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Thanks for your prayers and wishes

Hi PM Pals

Thank you for your wonderful messages and prayers. About two hours ago I arrived home from the hospital with Brian. He looks heaps better although his legs are still an awful site. The initial diagnoses was Henoch Scholein Purpura. Brian became very confused and had a raging temp on Sunday so we took him to emergency. They did four biopsies from various places on his leg to find out what was wrong as they were not sure what the problem was. He was lapsing in and out o...

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STRANGE ACTIVITY

I have St Jude IntegrityAFxDR Model 5346 for complete heartblock fitted 6 yrs, no probs todate. 2 weeks ago I returned from holiday on Airbus 320( never used these before) and at end of flt felt unwell and for 2 weeks to today have had AF type palpitations in chest throat and top of tum, went for checkup today and was told that it was malfunctioning and only pacing in one chamber and all the data had to be rebooted? and the pacer reset. Consultant is sending info to St Jude but I am flying (737)...

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pacemaker for 31 years

I just wanted to post here and see if anyone had question about having a pacemaker I might could help...Im a 31 year old mother of 2 and have had a pacer since i was 1day old...
I done not know life without it... but I do know how to live with it...I had 9 pacer replacements...(some due to broken wires..oops)
I started old school style with a soap dish on my side.... then when I was in hight school i was able to get the smaller on my shoulder. I can not go without it. Im 100% dependen...

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My Medtronic Rep....Priceless!

Hi all,
I began this journey on October 1st last year having had a Medtronic Dual Lead PM placed rather unexpectedly as many of you have. From the beginning I felt lousy....with symptoms that were very much like what I thought PM Syndrome would feel like (after much Googling on the subject). I couldn't walk 50 steps before feeling short of breath, palpitations, irregular heart beats, hot flushes, etc. I repeatedly contacted my Dr.'s office and Nurses in the PM Clinic. Mind you, I was al...

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Rotten taste

I am new here, so HI to everyone. My PM was installed in Aug 2005. Ever since then I've had a rotten taste in my mouth.I've talked to my Dr. and Heart Dr. about this and they say they've never heard of it. Does anybody else have this problem????? Thanks!!

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PacemakerPlacement

Hi Speedy
I wrote an article to comment on your problem but it didnt get printed for some reason. I am from Grand Rapids and I had my ablation done through West Michigan Heart with a Dr. ElMuche. I wondered if we may have had the same Dr. and would be interested in connecting with you. I have a two lead pm and am 100% dependent. I have been having the same problems you have with my arm hurting etc. I also have a sack of fluid under my arm apparently caused from the pm pressing on my cla...

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new icd patient

Hi.

just had icd impamted yesterday(3/31/08).
still sore and getting used to it. any tips etc...?
thanks.

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Thinking of you Billie and Brian

I have just heard that Billies husband Brian is very ill and in hospital,They were due to start their holiday this weekend and I had been looking foward to seeing them.
Our prayers and good wishes go out to you Billie and Brian as we wish Brian a speedy recovery.
Love from your pacer friend Kay

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About the Risk of Heart Failure Study

Okay, did the research...

This study was conducted in 2005 (which is why it doesn;t show up in the March 2008 journal.

To me, an important element in this study is as follows:
(Direct from the published report)

"In reviewing the records, we observed a significant increase in heart failure related events, including hospitalization or death, as early as six months after pacemaker implantation,"said Dr. Freudenberger, who also is director of the heart transplan...

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Pacemaker dislodged/Surgery Thurs.

Pacemaker dislodged/Surgery Thurs.
Comment posted by kathy22 on 2008-04-01 08:25.
I went to my cardiologist in NYC yesterday - the Medronic pacemaker that was implanted in 2000 (see above for reason for 3rd surgery). I have a mess on the left side - the burning is from my collar bone to the top of my breast. I cannot move from one position to another without severe burning/pain - I am having surgery this Thursday to put a new pacemaker on the right side and "clean-up" the left side wh...

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IST

Can Inappropriate Sinus Tachycardia be detected during an EP Study or is it just the diagnosis given when all other forms of tachy are ruled out?

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Heart Failure!

I agree with DD. It may well be true that I am at a higher risk of dying from CHF now that I have a pacemaker, but it just so happens that without my pacemaker I would actually already be dead.
I am happy for you Robin if you are either not with pacemaker or only atrially paced, but for many of us there were no options in whether we got a PM or not. I have had two extra years so far, to watch my son grow up a bit, that I would not have had without this wonderful bit of technology and hope i...

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coping with changing medication near death

Thanks for the people who wrote to me. It is good to talk to people who have some problems like me.

I am having lots of problems at the moment. I have POTS aka postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome. what happens to me is that I have very high pulse, norm is about 120 - 150. I blackout a few times a week, it use to be 10 - 15 times a day before I got the pm. My whole life changed, I lost all my friends because I could not keep up with them and now I am 28 living at home with parent...

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Heart Failure

Your report on pace makers causing heart failure was very interesting but I dont see how any of us who had no choice could do anything about it,This is a discouraging report in that for all of us it is after the fact. I for one have enough trouble getting used to having this thing much less reading what it can cause when I can do nothing about it.DD

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physical therapy

has anyone had physical therapy for the arm on the PM side? i am 3.5 months postop and my left arm/shoulder is still a bit stiff and somewhat motion restricted. it seems that when i move in the daytime it loosens up but is stiff the next morning. any suggestions?
steve

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WHAT CAN I DO NOW

have card. appt. wed.do not like the amioderone,for mos. i said it maid me sick.what altern. do i have to tell him tomm.

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Study regarding heart failure and ventricular pacing

Hello All

The study I am refering to was done by cardiologists from the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School of New Brunswick
as follows:

Pacemaker study sees increase in heart failure rates
Filed under: Cardiology


Worrisome results, in a study of patients with implanted pacemakers, have been published by a group of cardiologists from the UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick. The New Jersey Star-Ledger reports:

Pati...

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Reverse Placebo

The placebo effect is well known where our belief that a med or treatment will actually have an effect even though is an inert sugar pill or sham surgery.

Knowing this why shouldn't there be a Reverse Placebo Effect where our uneasy or negative feelings about a med or treatment can reduce or negate its effect?

This is important here because there are frequent posts about feeling less than human with a pacemaker, or uneasy about taking a med or meds. This can't be overcome b...

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Ventricle pacing and heart failure

Hello all:

I'm going to this issue again of right ventricle pacing potentially causing syptoms of heart failure. Don't want to alarm anyone but I have read some abstracts from some studies that indicate the possibility of this occuring. i have a lead in my right atrium and right ventricle for 2nd degree AV block. My SA node works fine so my atrium is not paced. BUT my ventricle is paced 90% of the time.

The studies seem to indicate that pacing the right ventricle, espe...

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What were they doing?

During my recent pacemaker implant, I was of course heavily sedated but woke up during the procedure to a lot of pain - it felt like something was being jammed into my chest (above my left breast). When I started talking (hello that hurts!) the doctor said that I shouldn't talk because it could collapse my lung. What I'm wondering is...what was he doing? I thought the leads were fed in through veins, so what could collapse a lung?

I read in someone else's post here about the surger...

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You know you're wired when...

Your device acts like a police scanner.

Member Quotes

We are very lucky to have these devices.