Pacemaker Procedure

[readyabout]

Two weeks ago I had a Pacemaker fitted, all I had read about the procedure indicated pain free, however, I experienced a cold operating theatre, and violent uncontrollable shivering, and pain, despite aahhh! and lots of ouch, no more anaesthetic, am I the very tiny minority, or have others experienced this?

[PinkKizzie]

Hi readyabout, when I went in to theatre I had light sedation and local anaesthetic. All was going fine until the third lead pierced my heart and created a small bleed. Bearing in mind I'm aware of what was going on, the cardiac team was called in and the two teams discussed what to do. Would they risk pulling out the lead and risk my heart being flooded or would they perform OHS to pull the lead out and repair the hole. They decided it was too risky just pulling out the lead so OHS was performed, I woke up in ICU. I can't go through that procedure again, so I've no pacemaker and take lots of meds. I have an EF of 25 %. I feel well, hope you keep well too.

[Jalia in reply to PinkKizzie]

As one who will most likely be undergoing 3 lead pacemaker implantation, all I can say is Crikey!!😱

[PinkKizzie in reply to Jalia]

Hi Jalia, please don't be put off by my experience as there is only a 1% chance of it going wrong. It's never happened before in the hospital I was in, the consultant got a terrible fright when it happened. I know I would benefit greatly by having a pacemaker but I was traumatised by the experience. Wishing you every success, you'll be fine, please let me know how it goes. Take care x

[readyabout in reply to PinkKizzie]

Thanks, I had a two lead pacemaker, and the leads part went ok, I was a bit traumatised by the whole thing, but two weeks and a few bottles of wine (shared of course), getting over it.

[PinkKizzie in reply to readyabout]

Hi readyabout, 🍷brilliant, keep well x

[Rhinos67]

I had been in ICU for 10 days prior to my pacemaker surgery and was last on the list that day. By the time I got there my blood pressure was really low, so they couldn't give me any sedation. The room was so cold and I was shaking as a result of that and my fear. I wasn't given enough anaesthetic and screamed out in pain at one point and luckily I was given more.No room in recovery, so taken straight down to the ward and fainted when they tried to get me from the trolley to the bed.

All OK now though 😁

[readyabout in reply to Rhinos67]

That sounds pretty awful, wasn't SDH was it? The operating theatre is kept cold otherwise the machinery overheats! Seems a but of a bungling solution to me. Glad you are recovered.

[Rhinos67 in reply to readyabout]

No it wasn't. Just glad to get it over with and trying not to count down the months until I need a battery change 😂

[Jalia in reply to readyabout]

Last time I was in freezing cold cath lab I had a heated mattress....bliss!

[Hylda2]

They had three goes at fitting one lead to my pm and two goes at fitting the other lead but was wrapped up nicely in a blanket.

AV node ablation worse, had to do that twice, ran out of sedation, ouch!! And one of the pads was burning me!!!

Still, pm has given me my life back so not complaining

[Yachtie77]

I had a pacemaker on Monday, it’s now Thursday. The procedure was done by a very experienced person and was very painful and they did give me a bit of sedation (to stop me shouting I expect😂). I heard them talking that there was some muscle in the way. Perhaps they were trying to push it aside. Anyway three days on and it’s still painful with difficult getting comfortable to sleep and dress myself. Taking two paracetamol every 4 hours.

Other people say that people they know had very little pain afterwards

I’m hoping that things will improve when the tight dressing comes off.