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Pacemaker recipients: Looking for support from others
Heart Rhythm Conditions | Last Active: Nov 4 5:49am | Replies (490)Comment receiving replies
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!
Replies to "Hello. I had a pacemaker implanted about 6 days ago and have had a few episodes..."
Tylenol is most likely the culprit…now that you have stopped taking tylenol you will see if your acid reflux goes away
Hi: I've had PM for 10 months. I still have minor pain from time to time. After surgery, it was quite painful and that lasted many months. It's a tricky area to operate on. My surgeon was gruff and not at all concerned about my pain level, during surgery and after! I still have pain during some activities. Hang in there- it does improve.
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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?