My Mother's Bloating...?

Hello!

My mother had a pacemaker/ICD implanted last summer, around late July/early August. Her heart has been fine ever since. No pain or complications - period.

However, lately, she's been experiencing some gas/bloating in her upper abdominal area. She's been to the emergency room, her cardiologist/specialist and our regular doctor. They ran about every test you can think of (x-ray, upper GI, ultra-sound, blood work, etc.). Her heart and pacemaker are working perfectly. There is no fluid in her lungs or abdomen. She did experience pain in her upper abdominal area, but her doctor eliminated one of her medications and the pain went away. Now, it's just the bloating. It comes and goes...she says it feels a lot better after she eats some soup or drink some milk.

Her doctor is doing everything he can to figure out what is going on (it's a family practice--we've been their patients for 30-40 years...they've saved my parents' lives more than once, so we trust them COMPLETELY). Our doctor has her taking Prilosec and some other ulcer medication (they ran tests for that, but again, everything is normal).

Can her bloatiness be a side effect of the pacemaker/ICD? Has anyone else with a pacemaker or ICD experienced this? If so, what did you do to fix the problem?

Please respond!

2 Comments

cathrynb- yes you are right

by jessie - 2008-02-12 02:02:20

hi there, i had forgotten but yes this is a sign of ovarian cancer. it is worth checking out for sure like cathryn says. it is so insidious this cancer. please mention it to your g.p. hope they soon find out the problem. jessie

My Mother's Bloating...Part Two

by jazzy1022 - 2008-02-16 01:02:55

Thank you all, who viewed my posting and responses. I've been asked to keep readers posted, so here's the latest...

Her abdominal cramping went away, but the bloating continued, and it even got to the point where she couldn't go to the bathroom anymore, and her belly and ankles started to swell. We took her to the emergency room...

My mother had blood tests done, all kinds of tests, really. The cause was for her bloating and abdominal discomfort was an imbalance in potassium and electrolyte levels in her bloodstream. She takes diuretics, and as a result, it flushes out the potassium from her body, which is needed to make the rest of her body function properly. Because of the imbalance, she started to become bloated (though there is no fluid around her heart).

They got in contact with our regular doctor, and she was prescribed some medication to make her potassium and electrolytes are balanced in her blood stream. She has begun going to the bathroom as normal, already. Everything else in her body--her pacemaker, her intestines/abdomen muscles, etc. are all normal.

Thank you all for your support!

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