Pacemaker- two questions: implanting & exercise

[mountaintops]

Very newl diagnosed with heart block. Pacemaker to be fitted 8th Sept (currently terrified). Cardiologist said might be better under muscle rather than under skin as I'm slim. A nyone had this done? Won't this take longer to heal & be more painful? Second question how will pacemaker respond to vigourous exercise (after healing period) -will it know I need a higher heart rate?

[Czech_Mate]

Hi thereNot sure if I can answer in detail, but I certainly understand the shock side of it having had a holter for 24 hours and then being told to go into hospital the next week to have pacemaker fitted. Why me? I'm not a spring chicken but I've always been fit and active and had no permanent medication. Now trying to get used to not pushing things, before that was what life was about. And I have two medications to get used to.

I was diagnosed bradycardia and leaky mitral and tricuspid valves . The pacemaker has only 1 lead and it's programmed just to give my heart a kick if it beats at less than 60 beats per min, which it does perfectly but I am completely unaware of it doing anything.

Anyway the fitting went very well. It's sited under the skin. I was awake all the time and the surgeon was quite chatty, seemed quite amused when I suggested fitting a zip instead of sewing it up. Last year I went through having tooth implants fitted and that was a million times worse. During the pacemaker op all I felt was something like pushing on my chest.

I was told to be very careful for 6 weeks afterwards, but I was more or less OK in 4 weeks. For me biggest problem was seatbelt, but here we drive on the silly side of the road so driver's seatbelt went right across the place where the zip should have been.

The op was in May and I still feel a bit fatigued at times when I overdo it especially in the heat, but when feeling a bit down I remind myself that it's not just a case of me getting used to this thing I have inside me and (mainly) the medications but they (poor things) have to get used to me. And that's definitely not easy for them!

Good luck and let us know how it goes. There are folk here who understand.

[HeartyJames in reply to Czech_Mate]

I will remember that zip joke when I get mine fitted in October

[Rhinos67]

Hi

I had a pacemaker fitted on 10th May after going into heart block after aortic valve and root replacement .

The site is still swollen but have been told that could be due to me being on Warfarin and additional bruising. I've bought a little cushion that velcros around the seat belt when I'm a passenger in a car as it is sore.

I've been told that I will be able to run again eventually, but that's some way down the line because of the other surgery

I hope that it all goes well.

Joanne

😁

[mountaintops in reply to Rhinos67]

The seat belt pad advice is great and the fact that you should be able to start running again when fully recovered is even better. Thank you.

[Hidden]

Hi, To be honest, my PM is in the usual position under the skin, so it's difficult for me to answer, however, have you tried the UK Pacemaker Club. I'm sure they'd have members with plenty of knowledge and experiences.

Sorry I can't be of more help.

[mountaintops in reply to Hidden]

Thank you I'll check out the UK Pacemaker Club.

[HeartyJames]

there are some good pacemaker facebook groups. Highly recommended

[mountaintops in reply to HeartyJames]

Thank you I'll check out the fb group too.

[Hidden]

Dear mountaintops

A warm welcome to the first of your many posts on the forum.

I wish that I had a magic wand { bloody Harry Potter has them all } and could wave it to take away the fear that you have over having this amazing bit of equipment placed into your body.

Like you say with out any doubt you are in shock at the moment over your diagnosis and rightly so.

But as the shock clouds part you will begin to ask not so much the “why me” questions and start asking the “how will it help me” ones.

Now these can only be answered by your heart team { every hospital has rhythm nurses that can help with the answers } and on here are some incredible booklets to help you once you know what pacemaker it is and exactly why you are being offered it.

Mine has saved my life, no other way of telling you, five simple words.

As for you returning to exercise, then yes all things are possible, you may have to change a few things, but then again why wouldn’t you? You will be different but better once it all settles down.

Make sure you ask all the questions that you need answers for, write them down.

One to ask is, does having the pacemaker put deeper under the muscle affect the “ change of unit “ when the battery is depleted as well as recovery time. I was told that the muscle one was normally done under full anaesthesia { both fitting and replacement}

I have a very muscled chest and have had mine place under the skin and not the muscle for this reason, but that is me and I really don’t care about the look of it.

Hope any of the above has helped

Take care and please let us know

[mountaintops in reply to Hidden]

Thank you for your kind, very positive and humorous post - the Harry Potter ref made me smile. That's a great suggestion to compile a list of questions for the pre op telephone assessment - I hope they allow enough time! I guess because I'm completely symptom free despite the "complete heart block and bradycardia", I'm battling a bit to come to terms with the idea of needing a pm. My normal healthy diet with loads of exercise just about keeps me sane and cheerful and I really don't want to have to make changes but hey one step at a time.

[Hidden in reply to mountaintops]

Amazing positive answer that will see you through all this, don’t worry about the time on the phone, this is all about you not them and they will be pleased that you are interested in what they propose to do.

I think that you have answered a few of your own questions and the main one being that if you are symptom free now { with what is a serious condition } think how much better { mentally } you will feel having your little safe guard inside you.

You will have many more questions to ask and please do, we are all individuals but will follow some of the steps of the ones in front of us.

Take care { sounds like you do anyway }

please keep us informed.

[ahcm]

I had a pacemaker 8 weeks ago. I too was told I would have to have it implanted under the muscle as I'm quite skinny. I weigh 8st 12lbs and have very little flesh around the collar bone. On the day of the surgery my cardiologist said he was going to try to put it under the skin first and if it didn't work he would do the muscle. He said he had fitted them under the skin on people thinner than me!

Well, I had it under the skin as he said and all is well! I had a general anesthetic which took 3.1/2 hours as I have a thickened heart due to hypertrophic Cardiomyothopy and felt very rough for a day but once home I soon got used to seeing the 'lump'.

I'm going in next week for an AV Node ablation (not the six weeks as promised) it's been 9 weeks. If I hadn't phoned the Cardiologist secretary it would have been the end of September. I'm still suffering the Afib episodes every 3 days as the pacemaker won't work until I get the ablation. So the Cardiologist must have looked at the data from my 'magic box' as I call it, it's a home transmitter that sits by my bed and records the heart activity.

He must have thought she's suffered enough (6 years) let's get on with it.

Good luck with your surgery, it's not half as bad as you think it will be.

[mountaintops in reply to ahcm]

Thank you for this and for your good wishes. I'm a good half stone heavier so hopefully it can go under the skin. I hope the ablation (I had to look that up) goes well and sorts out the AFib and you start to feel much better. Just off to have a look about magic boxes now!

[ahcm in reply to mountaintops]

Thanks for your reply, next week can't come quick enough. I didn't get my magic box straight away. I called cardiology at the hospital as I was still getting many episodes of Afib, they said to come in straight away! (No,nor me) they checked the data on my pacemaker with a wandlike device and issued me with a magic box to keep by the bed. Apparently, they can check my data remotely, which the Cardiologist must have seen as I got an appointment for my ablation fairly quickly. So onwards and upwards!

[Classof1988]

Don't be terrified! I don't know about having a pacemaker fitted under the muscle but mine is under the skin and I am only aware of it if I actually touch the area. I was told I had total heart block having just driven three hours to see a cardiologist - admitted there and then with pacemaker fitted two days later under local anesthetic, discharged next day, driving one week later and not quite going to mountaintops but climbing a very steep hill two weeks post op with no difficulty (thought perhaps it was a bit mad but there was a nice tea shop at the end of the walk and I didn't have to stop to get my breath back either). The lack of energy went virtually straight away and I do pretty well whatever I want to, completely unaware of the pacemaker. Annual tests to check battery life are totally painless. Given a choice between a dental extraction or filling (I have no intention of submitting to root canal treatment, I would rather lose the tooth) or pacemaker insertion I would choose the pacemaker procedure every time. Look forward to receiving your pacemaker, if it can be fitted under the skin this would be the easiest option, and look forward to getting your strength back.