Most Recent Messages in General Posting

Apple Watch

I don't know if others saw this but evidently there is a good chance that Apple watch imports will be banned. There is an FTC patent infringement investigation. Apple is accused of using AliveCor's intellectual property in its heart monitor. There is a lot of wiggling going on in the background but there is some chance that it will hold. Get your Apple watches now, before there is a run on them. 🥲

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A NEW MEMBER

Hello to all, my name is Peter, I hail from yorkshire in england. I had my pace maker fitter on friday 10th 0f March, and am now rid of my dressing and up for recovery. I had a very low HR 40 BPM and now it is back to normal.

i hope to have many good chatters with the people on here and hope to put in some good points in my posts.

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MRI with Pacemakers : II – 3T-MRI with Dual Chamber Leadless Pacemakers

In Mid March 2023, I had 3T-MRI scans with and without contrast on the brain then on the abdomen. The former was successful but the latter had failed due to excessive motion.

The MRI scans were done in the radiology department of the same hospital where I had my implant. When I arrived at the hospital, I was surprised to find not only two research representatives from electrophysiology department were there but also the Abbott engineer who is responsible for the clinical trial.  Bu...

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Newbee

Hello folks... I'm a 67 year male in pretty good physical condition, and recently ... this past Tuesday.. 3/14/23 had my PM implanted. A Medtronic device.
 

I always had a slower than normal heart rate 48-55 most of my life. I guess getting older finally caught up with me and the symptoms associated with bradycardia set in. 
 

it has been only two days ... I do feel better... my energy seems to be coming back.. BUT... I do experience waves of ligh...

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MRI with Pacemakers : I – Background

This and subsequent posts are only for people who want to do MRI and also want to understand the risks and the various details of MRI.

I had a pair of Abbott dual chamber leadless pacemakers implanted in September 2022 and just had 3T MRI brain and abdomen scans in March 2023. The pacemakers are still in clinical trial.

MRI in people with pacemakers conjures up an image of a life saving, delicate and sensitive metal device placed in a very strong magnetic field. This raises seriou...

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Anxious

I'm set to receive my pacemaker in a couple weeks.  I just underwent a six-hour ablation procedure that was just unsuccessful.  They told me my heart has so much cardiomyopathy there just isn't anything else to do.

im scared. I'm 51 and have been dealing with heart disease since my early 20's.  I feel really close to death.  Is this normal?  I don't know how I'm supposed to feel.  What happens if pacemaker doesn't work for me eit...

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Update

Hey guys! It's been years since I've visited or posted on this page. I figured it was time to come back and pay it forward with my experiences thus far. I got my pacemaker almost 11-12yrs ago now at the ripe age of 23yrs old. I have finally triggered for replacement so Ill go from St. Jude Accent to whatever they are now? Boston Scientific? I don't know, but hopefully in a month or two here I'll have another generator that'll last another decade. I'm very lucky in...

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Long Term Care Insurance

Anyone tried to get long term care insurance with an AFib diagnosis and a pacemaker?

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Excellent publication

I came across this very useful reference article when looking how to interpret ECGs.

There is an item on what to avoid with pacemakers that might help anyone with questions.

Here's a link.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK2219/#A688

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THANK YOU

Want to give a big shout-out to BLAKE.  I had a VERY (imposible) time trying to post a picture with my name.  Reached out to the club thru "contact" and BLAKE responded back.

He tried to walk me thru the process and being the computer dummy I am -- I just could not do it.  After some more 'back & forth' I just sent him the picture I wanted to have and he put it in for me.

It's a picture of a Boxer dog, wearing a helmet and boxing glove...

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Just joined

Hello all, 

My name is Ed and I had a Medtronic pacemaker implanted 3 weeks ago.  I just turned 62 and had otherwise been healthy.  I had a stent put in during January and on my first day of Cardiac rehab I had fainted and then had a pacemaker put in!  Fun times. 

I am coming up on my first check on the device with cardiologist.  Hope it goes well.  I am still adjusting to my new friend.  I have found a lot of comfort in reading the posts in...

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Newbie from UK

Morning all

I'd like to introduce myself as a new member of this 'exclusive club'.

I live in the UK and am an otherwise fit and healthy 52 year old. Late 2022 I was diagnosed with aortic stenosis caused by a congenital bicuspid valve. I had no symptoms other than being slightly out of breath on physical exertion which I put down to gettting older!

I underwent open heart surgery in January 2023 to replace the aortic valve and to repair a section of the a...

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Pacemaker id card and cardiologist change

I have recently changed cardiologists because of the abysmal care they gave my husband who had episodes of blacking out.

Since my pacemaker id card has the other doctor's name on it, does it have to be sent back to be updated?

Thanks.

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PACEMAKER CHECK

Hi folks,I had my pacemaker check this past friday and they sped up my heart which i wasnt ready for, and it kind of knocked me through a loop. Anyways, today for some reason i feel my heart fluttering a little more then usual. Would this be normal. Hope all is well.

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I am back, apologies for my delayed absence.

It's been a long and interesting year, and unfortunately I locked myself out of my account and was distracted by other life events.  To anyone I missed over the last year my apologies!

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Relief band follow up

With my ep's approval, I ordered a relief band to test out. That's the tens bracelet for motion sickness that I posted about last week.

My heart rate stayed steady with it turned on. It also stayed steady when I put it directly over my device. Since I'll be wearing it for a sailing trip I wanted to make sure it would be ok if I accidentally got it too close in my sleep, and it was fine. I used my oximeter. Rate remained unchanged and zero symptoms with it turned of...

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Pacemaker set at 70

My pacemaker HR is set to not go under 70 and it never has until recently.  The last 5 days it rests at 69 ,68 and today 67.  My fitbit is 4 years old and I wonder if it can not be accurate?  I recently had my device check and no problems.  Has anyone else had this problem, and maybe it is not a problem!  Thanks

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Let's talk about the SyncAV study......

Hello Gemita

I want to follow up with you about the Abbott SyncAV study that I am participating in.

The study is completely voluntary.  And as I mentioned earlier, it is a blind study and you can also choose to have your data “de-identified”.

The study is being conducted in approximately 150 sites worldwide and includes up to 1400 subjects.

The purpose of the study is to evaluate changes in heart size between the first baseline visit and 12 months in p...

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Relief bands

Has anyone used them? They're for seasickness and use tens technology which is usually not ok for us but it's tiny. I reached out to the manufacturer and will also email my ep but thought I'd ask if anyone has experience with them. The older I get, the worse the motion sickness gets and I pretty much live on Bonine when I travel now. 

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Update on VP %

Yesterday I had my annual appt. With Medtronic rep ( turned out there were 2 present ) as well as my 6 month doctor visit. Recently I'd been concerned about a steady increase in ventricular pacing- the highest being 78%. They told me the same thing my doctor has told me in the past- those numbers change a lot and  that I'm doing fine. Battery life of 9-10 years remaining. I've had my PM 3 years in May and thankfully enough, I haven't developed any arrhythmias. I do h...

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You know you're wired when...

You have a dymo-powered bike.

Member Quotes

In fact after the final "tweaks" of my pacemaker programming at the one year check up it is working so well that I forget I have it.