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Defibrillator or surgery?

I posted this in the Angina community but thought it would be best to post it here. I am a 62 yr old woman with diabetes, chf and ckd. I recently had a heart cath and there were no blockages. I will be seeing another dr abt a defibrillator in a few days. I have been adamantly against surgery, if that's an option, but have recently been giving it considerable thought. I have a left bundle branch block. Any thoughts please.
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Avatar universal
Left side of my back, I meant to say, around the shoulder blade. Sorry for the typo
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Avatar universal
Ok, so about 3 weeks after this procedure I start having shortness of breath, pain in my chest, neck and left side of my neck. I waited about a week to see if it would ease up but it didn't. Took a trip to ER and got checked out. Bp was a little low, but not bad. Oxygen was 92. They did a chest xray and another kind of nuclear test to check for blood clots. Everything was clear. The dr said it could be where my muscles were still sore and that's why it hurt to breath. I felt a little better and much relieved after leaving the hospital. Now it's all back again. My neck also hurts when I bend down. Got a call into the dr but no call back today. Probably tomorrow. Just wondering if there are any opinions as to what's going on. I also have had 3 different days of having chills and fever but no other symptoms. My PCP said I was very pale and might be anemic due to kidney disease. All I want to do is feel better.
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Avatar universal
I have my biventricular device now. It was rough going. I know this procedure isn't called surgery but it sure feels like it. I did receive anesthesia. Pretty sore right now but getting a little better each day.
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Avatar universal
I did see the doctor this week and am scheduled for the biventricular icd. I didn't know if surgery was an option to repair this type of heart failure but it isn't. My ef is 35. He isn't sure what is causing the chest pain. I will keep you posted.
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1884349 tn?1353814998
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Hello and welcome to the forum.

I dont have enough info to definitely comment on the need for an ICD or not.  But a couple of things:

1. While and ICD implant is a procedure, it is not really surgery.  And ICD is typically placed on one day and pt goes home the next.  Usually no anesthesia is needed.  Risk is very minimal.

2. If your ejection fraction is low, the ICD will serve as an "insurance policy"--ie hopefully you'll never need it but you'd be sure glad you had it if your heart "tried to die" on you

3. I would definitely try to push the meds to tolerable doses (ie the coreg you mentioned, etc

4. Finally, given the LBBB that you said you have, you might be a candidate for a biventricular pacemaker at the same time as the ICD.  You might derive a lot of benefit from this special type of pacemaker---and thus you could kill two birds with one stone at the same time (ie both the pacer and ICD would be placed as a single unit).  

Hope this helps.

Best of luck.

Dr. Rich
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Avatar universal
I have aslo been on Coreg, 6.25 mg x2. The cardiologist is hesitant to increase the dosage because Of the dizziness I have.
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