post pacemaker insertion care

There have been cases of infection from the insertion of the pacemaker. There may even be an occasional rare care of allergic reaction to the metal in the device. Beyond that, I don't know of an auto immune "rejection" of the device.

In my experience, when a Pacemaker is inserted by a Cardiologist, a representative by the Pacemaker manufacturer follows up the insertion and programs the pacemaker in the hospital. It's not unusual that it has to be tweaked from time to time. If your husband still isn't feeling right, I'd request that you contact your Cardiologist and ask for a manufacturer's rep to be present to review the history of your heart beats since it was inserted.

The pain associated with an implanted pacemaker may be musculoskeletal or nerve related. Most likely related to the minor surgery required for insertion of the pacemaker. This type of pain related to the incision should heal within weeks. If you have persistent chest pain at the site of the pacemaker, it might be reasonable to see your doctor so that possible causes can be evaluated.

will there be personality changes after pacemaker insertion?My son is 24 and fears becoming"hyper",he now is fairly "laid back".Is this unfounded?

I got a pacemaker June 20th on the left side. There has been swelling in my left shoulder and arm from almost the time I got the pacemaker. The left side of my neck is contantly stiff. A venogram showed no clots. The shoulder and are feel very tight and the left arm is obviously larger than the right arm to the naked eye. My cardiologist said this is unusual but didn't think I have anything to worry about. Did my surgeon put the pacemaker in incorrectly? Is it crimping my vein?

My father, 89, recently had a pacemaker inserted due to bradycardia. His PMD and internal medicine specialist started him on Coumadin afterwards. Since my step-mother had been hospitalized a week before with GI bleeding due to long term (20 years) effects of Coumadin, my father is reluctant to keep on with the medication now he's at home.

Normally, she should not have such pain after the insertion of the pacemaker. Maybe its position is causing some muscle spasm that is affecting her arm. The best option is to take her back to the doctor who inserted the pacemaker and explain the situation to him. If she has some fever, it may mean that the pacemaker place is infected and needs an urgent intervention.

We are trying to figure out if we should go direclty to the insertion of a pacemaker vs. an ablasion procedure. Since ablasion procedure may need to be repeated and flecainide (drug after ablasion) is questionable, should we just go directly to the pacemaker?

Sorry to hear your wife is struggling with headaches. I am unaware of anything on headaches directly related to pacemaker implantation, but I have seen a few anecdotes in the research literature of migraine and migraine like headaches and aura suddenly occurring in patients (who reported no history of them) post-ablation -- they seem to be particularly associated with transeptal puncture (poking a hole between the heart wall in the upper chambers).

The American Heart Association Guidelines list a range of indications for permanent pacemaker insertion, including a period of asystole lasting more than 3.0 seconds. Does your 2.8 second pause warrant pacemaker insertion? Once again, this should only be considered in patients without an underlying reversible cause such as hypokalemia or pauses occurring in the presence of SVT. A repeat Holter following correction of your hypokalemia will be important. I hope this information helps.

Some things that can be done if there are signal issues like blocks are the insertion of a pacemaker. If your friend is falling into sustained ventricular tachycardia an ICD can be placed to help jolt them out of the rhythm. That said, if the pvcs are isolated and your friend's heart is functioning relatively normal they may not need to do anything about the pvcs. Isolated pvcs in a generally healthy heart are not considered a danger.

Renal failure patient since 2001 having thrice a week dialysis developed hyperparathyroidism with PTH at around 5000 which improved to 2000 by use of cinacalcid, had complete heart block this feb (bradycardia) and pacemaker was implanted. His EF is good 55% although RV function is poor.

I am on my 3rd pacemaker after an ablation and pacemaker insertion 12 years ago. Since my new one on the 5th of May was ok with the exception of lacking energy to walk far. Prior to my last insertion i was walking 4k's a day. Since then no way. i went back to my Doctor 4 weeks ago and told him. He said he would make it more sensitive. Then I experienced headaches amd feelings of nausea on many occasions. i went back the following week to be told my BP had gone sky high. 160/102.

My mother had her pacemaker replaced in March 09 She went for a pacemaker check today. She has had arrhytmias the past several months so she has an appt next week to see her doc. What causes arrhytmias even when you have a pacemaker. Is this normal? Pacemakers are supposed to treat this, right?

At that time he had a cardiac cath with showed moderate blockage of the LAD and ultimately underwent a single bypass, MAZE procedure and pacemaker insertion. Post op course was normal, with good recovery. July 2010, 3 months post bypass, developed severe chest pain was still in A-fib with an EF of 35%. He underwent a transesophageal echo for possible cardioversion and was found to have a clot in his left atrium, which is still present.

Hi, Thank you for your comment. Perhaps my post wasn't clear. The pacemaker was not implanted to control my SVT but to keep my heart rate at a "normal" level. However, after I got the pacer, my PVC's got a lot worse as they were nearly non-existant before implantation. My heart throws itself into SVT once it's had enough of the PVC's. For some reason after an SVT attack, my heart rate returns to normal.

In 2013 I had an AV Node ablation. I am pacer dependent. In 2015 my pacemaker was upgraded to a Bi-V due to "pacemaker syndrome". Since that time I have periods of extremely irregular heartbeats. These can last up to 8 hours. Various medical professionals have checked my pulse during these periods and confirm what I already knew. I do not understand why the pacemaker does not prevent these periods of IHB.

Yes, I have the headache but it is mild in comparrison to my back. I can feel my pulse all the way from the insertion site traveling up my spine to my neck. The throbbing is terrible.

One of the electro-cardiologists even mentioned her frustration with the lack of ongoing studies of patients with this problem. They seem to stop shortly after the insertion of a pacemaker. Most of those people however have incidents more frequently than every 8 years! I think that, unfortunately, this is likely to be yet one more medical issue where there are no clear cut answers.

Jo -- I met a young woman at Preventive Cardiology Fitness clinic who had a permanent pacemaker because when she had her ablation her AV Node was damaged/destroyed? Anyway, she seemed perfectly able to exercise strenuously and was quite fit. I am not sure what her original problem was but she certainly was not slowed down in the least. Hope this is useful. I really don't have any pacemaker experience, except what I've read on this board.

Post pacemaker insertion care

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