Left arm hurts at night

Hi PMates,

Its been two weeks since my PM implant, and I feel my PM is now more noticible than before and hurts more than before. I also feel it moved downward a little bit. I can of feel it loose which my Dr. said it was normal.

Also last night while sleeping on my left side, I felt the PM triggering which woke me up. I turn and everything went back to normal.

Have any of you experienced any of these symptoms?

Thank you.

5 Comments

A couple of things

by ElectricFrank - 2008-10-11 01:10:20

Your may need to give the incision area a bit longer before sleeping on that side. You can put a lot of pressure on the site during sleep without knowing it. That keeps irritating things and it never gets a chance to settle down. Its kind of like having a cut on your hand and bumping it ever so often. The pacemaker will be slightly loose in its pocket. Even that will likely tighten up with time.

What you felt during the night was the pacemaker going through its self test and calibration to your heart. It can be adjusted as when and how often it does this. Usually, during the "break-in period" it is set to do this once/day and in the middle of the night so you don't notice it. If you happen to wake up or be sleeping lightly it can be a surprise. The test usually takes 1-2 minutes. The pacer speeds your HR up a bit, then slowly reduces the pacing voltage until pacing fails, then increases it until pacing resumes. This is used to calibrate the optimum voltage.

Actually, normal pacing isn't noticeable. What you experience as it kicking in is when it is doing something unusual.

By the way when you go in for your first checkup ask the doctor for a copy of the pre and post interrogation printout. It can be handy to identify what they changed and what your setting are.

frank

left arm

by franko1966 - 2008-10-11 07:10:27

my still hurts a liittle ,its almost 2 16 months,jan,2007,since had it down,docs say has to work out ,hurts only when i strecth it

sleep

by alice G - 2008-10-11 08:10:38

what i would give for a good nights sleep i havent had one since my pm was put in 3 months ago. i too get the pain in the shoulder and arm when i sleep on my side. i hate sleeping on my back i very ofter roll over in the night and wake up with such pain.. my pm is moving too and so much so that iam having it moved on friday. i dont know wether iam doing the right thing only time will tell. my incision site is still so sore and it has sharp pains in it some times. thats my biggest fear that its going to take a long time for things to settle down and heal.

some hints to reduce sleeping discomfort

by joy1 - 2008-10-11 10:10:35

If you are going to be sleeping on your right side use a large pillow or stuffed animals work good, to throw your arm over. Also, use a pillow behind you to keep from rolling onto your left side.
Personally, I eventually found a really comfortable position rolled partially onto my back , it supports my left arm and keeps me from rolling all the way over. It was really hard at first to get a decent night sleep since my normal pattern of sleep would start out on my left side.

As for it moving around, they do that till the pocket it is in becomes encapsulated with scar tissue. The idea is that the less it moves around the tighter the pocket, so some moving is important so that it does not get really bound up. Women face the extra problem of their boobage...to wear a bra or not. I chose to wear one 24/7 for along time. It helped to keep things a bit tighter and was more comfortable.

Give it a chance and don't hesitate to bounce questions off this group. We all have learned the same way.
joy

left side

by OIMAPRINCESS2477 - 2008-10-11 11:10:09

I talked to my doctor about sleeping on my left side after my pacemaker implant because my arm was going numb all the time. He told me that it was all normal and that the reason for the increase heart rate at night was because the main blood vein that runs to your heart is on your left side and when laying on it you can pinch it off blocking the flow of blood. Just find a way that is comfortable to you and you'll be all set.... Good Luck

Britt<3

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