Most Recent Messages in General Posting

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Brilanta and Fargiga

Does anyone take these?  What side effects do you experience? Any shortness of breath? 

I understand Brilanta to be a blood thinner ....Im still not really clare on ahy I take fargica or what it is for? Sounds more like a diabetic drug? Like Medforman ?

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Self Advocacy

I know this is preaching to the chior as folks on this website certainky are engaged in their care. It worries me at times to think about peole being served by the medical industry who cannot advocate or have no one to advocate for them.

To navigate through the process you have to educate, ask questions, and be engaged.  

here is a recent story ;

Early last Fall i pulled a groin muscle playing tennis. There was brusing from the the top of my thigh to below my knee..soli...

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Due for annual echo & cardio visit

Next week I'm scheduled for my annual echo and appt with my  cardiologist. It was almost a year ago that the echo showed a significant decrease in my EF (which was done 2 weeks after a flu virus) which led to my Claria MRI Quad CRTD and AV Node ablation at the beginning of September.  It took me almost to Christmas to feel normal again (dealing with PVCs, fatigue etc). Normal being what I was at prior to September.  I was having a big case of "Buyer's Remorse&...

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Virtual Reality headset

I have an MRI compatible pacemaker and would like know if I can use a virtual reality headset to play games?

The advice given with the instructions advises against using the equipment when fitted with a pacemaker but I believe this is the same advice given about magnets etc and I have been in an MRI machine with my implant!.

Does anyone have any experience of this?

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MEMS

Bosch are well known for power tools and household appliances.

It might not be widely known that they also develop sensors used in industry.

They recently announced a new MEMS device.

MEMS is Micro ElectroMechanical Systems.

These are extremely small sensors for pressure and movement and the latest is an accelerometer.

It is unbelievably small and would easily sit on the head of a fine dressmaking pin.

What is really impressive is the microscopic manufactur...

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again not getting email notification about someone posting to query

Have to go on site to see if anyone has posted an answer to my question.  Since the takeover on this site i find we are going backward.  Spell check has disappeared and now  emails about those posting to our queries.

new to pace

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pacemaker has been dormant for a while...choice to remove?

I'm 70.  10 years ago my heart just decided to stop for several seconds about 4 times over a 7 hour period.  I received a basic pacemaker to get me going when my heart slowed.  I've had every test in the book with no reason ever found for this happening.  Coincidentally, at the time I was going through a recovery from several months of thyroid fluctuation (all natural, I never took drugs) that my endocrinologist theorized may have contributed to my heart having tro...

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Painful to the touch at implantation site

Good morning!  My son is 5 weeks post op, and 11 years old. His pacemaker is placed into the muscle tissue on his chest, so I get that it takes time to recover, but is it normal for the implantation site to still be sore to the touch after 5 weeks?  The skin is healed nicely, but if he just wipes his hand over the PM to wash the skin over the top it still feels tender. I'll check in with his doctor too but just like to get a sense of how other's have recovered too.

&nb...

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Tattoo

Does anyone have experience with a tattoo around the pacemaker area ? Can it be done ?

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Channel 5TV

Might be of interest to UK members.

Channel 5 last night (Monday) new series A&E Crash site emergency.

Patient had suffered cardiac arrest while driving. Very poorly and touch and go.

When stable, had angiogram and fitted with pacemaker. Quite good coverage of the whole procedure from opening the device package to pushing and shoving to get it in.

Despite worries of possible brain damage from loss of circulation, made good recovery.

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Cold weather and heart failure question

I'm curious about how everyone else handles the super cold weather. Since about the time I was diagnosed I have had a difficult time dealing with cold weather. I love snow, I love going outdoors in the winter, but it's hard to breath. The colder it is, the worse the pain is in my chest. It feels like lung pain to be honest, and pretty much covers my whole chest area. I can't stay outside very long if it's below freezing, or I get even worse pain. Does anyone else experience th...

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Pacemaker Physical Limitations

Hi, I recently had a biventricular pacemaker implant (3 weeks ago). 

I volunteer at a local food pantry driving a box truck to pick up food donations from the local Walmarts and Sams Club. This requires loading and unloading pallets of food with a manual pallet jack. Some of these pallets weigh over 500 pounds loaded.

I obviously haven't done this during my recovery from the surgery and am wondering if anyone else has had this experience of pushing and pulling heavy loads...

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Pacemaker

While checking my blood pressure .machine says irregular heartbeat it that normal as I've got pacemaker?

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Only a number, not a sentence

I just got a call from my cardiologist... my other message for today was somewhat of a vent session on my apparent lack of "care" with my current doctors. I had left a discouraged message for him after my last appointment when it was clear that he really wasn't feeling well and told me he had Covid the week before. Well... I guess he felt bad about that because he called me just now and said he wanted to talk over my concerns with medications and my EF. What I wrote in my messag...

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Solar Flares and Pacemakers

Question of the year for me... since solar flares have become a common topic lately.. I am beginning to wonder if anyone has information or wondered if solar flares can affect pacemakers? 
 

If solar flares can affect pacemakers or disrupt it... isn't this a conversation we should all be having with our doctors just incase? 

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Fear

I live with a sense of fear ever since a bypass 17! Years ago .

There isn't much time o don't think about and when I get little twinges I notice and wonder 

 

can I think into being what I fear most ?

 

does anyone else live with such fear ? How do you manage it ? 

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Here I am again ..

Well here I am again .... In 2007 bad a 5x bypass .44 years old .
2019 my AV node stopped working so I had a pacemaker installed .
This year i learned my EF rate was 30 - heart failure in April .

Now its 2024 and I just had a new PM installed with new wires - one is a "shocker " then other pacing the LV 

scares me to think where or how this all ends !

 

what brought me in this time is chest pressure that never went away - not pain but...

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Question about Carvedilol

I've been taking a relatively small dose of carvedilol for over a year, 6.5mg twice daily. Two weeks ago my cardiologist wanted me to go to 12.5mg twice daily of which I'm tolerating well so far, but I gradually got there instead of just doubling the dose. Now he wants to double it again and I'm nervous because a lot of people don't tolerate the higher doses. What are some of your thoughts and experiences with this drug? Did any of you tolerate it well in the beginning but hav...

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Is it the pacemaker?

While I was on, I figured I'd post my Bardy monitor results.. even though it leaves me with more questions than answers. In the summary it says "Although pacemaker indication states yes, there were no instances of pacemaker activity." The next line states "Symptom episodes of Ectopic Atrial Rhythm and AT may actually be atrial pacing." Maybe I'm not understanding correctly, but these seem like completely contradictory statements..  He did say in office th...

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Curious about young PM recipients.

I'm 35 and on week 6 of having a pacemaker and I'm just curious about how many other younger folks have a pacemaker or older folks that got theirs when they were my age. I'm also curious why you needed one so early in life, my circumstances are out of the norm since my heart is healthy but my nervous system is out of wack. I just ponder if my situation is as uncommon as I am led to believe. My doctor said besides a few babies who needed a pacemaker at infancy I'm his youngest...

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You have an excuse for gaining an extra ounce or two.

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