Feeling pacing?

Can anyone else feel their pacemaker start to pace? I'm always asked to describe what it feels like but I just don't know how. I can feel exactly when it kicks in and it can get very uncomfortable...

6 Comments

HR

by heckboy - 2008-01-31 05:01:30

I can feel my HR if that's what you mean. When I stand up and walk across the room, i can feel a quicker HR than when I was just sitting and that's my PM working. It doesn't make me uncomfortable, tho. I don't feel the charge and the PM doesn't have any moving parts, so it's not like a little motor starting up or anything.

I think that after one gets a PM, they become hyper aware of their bodies. Many of the sensations they feel that would have felt before if they were inclined to pay attention.

Pacing

by ela-girl - 2008-01-31 07:01:25

Hi, Lindsay.

Usually if one is going to feel themselves being paced, it is the ventricular beat that one feels because it is the stronger heartbeat. Sometimes people feel it more right after getting a pacemaker because, as heckboy said, we are super focused on the pacer and our heartbeats and heart rates etc. I feel mine from time to time. However, if your pacer is doing its job, it should be doing its job quietly inside your chest without any problem or notice from you. Most of the time we come out of surgery with factory settings on our pacemakers in order to be sure that the pacemaker is functioning correctly. Sometimes a few adjustments to the pacer will do the trick. You don't say how long you've had your pm?

Happier pacing,
ela-girl

I Can Too!

by scadnama - 2008-01-31 07:01:55

Lindsay,

I can feel my pacer kick in when I am being paced as well. I have had my pacemaker for 10 weeks now, and several adjustments have been made, but I still feel it kick in. I don't feel it as strongly as I used to, and it doesn't really bother me anymore. I am a worry wart anyway, so sometime it's nice to know that it's working, just for the reassurance.
It is a difficult feeling to describe. The best way I can describe it is that my heart feels as though it is contracting very hard. I feel it very strong when the pacer first kicks in, and then the sensations get weaker.
Don't worry, you're not CRAZY!

Amanda

I Haven't Felt Anything Special, FWIW

by kmcgrath - 2008-01-31 09:01:49

Howdy,

I've had my ICD in since April and I haven't felt it kick in and "pace" at all. I walk a lot and jog occasionally and even then I don't fell anything. I did feel that something was holding me back a bit when I tried to run so my EP doc raised the ICD's upper limit to 145 bpm and that being held back feeling went away.

Regards,
Kevin

Never

by gevans - 2008-02-09 10:02:33

Sorry, never feel a thing. Maybe I'm just one of the lucky ones. Then again, the only time I'm NOT being paced is if I'm doing something active enough to get my rate over 105 bpm...and by then I'm only concentrating on the activity anyway.

I've seen other comments posted about how, over time, you get so used to it that it becomes the norm (hence ignored).

Hang in there,

Gary

Feel the pacing

by livinlife - 2009-11-02 03:11:39

I have been searching, to see if anyone else could feel when they are being paced. I can feel both atrium and ventricular pacing (top and bottom) and they feel different. It first happend when I was on coronary care after insertion of my pacemaker.(I was 42, and my sinus arrest came out of the blue) The nurses didn't believe me, and neither did the cardiologist until he tried pacing me.
I get a fluttering in my chest, a bit like having a baby kicking in my chest, when my atrium is pacing, but ventricular pacing is very unpleasant, I have an urge to cough and my throat feels tight as well as a thumping in my chest. I had trouble sleeping initially as my pacemaker kicked in as soon as I started to fall asleep, however my settings have been repeatedly turned down to an absolute minimum, to allow me a decent night's sleep (I now only pace when my own rate drops below 40 beats per minute)
Got too close to a shop security alarm a few months ago and felt my pacemaker go haywire. Gave me a fright, so I move pretty quickly through them now!
Would love to hear from anyone else who is 'sensitive'

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