Back pain after ICD fitted.

[Billywhizz10]

It's been over 3 weeks since I had a CRT-D device fitted. I used to sleep on my left side, so since being fitted, I've been sleeping on my right hand side. I've now got an awful pulled muscle type pain on my right hand side - If I stretch my arm forward, it really hurts in my muscle, just under my shoulder blade, on the side, it feels like a pulled muscle.

In the first few nights after hospital release, I was trying all sorts of crazy positions to get comfortable.

Is this normal? As the swelling and soreness has gone down, I tried to sleep on my left, the other night and while I got a relief from the back pain, I woke and the device looked pushed out more, the left hand side seems to be poking out a lot more ( could be all in my mind, its been a crazy few weeks, the most hectic of my life). I also seem to have a slight twinge on my left side now!

I'm hoping all of this is down to bad sleep, tossing and turning and using pillows against my back, around my feet, my front, about 5 pillows in all!

My question is, how soon is too soon to sleep on the device fitted side , the left side, because sleeping on my right is way too painful.

I have a relative in their 80's who had a pacemaker fitted 18 months ago and didn't sleep in their bed for months, preferring to sleep in a reclining armchair, they found it too uncomfortable post -op.

My sleep and muscle pain is now more a problem than my heart failure, day to day which compared to a few weeks ago has seen most of the foot and leg swelling go and breathlessness and fatigue disappear. Any advice appreciated!

[Hidden]

Dear Billywhizz10

Well we could have been fellow CRT-D bedfellows as mine has been fitted in the same time frame.

The bloody sleeping is a complete nightmare and I have been feeling this a lot more than the Triple heart bypass, I think its because were the implant is and the cut to the bypass was down the centre and sort of nestled between my chest and protected it some what.

But this thing {as fantastic as it is} is just in the wrong position for my usual sleep pattern, and bloody hell does it like reminding me.

I have just seen my normal Heart Nurse, who says that the CRT-D wound was healing well and it was normal for that edge to be raised somewhat until more swelling goes down and it beds in, by the edge I mean on mine its the top just under the scar { which still have some stitches in }

So to sleep, there really is no set answer she informs me, its do what you can do {not the best help that she has given me from her extensive knowledge of all heart things} and I found { like your relation } that propped up in a chair was my best bet, I did that for a few nights, then went back in the bed with a soft cushion under my armpit.

I know its a miracle thing blah de blah but does yours seem big to you? Maybe its just me, I got a massive chest and this unit just seems to sit on top of it staring at me, please believe me its not a vanity thing, just surprised.

The pain has now moved deeper down into my chest and like you I have a twinge over the right side { seems that is quite normal by the heart nurse }

She has access to the readout of the CRT-D which showed that it was working at 92-95% of the time and that they will tweek it to the 100% mark on my first meeting with the Pacemaker team {rhythm technicians}

The only thing I notice different is how quiet my chest seems, now that the heart is beating to a more normal beat,

Take care, hope any of the above ramblings are of help to you

[Billywhizz10 in reply to Hidden]

Thanks Blue, I went back to my left side last night and had a decent sleep, the pain on my right has subsided to a twinge, but the device still looks bulgy.Yes, it does seem big to me. They put it in on top of the muscle, so mine really pokes out, the scar isn't that bad, they used dissolving stitches, but it does look very odd at the moment. The feel of it is something I'm still not used to. Pain wise, I get the odd wince and tingle, but its nothing like the discomfort of the first few weeks.

Thanks again for your advice, and all the best to recovery!

👍

[Hidden in reply to Billywhizz10]

And you too, I have heard that they don’t like {not that I was offered} to put it under the muscle as it can cause problems later, {presume they mean when they change the unit}

all the best

[KentFox]

Hi there, I had an ICD fitted in February 2021 and I also found I couldn’t sleep on my left side after the operation. I also limited movement in my left shoulder as instructed by the cardiac consultant avoiding any heavy lifting. What then happened was that my left shoulder became “frozen” and I was then referred for physio therapy and the physio told me my history was not unusual in his experience. He gave me a number of exercises to do and within a couple of weeks there was a marked improvement. I have been sleeping on my left side without discomfort but it probably took 4 months to get there. I hope you get over this soon and that this proves to be a temporary issue.

[Billywhizz10 in reply to KentFox]

Hi Kent,

Thanks for the reply. I was afraid of that, it would take a few months to get back to normal sleep. The advice from the hospital that 6 weeks recovery , but I can't see that happening for sleep in 3 weeks time!

[1mjd]

I had mine 3 months ago, you will get used to it, it takes time