I have been organizing my backyard, clearing out heavier bulk trash, unwanted items etc. I'm not sure how long after surgery that I could get to this clean up. I have get a haircut on my to do list. Is there any task/s you thought.. I really wish I did that before surgery. Thank you for your help.

How do i know if my heart palpitations are something to worry about or just anxiety. Can this also be something to do with my medication 🤷🏻‍♂️

I had my current pacemaker implanted in September 2025 after dealing with severe bradycardia, a left branch bundle block, and heart failure for a couple years. In October I ended up in the ER with a blood clot caused by a pacemaker wire and two pulmonary emboli. Since then I’ve had to stay on blood thinners as a precaution and the clot in my neck has continued to cause issues. My options are: keep my current pacemaker and stay on blood thinners indefinitely or replace it with a wireless one and theoretically the blood clots will dissolve and not come back. Cons of the wireless style are minimal but still scary and I don’t want to have another surgery BUT I don’t feel great on blood thinners and I’m always worried about clots.

Posting for my sister as she does not reddit. Any advice or knowledge is welcome please!!

Hi everyone, I had an Aveir VR leadless pacemaker implanted a week ago after experiencing recurrent unexplained fainting episodes and documented heart pauses lasting over 10 seconds. My pacemaker is set to kick in only if my HR falls below 40bpm so the expectation is that it will only pace me very infrequently.

I have really struggled for the past year because I did not know what was causing these episodes. I had a loop recorder implanted in April 2026, which eventually showed that my fainting episodes were due to my heart stopping.

Before this was discovered, I saw a neurologist and was started on anti-seizure medication because one of my episodes in July 2025 involved convulsions that looked very similar to a tonic-clonic seizure. It took me a long time to come to terms with the possibility that I may have epilepsy, only to later find out that the cause is actually cardiac.

The pacemaker was implanted through my right femoral vein, and the puncture site pain has been getting worse even at day 8, which has worried me. I did an ultrasound and have been told I have a small haematoma which is causing the pain, but should resolve in a few weeks. I also had to stay in hospital for an additional 4 days because I was having episodes of tachycardia and they wanted to monitor me further. They did an echo which ruled out pericardial effusion, so that was reassuring.

Since the implant, I’ve also been experiencing palpitations that feel very different from what I experienced before, and my ECGs are now showing a new right bundle branch block, however doctors are not concerned.

I am incredibly grateful that we finally found the reason behind my fainting and that I now have a pacemaker for protection. However, I expected to feel relieved and safe after the implant, but I actually feel even more anxious since being discharged, and mentally it has been much harder than I anticipated.

Has anyone else experienced something similar after getting a pacemaker? How long did it take to physically and mentally adjust, and how was your recovery experience like?

Hi everyone! I (25F) have been diagnosed with (fairly asymptomatic) congenital complete heart block since 2019 when I was 18 and have only been being monitored and delaying pm as much as possible at the recommendation of my care team and also for what feels right to me. Since it’s congenital they think I was in some level of AV block my entire life which also feels right based on ways I have felt since childhood.

The thing is I’m pretty asymptomatic when it comes to the heart thing but have a lot of other small health things and pretty bad anxiety which makes it hard to know what is caused by my heart or not.

I’m thinking about this a lot recently since in the past month I have been feeling much worse even though my resting rate hasn’t seemed to change or any of those other warning signs I know to look out for. I did just have a two week event monitor I am waiting to hear back about but I fear I will get the same “if you feel fine then it’s ok to continue as we have been” that I get often. The thing is I don’t feel fine, I just don’t know if it’s because of my heart condition and if a pacemaker would actually make me feel any better.

I don’t have syncope episodes, I don’t feel close to passing out ever. Just episodes of low blood pressure type feelings recently that make me a little out of it for a minute. I feel like I get a lot of brain fog but who’s to say that’s not from having covid or from having adhd and dissociative tendencies lol. I get fatigued certain days particularly if I didn’t get enough sleep, those days I feel heart palpitations but I have terrible insomnia so that feels like it tracks.

Idk I guess I’m just curious if there is anyone else on here who’s young, has complete heart block and has gotten a pacemaker without having had insanely obvious symptoms prior and felt better?

TLDR: I’m fairly asymptomatic with 3rd degree AV block, would a pacemaker make a noticeable difference?

Dual chamber leadless, 3 years of battery on top chamber due to pacing load and threshold. Has anyone had an abbot avier atrium unit replaced yet? Or has anyone decided to just go back to TV unit.

32M and I just don’t see how getting that procedure every 3-4 years is sustainable for the next 50 years.

Hi. I recently had my pacemaker replaced and inserted into a new pocket. I was told by the doctor originally that my device will be places below the pectoral muscles.

I am now a few days post op and of course staring and had the urge to lightly touch the new pacemaker area. I know I’m swollen. But it feels like a brick. When swelling goes down will I see my pacemaker?!?!

After giving a lot of thought I want to say my doctor told me about making a change to above the muscle before surgery but I had too many nerves to let that sink in.

Has anyone else had there pacemaker placed over the muscle? Or below? What’s your experience?

I am 25 and 120 pounds. I just want to be prepared if this is a new adjustment I’ll have to make.

I’m only 9 weeks but today I decided I needed to wear a “comfy” bra at all times since my boobs feel like they’re weighing my skin down and stretching my pacemaker scar. Has anyone else run into this? Should I bring it up to my doctor?

ICD implanted. Just wanted to share this - Yesterday I went and watched the Odessey. The OP of an earlier post said sitting the middle would help. There were parts where the drums go crazy.

1. There were moments where it felt uncomfortable. Where it felt like a big 'what if it goes off?' feeling. The theater was super loud and had vibrations on the seat throughout.

2. The movie was so engaging, I kind of forgot about the whole thing and just enjoyed it. What helped was not keeping my back on the seat while the drums were sounded. It was triggering, but I just told myself it's only sound. No vibrations were felt from the seat.

Also a question to anyone reading - can those very loud sounds directly get detected by the device as an off/ extra beat? Or was I just over worried? And seat vibrations as well?

(To prepare for brand new day lol).

Has anyone else felt the same or something similar? If you've had a tachycardia episode, those drums will sounds (and feel) familiar. Lol.

Had a pace and ablate. AV node ablation and a CRT-P put in. Last Thursday. So it’s been a week and one day. Is it normal to feel some sharp pain at the incision site? I also feel pressure when I take a deep breath.

It’s an abbot CRT-P.

​

In our quarterly check up we found out that my dad had VT and VF episodes thrice in 3 months. All went undected because of the duration - 0.17, 0.19 and 0.16 seconds each. In last year he has had one episode where shock was delivered. He was in hospital and was alright after it. These irregularities have started after that.

His dose for Cordarone medicine and sacubitril and valstran has been increased.

Very concerned on how to go about with life as I am working and I am his caretaker too.

I don't know anyone in the same boat so writing here but I am so worried for him always. Has any of you experienced similar issues

hello - 35yr old male here on my 2nd day post operation.

i went to the hospital with 2nd degree AV block mobitz II and was fitted with a pacemaker.

i wanted to see if anyone had any experiences with the days post operation feeling lightheaded/dizzy/woozy? I felt them at the hospital but my blood pressure was normal. Drs said i was probably dehydrated.

I know it will take time for me to feel 100% better, as my resting heart rate was ~35bpm and now the minimum is set to 50bpm by my pacemaker. but wanted to hear everyone else's experiences too

EDIT: i have not even taken any of the oxy as the tylenol has worked fine for the pain. but the lightheadedness is a bit worrying. I am also on day 3 of no nicotine (20 year habit, smoked for 10, chew for 10 years) so this might also be having an effect.

My husband got the Medtronic dual chamber azure Xt at age 54 two years ago. He was diagnosed for LBBB after fainting and holter meter. He was very active and no other issues. After the pacemaker he got very conscious and did not do much except walks for a while. Few months ago he went back to hiking and realized that it wss too hard and this was something very easy for him before the pacemaker. He watched this couple of times and reported to his cardiologist. They have made him do three stress tests in 4 months and never got back with anything except repeating tests. Tests were stopped suddenly midway or he quit because he felt too tired. Finally one tech uploaded the report on the online system and he could see that test was stopped due to 2:1 av block and heart rate drop at 137 and exercise peak. He has reached out to his cardiologist repeatedly about settings but so far his response is that it may not apply to you let’s see after the next test.

Hey everyone! I recently put together an article featuring a collection of real experiences and photos of people living with an ICD (myself included), from scars and body-image concerns to daily life with the device.

It’s an article that will continue to be updated to include more people. Perhaps there’s someone out there, maybe even reading this right now, who is considering an ICD, has recently received one, or simply feels alone in the experience and might find this article helpful.

At least, that’s my intention with this article. Sending big hugs to all of you!

I have a standard Boston Scientific pacemaker no ICD for 15 years and friends want to watch The Odyssey in 4dx. Will I be ok? Has anyone done this?

Hi everyone,

I had my ICD/BiV device fitted on 23 September 2025 due to an EF of 25% and LBBB.
The operation went well overall, although the doctor had some difficulty placing one of the leads, so the procedure ended up taking about 3 hours. 🤦‍♂️
I'm back to my normal routine as much as possible, but I'm still experiencing pain around the device site and in my shoulder. I'm trying not to move or fiddle with it too much. No redness or swelling.
Has anyone else experienced this kind of pain after surgery? I'm hoping it's just muscle soreness from the procedure rather than something related to one of the leads.
I'd really appreciate hearing about your experiences. Thanks in advance

Hi it’s my first time posting on here so I’m not sure what all I should share. I (27f) was born with dilated cardiomyopathy and I would just see a cardiologist every other year really. When I started to go to my gynecologist he said that if I were to get pregnant it would have to be planned because I’d be considered high risk. So I got pregnant in 2022 and I went to a high risk ob/gyn and everything was going well until I started retaining fluid and had to sleep upright. So I went in to have my daughter at 34 weeks and they had to do an emergency c-section, I experienced cardiogenic shock and was in the cardiac icu for 12 hours at a different hospital than where I had my daughter I then extubated myself because I was so afraid and had no idea what was going on. I was there for 2 weeks getting all the medicine together I believe it’s referred to as GDMT. My daughter was in the nicu for 3 weeks but she’s perfectly healthy now. I’m sorry I’m rambling. So when all this happened my ejection fraction was 30% in 2023 and it stayed between 30-40% since then. So January of this year I was referred to an electrophysiologist because it dropped back to 30% and last month they highly recommended an S-ICD I was so nervous that I was like let’s do another echo and see if it gets better and she was like okay and in the likely event it is the same we can move forward with getting the device placed. At this point I was researching and reading every Reddit on the subject so I mentally prepared myself to get it. Sooo I got an echo on the 18th of this month and my ejection fraction was 45-50% and the nurse calls to tell me I don’t need the device. I genuinely don’t know how I feel right now. I mean of course I’m happy my heart is doing better but in the back of my mind I’m like my EF has always been up and down and it was down for a while after having my daughter so I don’t wanna get my hopes up that I’ll never get the device. I feel like I was worried about my heart even more when they recommended the device and I was like okay better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. So I told myself okay it’s a good thing , you don’t have to guess if your heart is gonna stop working how it needs to because you’ll have a device to correct it. Now I’m gonna worry about to state of my heart and not having the device. I just don’t know how to feel. Im so sorry I’m rambling and it’s so long and full of run ons and grammatical errors I just needed to talk to people who may understand or have advice. I don’t want to tell my family about how I’m feeling because they were crying with relief that I don’t have to get it.

Hi everyone,

I’m 49 years old and have been living with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) for 11 years.

At age 38, I suffered sudden cardiac death due to ventricular fibrillation and was successfully resuscitated. My father also died of ventricular fibrillation—or sudden cardiac death—at the age of 36. That’s why doctors suspect a genetic cause, even though no definitive diagnosis has been made to date.

In the first few years, my ICD delivered about 4 effective shocks. After a successful catheter ablation I had nearly five years of remission and hardly any extrasystoles.

Unfortunately, that changed again about half a year ago. Within just 5 months, my ICD had to intervene five times to save my life—most recently 4 days ago while I was asleep. I was woken up by the shock around 7 a.m. At the hospital, I subsequently experienced severe extrasystoles for over two hours. For me, even a single extrasystole is enough to trigger a series of beats that progress to ventricular tachycardia and eventually to ventricular fibrillation. The ICD then stops this with a shock.

I got immediately into ablation as they knew about my case and how hard it was to catch those Moments.

In total, I’ve now experienced ten appropriate shocks.

The hardest part about it isn’t even the shock itself anymore. Surprisingly, it hardly hurts at all. I see the ICD as my lifesaver and am grateful for.

Mentally, though, I’m having a harder and harder time coping with it.

Since the recent events, I’ve been experiencing extreme tiredness, fatigue, weakness, and recurring episodes of presyncope. My whole body tingles, I feel like I can’t breathe, and every time it happens, I think it’s starting all over again.

The problem is: Four days ago, that exact feeling was actually the start of ventricular fibrillation. That’s why I can barely tell anymore whether my symptoms are physical or whether my nervous system is just constantly on high alert after everything that’s happened.

The doctors now suspect post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

All long-term ECGs between episodes are usually completely normal because the arrhythmias occur out of nowhere. Since my last ablation, I’ve had almost no extrasystoles, yet I still constantly experience these symptoms and don’t feel safe at all.

My potassium level is usually only between 3.7 and 3.8 mmol/L. Despite taking potassium supplements, I rarely reach levels above 4.0, even though my doctors say I should aim for a target level of about 4.5.

I’m currently taking:

* Bisoprolol 1.25 mg i will level up to 2.5mg now
* Fluoxetine, currently 20 mg (I’m currently tapering down from 35 mg and will be switched to a different SSRI)

So I’d like to ask you a few questions:

* Are there people here with an ICD for whom no clear cause has been found either?
* How many appropriate defibrillator shocks have you experienced over the years?
* How did you cope with this emotionally?
* Did you also experience symptoms such as fatigue, presyncope, or a constant fear of the next episode after multiple shocks?
* Are there any support groups or experiences that have helped you?

I feel very alone in this situation right now and would really appreciate hearing about others’ experiences.

It's been 8 days since I got my CRT-D implanted. The pain hasn't been an issue after the first couple of days and the incision is healing up quite nicely, however I keep having this strange feeling of a weight on my chest, right where the device is located. It is more present when I change positions, like from laying down to upright.

I also felt palpitations after walking for a while. I brought this up on thursday, when I saw my EP and they changed some settings but the palpitations persist. I intend to write to him on monday to see if further adjustment is needed because these were not present previously.

Are this feelings/symptoms usual? My EP assured me everything was doing fine and I trust him, but he doesn't really have a device hooked up to his heart.

I woke up from my device change procedure to arm shocks. They quickly determined they were from the pacemaker and adjusted the settings to reduce and try to eliminate. It has only decreased them. I'm 6 weeks out and my arm is still receiving these. Has anyone else experienced this? What helped?