urgent Treatment Centre if you have access.

Hello there. ✌🏻

by Lavender - 2024-09-06 15:32:40

It's very early in the healing process for you. Hopefully you are using the arm and not wearing a sling. Just keep the elbow below the shoulder and move that arm around more often. I'm thinking you have a device check within a short while and you can bring this up then. Soreness is par for the course. 

arm pinkness

by PaceCahr - 2024-09-06 17:49:12

Hi Lavendarleo - 

-  Are you running a temperature?  

I had a temp spike at 3 weeks, and my post-surgery on-call indicated I should go to an ER. A urgent care center would probably redirect you to a real ER because of the device.  Mine was determined to be no infection, no concern, and I was released with cause "running a temperature" and instructions were rest and hydrate, and only come back if my temp got over 103°F  

-  Might you have started any medications with implant that can cause this? 

I was started on a rather high does of prednisone in my adventure to implant. Along with ALL the lovely prednisone anti-features, I certainly got a lot of random swelling and bloating, and often my cheeks get noticeably very pink/red without even me even doing anything. 

Since the swelling seems to be pulled by gravity - if you are leaving your left arm down by your side and not raising it, I can see it collecting more static blood and just appear pinker. 

Check it in the morning before you've been vertical, and see if it still looks pinker after you've been horizontal for while.  

If you're only 2 weeks out, and if this is a device with leads, you shouldn't be using the arm at all (very light weights and not lifted above should height) for another few weeks. That means you shouldn't have done anything where you'd notice it being weaker. Unless you're a lefty, most people are weaker on the left arm than the right. 

I certainly had arm/shoulder pains, and then muscle spasms in the arm for while too. Wonderfully - the incision itself had no pain associated with it, until about 2 months out, then I felt the nerves trying to regrow.  From a previous surgery experience, I recognized it, but it does indeed feel like little stabbies in the scar.  It's just nerves. 😊

I hope you're just "in the pink" and healing goes well.  

Left arm color

by Lavendarleo - 2024-09-07 06:05:50

Thank you all for your comments.  I called my surgeon's office and talked to a nurse.  She was going to give the information to the doctor and have them call me back. I waited the rest of the day and never heard back from anyone.  Even though it's Saturday now, I'm going to call my cardiologist's office and see if anyone happens to be there or there's any answering service.  
My arm hasn't changed.  It still looks like I went to the beach and covered up everywhere but my left arm and have a sunburned arm.  
I'm not taking any new medicine. I only wear my arm sling at night.  I have no other symptoms really.  I'm wondering if it's related to the horrible experience when they put in the IV in that arm.  They couldn't find a suitable vein so they had an ultrasound looking and put this thing up inside my arm a couple inches above my elbow.  It was SO painful and my arm felt like it hit a nerve or something. I've been looking at my arm and the red seems to start below my shoulder and near where the mark is where the thing was shoved into my arm.  I don't know if it's related but it's been on my mind.  
I'm sorry for going on about it but it's 2 AM now and it just helps to let it out and know that someone is there that might know more than I do.  Thanks for listening.  

As I suggested previously, I would get it checked

by Gemita - 2024-09-07 11:28:17

Lavendarleo, you are now saying you have an arm that looks like it is burnt, so it is no longer pink in colour as you previously reported, but darker in colour?  This suggests to me that there has been a change?  It sounds like a typical bruise or bleed from the IV access line which they placed into your arm artery/vein.  This can be traumatic and lead to quite severe bruising for some of us.  I have just had a procedure using the wrist artery and I had severe bruising too.

Why don't you go along to an urgent care centre or ER and have it checked as I suggested earlier to ease your concerns?  You won't know what has happened until and unless you get it checked.  It is probably quite normal but you should have received some discharge notes of what to expect following your procedure?  It doesn't sound as though you knew what to expect?  Bruising can take some time to disperse and can become quite widespread before it fades and the appearance of your arm returns to normal.

Thank you

by Lavendarleo - 2024-09-07 13:24:08

Thank you Gemita.  You're right.  I'm going to go get it checked out.  Thanks for being there.  I really appreciate you.  

Arm Color

by Meemaw - 2024-09-09 00:55:44

The day following my device implant, my left upper arm had a large purple colored bruise.  I brought this up to the doctor & medication doctor. They had no idea why that should have appeared. Like I was the very first person to experience such a thing. It literally took almost 4 weeks to fade away.  So be sure to monitor the arm for any new issues, and hopefully it will return to normal in time.