Most Recent Messages in Coping

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Waking up Similar distressed feeling...

5 months post PM surgery for heart pausing, which caused me to wake up from sleeping very nauseus, lightheaded, vomiting etc. After over a yr of docs saying I had vertigo (inner ear condition) they found out after I passed out I was having 8 to 19 second pauses!
I have recently experienced 7 different "attacks" that seem very familiar to b4 pm, lightheaded, panic feeling, nausea....only after falling asleep briefly or waking up very disoriented. They check pm, only going off 2%, never letti...

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2-4 weeks away

Hello,
I found this site about 2 weeks ago and have logged on just about every day. I can't believe all the helpful people on this site, you are all amazing and I appreciate all your feedback (and I haven't even posted yet!!!).
My father was diagnosed with a LBBB about 4 years ago. I was of course, hyper-sensitive about anything regarding my heart. . .so I decided to have an ECG about 3 years ago. Well, it turns out I also have the LBBB and a cardiomyopothy to go with it. I know I ha...

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Frustrations...

Hello everyone! I am just in the mood for sharing and support. I have been through the ringer with the Department of Transportation for the last three months, and I'm very frustrated. For those of you who don't know my story, I blacked out in January while driving. I had lots of testing, mainly Neuro testing at first. I blacked out again in rather dramatic fashion in February while riding in my boyfriend's car. At this point, the ER reported that I had a seizure to the DOT. This started a...

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how long...

before i can start moving my arm normally again ?
had a new sub-pectoral impant under my right side and as i'm right handed, i'm finding it difficult to do everything with my left.
(had op two weeks ago)

I'm scared of getting a frozen shoulder - Was driving today and it really hurt (although i wasnt moving my arm much)
Had left sided device planted just under the skin last year and it was never as sore as this one.
was moving relatively pain free after about a wee...

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The Long Story

My heart has always pounded since I was a little girl. I was an extremely active child playing anything from house to baseball. I would ride my bike for miles and jump rope for hours. I once even tried to break the Guiness World Record for the most consecutive jumps on a pogo-stick. I jumped continuously for an hour, that is, until it started raining and my mother forced me to come indoors. I wasn't a hyper child, and my energy back then was fueled mostly by sugar and boredom. One thing that was...

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now too sensitive to work

Before my pacemaker I was a little out of breath from time to time and sure the week before the implant I felt like crap but now I feel pretty awful most of the time - I am so breathless that I am quite frightened to sleep some nights and I feel like I have just run 10 km with the most simple exertion... chest pains and constant fluttery feeling in the chest...The other thing that has happened is sensitivity to any stimuli - any stress and high emotion or sound sends me into a spin - someone yel...

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Trumpet player needs help with scar.

Hi:

I seem to have lost your post. I would like to tell you that if you exercise by tapping your finger near or on the scar healing will occur. Tap your index or middle finger lightly for a few minutes 2 or 3 times a day. This helps to regenerate nerve endings. Massage right on the scar and near it, also helps, especially if you use a rich lotion or cream. Check out Dr. Eaton's website, he is a hand surgeon in W. Palm Beach and I used and sometimes still use this percussive ex...

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To Be or not to Be PM'd-Defibulated

Hi all.
I am meeting with my Drs. today to discuss PM and Defibulator as I keep getting rapid A-fib ( over 200 bpm) first two years apart now 2 months apart 4 trips to the hosp overnite and after reading some of the posts I am fairly freaked out ( I just turned 60 ) by all the problems I read about. The other consideration is the cost. I have insurance but that won't cover more than 80%. Can anyone give me an idea of what they were charged ball park figure, also how long were you out of wor...

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information please

Hi I'm Danni while I am not new to having my PM but I don't know much about it, I wonder if you could help? I had it fitted in 2003 due to 12 second pauses I also have factor v leiden and don't know if this can cause problems, all your doctors seem to have given you a good grounding of whats what while mine said i needed one and that was it. should i avoid anything? what problems can arise? i sometimes get a nagging ache around the site is this normal? I still get chest pain and should i be taki...

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carnival ride...

so yesterday i went to my town's yearly celebration and went on a ride. there was no harness over the pacer, just a seatbelt and a metal bar at the waist. it's the one where you go fast in circles, but side to side. sometimes it's called the scrambler or something like that. after that ride, all last night my heart was going crazy with irregularities (slow beats to dropped beats, then the pacer would kick in in the way i could tell that it my heart was trying to regulate, but it just wasn't work...

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dissappointed once again

im so frustrated and dissappointed. i had an afib ablation done on mar 28, 09 and thought it was sucessful. 2 wks after completely afib free, woopee i thought im finally getting my life back. i spoke too quick the next week i had short runs of afib but knew this was normal sometimes. i always converted back in just a few minutes. today i have been in afib HR from 126-138 for 2 hours. looks like this is going to be my life from now on. i cant have another ablation until 3 mo after this one. i don...

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Michael Jackson the King of Pop, dies! AW!!

Michael Jackson, the charismatic musician who came to be known as The "King of Pop,' has died at the age of 50.
Michael's brother Jermaine, during a brief statement at the hospital, said the following: "My brother, the legendary King of Pop Michael Jackson, passed away on Thursday, June 25 at 2:26 pm. It is believed he suffered cardiac arrest in his home. However, the cause of his death is unknown until results of an autopsy are known. His personal p hysician who was with him at the time a...

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The ONE

No one my age understands me. My health, regardless of my age, places me in a older age bracket. I recently was chatting with an older couple whose daughter I went to highschool with. Since they both have pacemakers, we had a lot in common and tons to talk about. I joked that we should hang out more often. They are in their 70's !!!

I AM TIRED of being the ONLY ONE.

In my entire city, I am the only patient in their 30's with a pacemaker. I am also the only one, reagrdless...

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coping somewhat

It is gardening season and I love to be outdoors. I have had my PM for about 3 months. I have been having shortness of breath since by PM and it mostly happens when I am doing something more strenuous than normal, in the morning and at bedtime. Today, I was trimming shrubs and raking and I got really short of breath and started sweating. It causes my breathing to increase and I have to stop what I am doing. The same thing happened last evening when I was on my treadmill. I was only at spee...

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Help me!

It's been almost a year since getting my dual lead pace maker and for the most part it has been a good year. Only recently have the PVC"s really kicked it up a notch and also the tachy/brady syndrome that I was diagnosed with. I'm getting the old anxiety feelings again and not coping well. I will be getting a holter monitor on Monday to make sure all is well. I just don't know how to do this again. I'm crying and worrying now that there is something else wrong again. I could just use some moral...

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Any help welcome

Hi, just joined after accidently stumbling on club whilst seeking information & have found others experiences very helpful. For me it happened so fast after I returned 7 day monitor for AF (after few weeks of racing heart & breathlessness). Had PM fitted just over a month now & am shocked at how tired I have been & how long it taking to get back to anything like normal. My worry is that I have planned & payed for a trip to New Zealand to see my daughter Christmas 09, stopping over 3 nights in Si...

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Isuues with dizziness and balance

Hello Everyone,

I've had my pacemaker for nearly a year now, and I have some issues. Most days , I feel pretty good, and am able to perform activities without trouble. There are some days though, that I just feel out of it, sometimes dizzy. I work a retail job, and it is fast-paced, and can be very stressful. I'll be running around, helping customers etc. when my energy will just drop off. I feel tired, and slightly dizzy.

Yesterday, we started wearing headsets to respond...

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Im drowning in medical debt

Hi, I’m new to Pacemaker club. Thought I’d check it out. So my backround. I’m 23years old, I got my pacemaker 3 years ago. Basically I have some "issue" with my heart that it beats really slow, like 24 bpm when awake, or stops all together causing me to pass out, like while driving....oh ya it happened, I call it lazy heart...the doctor calls it something really long and annoying, so I got the pacemaker. I was realy young and didn’t have insurance and now am...

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Has anyone had rejection problems?

Hello,
It has been 6 months since my pacemaker went in. Other than itching around the scar it seems healed. I have had a lot of problems with tingles, pulses and strange sensations in my arms, legs and feet since an adenozine stress test in February. I am curious if I could be having some autoimmune things with my body not liking the foreign object in me? has anyone had any similar things going on? Thanks for the support, it is good to know you all are out there.

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Pulmonary hypertension

Have any of you heard of pulmonary hypertension associated with pace makers? I have had my pm for about three months and am still experiencing shortness of breath usually when I get up in the morning, sometimes at night and often when I am exercising. Have this every occurred to any of you? I have had my pm interrogated for a second time but am still experiencing the shortness of breath. I am a worrier and just found this link to pulmonary hypertension and shortness of breath. I am not even...

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You invested in the Energizer battery company.

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I love this new part of me, and very, very thankful that this technology exists and I know that it's all only going to get better over time.