What to expect???

Hello fellow pacemaker friends. I have not been online for sometime but recently I have been diagnosed wth dilated cardiomyopathy /congestive heart failure and goodness knows what else.My last appointment my cardiologist has recommended an icd. Once again I am afraid of the unknown, I am trying not to read too much about cardiomyopathy and other related subjects as it scares me. Can anyone tell me what it is like to have an icd? I have been told that i would be getting one for insurance and that it should improve my ejection fraction # which is 25 %. Does anyone else have similar issues? Thanks, Jean

2 Comments

expectations

by windowguy28 - 2010-12-03 09:12:25

hello. i am tony and wanted to tell you that i have almost exactly the same illness as you. only difference i believe is that i had cardiac arrest while in the hospital. i was implanted with a icd in dec. of 2007 and my ejection fraction went from 20 to 40. the icd takes some time to get used to but it will seem as a part of you. i do just about anything i want and i feel fine. keep your outlook rosy and do live life. take care of yourself and i believe you will be fine. remember there is always someone worse off than us. good luck!

good deal

by burlygrrll - 2010-12-16 08:12:53

Hi Jean,
I agree with the folks above. I had a pacemaker implanted in '07 and then was later ('09) diagnosed with chf and had an ef of 20%. I've got a great EP that I work with and he told me that if I didn't want to have my existing pacer replaced that I should go buy myself a portable defib... my partner laughed at that and asked him if it could be used for behavior modification...

I had a bi-ventrical pacemaker / ICD implanted in 09 and have much to be thankful for... it is a great insurance policy and one I've cashed in on a couple of times. The healing process was much easier the second time around - you can't even tell that the incision was made twice and the pocket was already formed so very little pain from that. The ICD is a fair bit bigger than the pacemaker, so be prepared for that. I have quite a noticeable lump, but given that it has saved my life four times in the past year I'll deal with it.

Ask about the ICD, are they talking about a bi-ventrical pacemaker/ICD and a process called CRT-D (Cardiac resynchronization therapy - defibrillator)? This is what my EP did for me. Unfortunately, I've been one of the of patients unresponsive to it - most see their EF increased significantly from it.
Best of luck to you and hope this helps -
diane

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