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tightness and pulling sensation
Pacemaker & ICDs | Last Active: Sep 4 6:00pm | Replies (8)Comment receiving replies
Hi and thanks for your info! Sounds like you've really been through it for 20 years, so your insight is very helpful. Can't imagine what goes into replacing the thing! Times three!!!
Anyway, I'm not sure whether it's under the skin or muscle, but am guessing just under the skin because it's very visible. I do have an appointment with the cardiologist/surgeon on August 21 and certainly will tell him about the symptoms. However, my experience is that it's just too easy for the surgeons to kind of shrug off symptoms unless there's elevated temp, etc. So thought the support group might help. And you have by stating that you also have some difficulty when using your left arm. But the surgeon told me, no restrictions after the first 6 weeks. So I took him at his word. I do all kinds of labor around the house and yard - it's kind of my thing.
Thanks again for your wisdom!
Replies to "Hi and thanks for your info! Sounds like you've really been through it for 20 years,..."
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@patty78
I have found the same with surgeon EP advice, but my experience is that it differed from advice from nurse.
Do you have a Pace Clinic you go to and correspond with? I go to Mayo Jacksonville, and they have a Pace Clinic that does remote and in office device checks. I have the ability to portal message with them or call them and most of the time they call me if need to talk or will use portal. They have the most direct contact and experience with patients after surgery and implants.
The pace nurses and tech stress body movements and irritation to device and wires. My EP told me to play tennis. My Pace Nurse said no. She said she saw a lot of wires over the years come out and they traced it to specific time and activity. She said aggressive tennis and fishing were two activities that stood out as causing wires and difficulty with wires. It is the drastic swinging of arms.
Now my EP says, play tennis. It is one of the reasons we put the device in. So, you can see what I am posting from experience with this and what affected me. I played tennis a wire came out of my heart. I had it replaced surgically and decided to stop playing tennis. I have no other wires that have come out since I stopped playing tennis.
If you see your device the most likely under skin. The muscle below the device will be sensitive to the device and will take some time to incapsulate. What I did was see how far or which movement I could do that did not cause discomfort around device and then try not to go beyond that.
You don't want to completely restrict arm movements as that can affect joint mobility. If you have a Pace Clinic work with them. You do gardening and that is great. I hope you were told by your EP to continue to garden as it is good exercise physically and from what you posted mentally also as it brings you a lot of happiness doing it.
In my experience mental health is just as important as physical health. From that experience I am always encouraging posters to find and exercise or hobby they like doing not only for physical health but mental health. I am a man but love doing water aerobics. I limit the movement of my left arm and do different exercises if it involves a high overhead. At one class location we only have two men in a class of twenty. Inside my community we will have ten out of a class of forty. You get what you put in just like with any exercise.
Take care