Pacemaker recipients: Looking for support from others

Hi @bettysammy, can you elaborate? What do you mean when you way "what are indicators for a pacemaker?" If yes, this may help

"A pacemaker is implanted to help control your heartbeat. Your doctor may recommend a temporary pacemaker when you have a slow heartbeat (bradycardia) after a heart attack, surgery or medication overdose but your heartbeat is otherwise expected to recover. "
Pacemaker - Why it's done https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/pacemaker/about/pac-20384689

Do you think you might benefit from a pacemaker?

@balubeje, can you believe that this discussion that you started to bring fellow pacemaker patient together back in 2016 is still supporting people 6 years later. I thought I'd check in with you. How are you doing? How's your pacemaker? How's your heart?

Hi, this is so sweet of you. I'm doing fine. Thankfully more good days than bad. I do quarterly pacemaker checks so I'm assuming no news is good news.

Would a pacemaker correct pauses and or an ablation for bracacarydia happening sometimes..other times tachacardia.? What would be better. Can you still havae an ablation with a pacemaker implanted>

Hello. I had a pacemaker implanted about 6 days ago and have had a few episodes of pain in the area of my diaphragm and some acid-reflux this morning. I have rarely had heartburn or acid-reflux and I'm wondering if anyone has had it with a pacemaker. It could also be caused by the fact that I have had to stop swimming (and most all exercise) following the pm placement or that I was essentially in bed for 3 days last week at the hospital or that I've been taking a lot of tylenol for pain recently (just stopped). If anyone has info to share, I'd be grateful to hear from you. Many thanks!

Hi AJ from New York welcome to connect. Congratulations on your new pacemaker. I had one for about 10 years before needing a Heart Transplant. The pacemaker was a life savor many times before my Heart just was beyond repair. But as for the pacemaker I'm thinking that based on its only been a few days your probably just suffering from the post installation of the device. They have to put wires into the area between the device and your heart . So just the trauma of the surgery may be the cause. Me myself suffer from acid reflux anyway and had that before the pacemaker. But I take medication for it and it is under control. But I would say let your doctors know and see if they have some suggestions to either relive it or maybe it's something temporary. I do know certain foods make it worse so you may want to consider diet changes to help. I don't remember the whole list but I would say just do a search for foods to avoid for acid reflux. I do know fried high fat foods, caffeine, Alcohol, Chocolate, peppermint, citrus fruits, tomatoes and spicy foods are some of the culprits. But it's somewhat of a trial and error to basically eliminate the ones you eat a lot n of and see if it helps. Then once you identify the worse ones reintroduce the others one at a time to narrow the bad ones. That's what I've heard others say. For me it wasn't a huge problem so I just cut back mainly coffee or do decaf. I had to quit Alcohol anyway for my transplant and it's not good for your heart anyway. Anything spicy is also a big problem. I know what your first thought is. They want me to quick all the good tasting foods. Hope that helps but also make sure you check with your doctors first as they may have a better idea what to avoid for you. Please let me.know if any other questions come up. I'm pretty familiar with the ins and outs of pacemakers. May I ask what kind you Have? Does it have a defibulator also?

Dear Dana,

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to me. I appreciate what you shared about your own experience and your thoughts about what could be causing the reflux and how to address it. It seems to be getting better now, so I'm hopeful that it was just an initial reaction to a few days in the ER, hospital and the surgery or perhaps the tylenol which I stopped. I received a standard pacemaker without defibrillator and it's working well so far. I still have some chest pain and can only sleep on my back so far, but I hear that will ease over time.

I'm encouraged to hear that the pacemaker was so helpful for you and so impressed that you've had a transplant. I hope everything is working out well with your new heart. Thank you again for your welcome. The Mayo site is such a wonderful resource. I send you all the best.

Hi Bettysamny welcome to connect. Yes to both your questions. Today's pacemakers are pretty fancy as to what they can do. I had one for about 10 years and saved my life many times. So I'm pretty familiar with Tachycardia mostly but I have heard they can be used for bradycardia. The basic function is to cause the heart to beat at a certain rate whether faster or slow. And as for an ablation I myself as my heart got worse had a total of 8 ablation while also having the pacemaker. During the n procedure thay have it turned off so it doesn't try and affect what they are trying to accomplish during the ablation.
Are you being advised to get a pacemaker? May I ask what condition you are having to need one? You mentioned both fast or slow I personally hat VT or Vintricular Tachycardia which is the lower part of the heart. Please.feel free to ask any questions you like.

Thanks and all the Best to you also. Yes Mayo has always been for me a great place to meet others with like issues. I think when you realize others share in your journey it makes it so much easier.

I agree. Thank you so much!