Hello,
I am a 36 year old female. I wear a pacemaker; my previous two tried to come out of me (pre-erosion). No infection could ever be found. In May 2006 I received a new pacer put under the muscle. Since then, I have been plagued with problems with my shoulder and arm--tingling and numbness in the fingers, chronic dull pain. With physical therapy the tingling and numbness pretty much disappeared. But the pain never left.
The pain over time has worsened and the more I use the arm the worse it gets. 9 months after my surgery in Feb 2007 my pain went through the roof for several days in a different way and then suddenly disappeared. I felt like I had been stabbed, shot and poked with hot pokers at the same time in my armpit. Since then, however, my pain continues as a chronic dull ache that goes the entire length of my arm to the fingers. I've noticed some swelling in the left arm (pacer side). Recently I also began to notice sharp pains in the chest on that left side with deeper breathing.
I recently saw my internist; she ordered a D-Dimer and it came back at 4,000. I know this test helps rule out thrombosis, but with 4,000 does it become more likely I could have a clot? Is this something that could have happened with my prior pacer woes or with the current machine being in the muscle?
Thanks!