While men and women do have anatomical differences, a heart is just a heart, right? Yes, but men and women can, and do, experience heart attacks differently. Here’s what women should be on the lookout for.
We’re going to implant a pacemaker to ensure that your heart maintains its steady rhythm and you’re, understandably, concerned about what your life will be like afterward. As the 200,000 people who receive a pacemaker each year in the United States can tell you, life doesn’t change all that much, but there are a few things you need to consider.
To help you adjust smoothly to life with a pacemaker, the team here at South Mountain Cardiology, including, Dr. Nadeem Husain, Patti Cox, MSN, ARNP, and Kim Munneke, MSN, FNP-C, wants to take this opportunity to outline what you need to know.
During the first days and weeks after we install your pacemaker, we ask that you follow a few simple guidelines:
This last point is an important one. While we don’t want you to push yourself to the point where you’re gasping for air, we encourage you to move around to keep your circulation flowing easily.
During early recovery, we’ll check in with you often to ensure that everything is going smoothly.
Once your incision has healed and we’re confident that your pacemaker has settled into position, there are only a few things you should consider moving forward, such as:
As you can see, these changes aren’t all that dramatic and we encourage you to get back to your life. Rest assured, we provide you with detailed instructions and guidelines for living with a pacemaker and we educate you fully on how to monitor the device and your heart.
When it comes time to change the battery for your pacemaker, which is usually after 5-10 years, the procedure is very simple and we can perform it under local anesthesia on an outpatient basis.
While we’ve outlined a few of the adjustments you need to make after receiving a pacemaker, we want to emphasize the positive outcomes.
With a pacemaker, you now have more peace of mind knowing that your arrhythmia is under control. This means that you can get back to (or create) a more active lifestyle, which delivers many benefits for your overall health. This also incluldes an active sex life.
If you still have questions about life with a pacemaker, please don’t hesitate to contact our office in Tempe, Arizona.
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