IMPLANTED CARDIOVERTER DEFIBRILLATORS.

rickangus
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Re: IMPLANTED CARDIOVERTER DEFIBRILLATORS.

Post by rickangus »

Yes, you're right, it did work well. Can't say I enjoyed the experience though!

Interesting article in yesterday's Daily Telegraph about recipients not being properly prepared for the psychological trauma of being 'shocked' by an ICD.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/89287 ... nside.html
Colin_P
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Re: IMPLANTED CARDIOVERTER DEFIBRILLATORS.

Post by Colin_P »

What a coincidence.

I've been separately browsing this forum with the intention of joining and at the same time browsing for information about cycling with an ICD.

Well, I'm only 42 and had a duel lead Boston Scientific gadget fitted just last week.

As mentioned above in this thread, there is a 6 month driving ban so my attention is switching back to good old push bikes.

Like many 40 something blokes, I have a Hybrid bike, my is a Giant something or other and cost me a few quid about about three years back. I've done a tad under 400 miles on it to date but do enjoy it. Now though it is going to be my main transport so I'm fitting mudguards, a carrier and some lights.

I'd be really interested on any cycling based feedback with one of these things residing in ones chest?

Anyone fallen off as a result of a zap whilst riding ?

I've only had mine a week and a day so am still in the 'taking it easy' stage of recovering from surgery but think I might go for a sort ride tomorrow. Just to mention my ICD was fitted for an unspecified arrhythmia which 'they' reckon 'might' have caused a run of v-tach (ventricula tachycardia) which 'might' have caused me to black out. I do have some heart history though and a cardio MRI revealed some scarring on my heart from a run I had with the Chicken Pox eight years ago where it decided to go for my heart. Mt plumbing is fine and heart function described as perfect with an ejection fraction of 65%+ which they said was about as good as it gets for an early 40's bloke so that is quite nice.

The ICD was recommended as a precaution, which I reluctantly accepted. I know I should be grateful and happy and everything, but I'm not, I'm angry and resentful but I'm sure that will pass and I'll eventually become accepting of the security it offers of not dropping dead!

The zapping threshold for it has been programmed to activate at 220 bpm heart rate so I should be ok unless I go really bonkers, which I won't.

I'd be really interested on any feedback from fellow forum members (and to get in touch with them) with an ICD, especially relatively young ones like me.

Oh, the hybrid......... I know I now want / need a road bike...... but that is for another thread.

Sorry for a semi-grumpy 1st post and thanks for having me / letting me join.
Colin_P
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Re: IMPLANTED CARDIOVERTER DEFIBRILLATORS.

Post by Colin_P »

Just bumping this up, cheeky for a 2nd post I know.

Looks like the OP and others posters when this thread was live have not visited this forum for some time.

Bumping it up really to see if there are any current members who may happen to have an ICD ?
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[XAP]Bob
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Re: IMPLANTED CARDIOVERTER DEFIBRILLATORS.

Post by [XAP]Bob »

Slightly off topic, but from the Telegraph article linked above:
Since their introduction in the Eighties, ICDs have been fitted in some 30,000 patients and have extended countless lives


So a number less than 30k is "uncountable" (assuming of course that they can't save the life of someone in whom they are not implanted...
A shortcut has to be a challenge, otherwise it would just be the way. No situation is so dire that panic cannot make it worse.
There are two kinds of people in this world: those can extrapolate from incomplete data.
rickangus
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Re: IMPLANTED CARDIOVERTER DEFIBRILLATORS.

Post by rickangus »

Hi Colin,

Haven't been on the forum for a while but your posts were brought to my attention. I will give you a more detailed response later as I'm just leaving for Papworth for some tests. A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since my earlier posts and as you may be aware Papworth hospital is the place where transplants are done and that is the route I'm having to go down.

Will post more later this week.

Regards,
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Audax67
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Re: IMPLANTED CARDIOVERTER DEFIBRILLATORS.

Post by Audax67 »

I was interested to read this topic because I developed a computer-aided system for programming defibs in the mid-90s and extended it in 2007/2008. I worked closely with the development team for one of the earlier impants: the size of a compact camera, it was implanted in the abdomen and required a full thoracic unzip to install the leads. Battery life was reckoned at about 5 years, and there was no cardioverter option: shocks started at 1 joule and stepped up in powers of 2 up to 32 joules, a right royal mule-kick. By the time of the 2007/2008 updates defibs had dwindled to near their present size and were implanted under the skin near the clavicle with the leads going in via the artery: still no cardioversion, though, at least in the models my system was then being used on.

Apart from speeding up development while reducing the likelihood of bugs, the main object of my system was to reduce the drain on the battery as much as possible. In the end we gained something like 20%, which meant an added year without device-replacement surgery for implantees.

I've been out of touch with that area since: these later developments, cardioversion and leadless defibs, are great, especially in comparison with the mid-90s.

Good luck to all of you.
Have we got time for another cuppa?
Colin_P
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Re: IMPLANTED CARDIOVERTER DEFIBRILLATORS.

Post by Colin_P »

Brilliant, thanks for the replies Gents.

I've got a Boston Scientific Energen F142, which is a Cardioverter and Defib machine.

Hopefully it will remain dormant for the next 5-7 years.

Still a bit sore from the surgery but today I have been pootling about in the garage making my Giant hybrid into a commuter bike, mudguards, rack, paniers etc. Think I'll throw caution to the wind and get out there a bit later today once the wife is home from work.
DavidT
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Location: East Midlands (Originally from Devon)

Re: IMPLANTED CARDIOVERTER DEFIBRILLATORS.

Post by DavidT »

Hi Colin

I can't help regarding an ICD, but I do have a pacemaker. PM sent. All good stuff. :D

Best wishes
David
Colin_P
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Re: IMPLANTED CARDIOVERTER DEFIBRILLATORS.

Post by Colin_P »

David, replied and many thanks.

I went out on a short but hilly 4 miler with the dog running behind.

Felt great during and after.

I'm supposed to be taking it easy though, recovering from surgery, late night, have had a few beers, been out on the bike...

Self destructive behavior level = idiot :roll:

Saying that, it was 11 days ago :lol:
michael42
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Joined: 19 May 2012, 6:42pm

Re: IMPLANTED CARDIOVERTER DEFIBRILLATORS.

Post by michael42 »

Colin_P wrote:Just bumping this up, cheeky for a 2nd post I know.

Looks like the OP and others posters when this thread was live have not visited this forum for some time.

Bumping it up really to see if there are any current members who may happen to have an ICD ?


I can't help thinking they and you are asking the wrong people.

I mean, you have an ICD, and you don't know the answer. I'd be reticent to find the answer to a medical question like this
on the internet if the risk is your life or worse, your bike getting damaged if you fall off (excuse my dark sense of humour)

Surely someone in the medical profession with direct experience of not only your history but ICDs has better advice to give you about
what exercise and activities you can undertake and what specific stresses - whether it's HRM or RPE you use to measure you need to worry about,
rather than asking cyclists?

I mean, I'm 45, I trained as a smoker for 2 or more decades before starting cycling, I regularly cycle at intervals with my heart rate approaching 180bpm, albeit
it's perhaps more averaging around 150-160. What I can say is, it's nearly always more than walking. Cycling using the same exertion as walking - if that's the kind
of level of exercise someone in the much older part of the thread was suggesting he was being told to do, is a very sedate and slow pace.

Perhaps I'm reasonably fit. OTOH, maybe the next time I do a set of intervals or push up a hill I'll keel over and need
an ICD. I can't give you any advice based upon my age, the bike I ride or my medical history that will be relevant to you. I don't see how, even if I had an ICD fitted, that would change.

Equally, if I had an ICD, I wouldn't want to be the first person to find out and post here to let everyone know.
tyreon
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Joined: 4 Oct 2012, 4:39pm

Re: IMPLANTED CARDIOVERTER DEFIBRILLATORS.

Post by tyreon »

Michael42. With respect(and on reading your text),I think you're wrong. The more info you have,the better you're informed. You just can't get enough information. No one person,no one hospital,no one specialist has the one true answer. You compare,analyse,evaluate etc. You may then know the right questions to ask your cardiologist. Thank god,I haven't got any of the above. But from my dealings with the medical profession,any decent professional should answer any query/proposition by the patient with a reasoned reply. The reasoned question can come through others,cyclist-doctor,cyclist-specialist,whatever. Openess,disclosure,can help others and yourself.

Believe it or not,when you are informed yourself,that specialist/doctor takes a sharper notice of you! (or perhaps,I'm seeing things that aren't there)

Best wishes to all
Vorpal
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Re: IMPLANTED CARDIOVERTER DEFIBRILLATORS.

Post by Vorpal »

michael42 wrote:
Colin_P wrote:Just bumping this up, cheeky for a 2nd post I know.

Looks like the OP and others posters when this thread was live have not visited this forum for some time.

Bumping it up really to see if there are any current members who may happen to have an ICD ?


I can't help thinking they and you are asking the wrong people.

I mean, you have an ICD, and you don't know the answer. I'd be reticent to find the answer to a medical question like this
on the internet if the risk is your life or worse...


Colin_P is looking for others who have an ICD. He's not asking fellow cyclists for medical advice. The OP was a couple of years ago.
“In some ways, it is easier to be a dissident, for then one is without responsibility.”
― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
tyreon
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Re: IMPLANTED CARDIOVERTER DEFIBRILLATORS.

Post by tyreon »

My apologies for making comment!
Colin_P
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Joined: 19 Aug 2013, 2:21am

Re: IMPLANTED CARDIOVERTER DEFIBRILLATORS.

Post by Colin_P »

Gents,

Never meant for this to become heated.

I'm simply looking for others who share the ICD experience.

And to that end, this forum was unique in so far as on the whole of the web, it had someone, which is brilliant. He has also responded to the resurrection of this thread which is even better.

And what makes it better still, was me looking for a cycle forum as the bike is going to be my primary mode of transport for at least the next six months and there is a 6 month ban post surgery.

I'm not a hardcore cyclist, just a typical bloke who has a bike bought for going out with this kids once in a while.
Colin_P
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Re: IMPLANTED CARDIOVERTER DEFIBRILLATORS.

Post by Colin_P »

tyreon wrote:Michael42. With respect(and on reading your text),I think you're wrong. The more info you have,the better you're informed. You just can't get enough information. No one person,no one hospital,no one specialist has the one true answer. You compare,analyse,evaluate etc. You may then know the right questions to ask your cardiologist. Thank god,I haven't got any of the above. But from my dealings with the medical profession,any decent professional should answer any query/proposition by the patient with a reasoned reply. The reasoned question can come through others,cyclist-doctor,cyclist-specialist,whatever. Openess,disclosure,can help others and yourself.

Believe it or not,when you are informed yourself,that specialist/doctor takes a sharper notice of you! (or perhaps,I'm seeing things that aren't there)

Best wishes to all


Spot on.
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