Does the "raised feeling" of a pacemaker implant ever go away?

@cottagecountry
What you posted is excellent information and guidance.

I am on my 3rd ICD/Pacemaker and mine is under my chest muscle. Just like you said it is going to take some time for the area to stop being irritated and the wires and device be incapsulated by the body. The first device is going to take the longest to have this occur.

My EP gave me a one-year mark to get over what he called the splinter feel. He was right on. But I found even though I have had a ICD/Pacemaker for almost 20 years I still find I must watch and limit what I do with my left arm.

For me I do stretches and movements that do not cause me any pain in the device area. Once I feel any pain or discomfort, I stopped the motion and try something different that does not cause discomfort. I do water aerobics 5 days a week and we use our arms the entire time. Ninety percent of the time no issues but that 10% I will do something else that does not bring discomfort or any pulling type of feeling.

There is a stretch we do with our arms during cool down. Hard to explain but you bend your arm at elbow and bend your hand over your shoulder and then push up with other hand. Great for shoulder joints and muscles. You can control the amount of force because you are controlling that pressure with your other hand. On my right side I use strong pressure on my left, light but still getting a good stretch on shoulder joints and muscles.

Good Morning jc76

Thank you for your kind words. I view you as one, if not the most, senior advisor(s) on this site in regards to pacemakers and appreciate your support. Your insights and advice are invaluable.

I must say I envy your enthusiasm for exercise. I wish I felt the same way about it. Nonetheless, I do about 45 minutes of various exercises each morning. Things like squats, hinges, lunges and crunches. I also do a number of pilates-inspired stretches involving my back, legs and arms. And I do a little resistance band work to keep my arms strong. Plus the tai chi I mentioned earlier to beautifulgiraffe. I find it helps with balance, something I have noticed seems to be declining somewhat in the last 3 or 4 years. And because I have been doing this routine for some years, I work through it pretty quickly, moving from one exercise to the next with little time in between. Maintaining my mobility is a priority for me.

But if I had my druthers, I wouldn't be doing any of that. I am the sort of person who if asked whether I would like to participate in any sport or exercise that made me perspire or clean an oven, I would respond with "get me some gloves and point me towards the oven". (I feel pretty confident making that offer about the oven cleaning since a lot of people, including myself, have self-cleaning ovens. The chances of being taken up on my offer are slim to nothing, I think. 😉 Having said all that, I do recognize and, more importantly, benefit from the exercises. Both physically and psychologically. The physical benefits are obvious but the psychological ones, including the feeling that I have some control over my well being, is even more powerful. I am sure you experience something similar and, therefore, understand what I am saying.

I also meditate. I practice 5 minutes of deep breathing each morning before I start. And at some point in the day, I will sit down and simply clear my mind by focusing on my breathing. Such a simple exercise but it has many benefits.

I am not, however, without some sporting inclinations. I golf, usually walking the course. (Some wag asked me if the pacemaker had helped with my swing but, sadly, it did not.) I used to curl. But the sweeping involved in the game - and I played lead so I swept for everyone else on the team- was too taxing and the EP suggested I give that one pass.

I remain active. I live on an acreage with my husband and small dog. We have extensive perennial gardens and a large vegetable garden. So, we have a fair amount of outside work to do which involves walking, digging, lifting and bending. All good exercise. Every once in a while, I seem to be a little over-zealous in some task and experience some discomfort in the area of the implant. When I do that, I simply grab a towel, wrap a gel pack out of the refrigerator in it, and place it over the generator for 10 minutes. It always seems to help.

At any rate, best wishes to you, your wife and of course, to your little dog (is it a Cocker Spaniel, by any chance?).

If you Pacemaker /ICD is on TOP of the muscle, the raised feeling will always be there.

@cottagecountry
My dog is a coc a poo. That is cockerspanial and poodle. He is 12 now but we try to keep in shape by walking him morning and night even though we have huge fenced in back yard.

He was getting picky on his eating and found a food called The Farmers Dog. He loves the food and went from being picky and not eating all his food to now wanting more. I think he is regressing in age not getting older. Wants to play, walk, and loves hunting for lizards (we live in Florida) but wants his humans to help him. My wife can't stand to even see lizards so I am his buddy and he will spend 10 minutes looking for them at a park bench, etc.

Yes, regretfully have a lot of experience with this subject. Think over the 20 years with the device have seen about everything, had everything that can happen happen.

I just know all the way back to 2006 when I go my first one there was no MCC. I learned about the devices from experience and not all that experience was not a positive one. I think having a dedicated Pace Clinic at Mayo Jacksonville really helped. And I had a world reknown EP who wrote books, does training seminars, President of the Electrophysiology Society, and Director of Pace Clinic and Electrophysiology at Mayo Jacksonville. So my knowledge of the subject comes from them and really appreciate having access to that level of expertise.

I think the ice (with cover) is a very good idea. Cold will help reduce inflamation and irritation.

Sounds like you have a great life and many things to do and enjoy.