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Frequently Asked Questions
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- I have an implantable defibrillator. What do I do if I get a shock?
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- First of all, do not panic. If you are feeling well after the shock, there is no reason to be concerned. There are many reasons for the defibrillator to deliver a shock. If you feel OK after the shock, we recommend that you call our office during normal business hours to let us know. However, if you receive more than 3 shocks during a 24-hour period, or if you have chest pain or pressure, shortness of breath or have passed out after having received a shock, we recommend that you seek medical attention as soon as possible.
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- I have just been sent home from the hospital after surgery to place a new pacemaker or defibrillator. What do I need to watch for?
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- Generally, you should be on the lookout for signs of infection or bleeding in the area of the surgery. If you have increasing pain, redness, swelling or discharge from this area, you should contact us immediately.
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- I just had a heart procedure. When can I bathe?
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- After an electrophysiology or catheter procedure, we do not have any time restrictions before you can bathe or shower.
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- However, after surgery to implant a pacemaker or defibrillator, you may bathe within 48 hours provided that the incision was closed with Dermabond skin glue. In this case, you may wash the incision with soap and water. Do not scrub it. You may pat it dry with a towel.
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- If you have small strips of tape (Steri-strips) across your incision or if there is a gauze dressing over it, then you should not get the incision wet for seven days. If your incision was closed with Steri-strips or a gauze dressing, then you should cover the incision with plastic such as Saran Wrap in order to protect it from getting wet. If you bathe, you should keep the water level low enough so that the incision is not immersed. After seven days, you can shower and let the water run down from your shoulders over the incision, but you still should not let the water hit your fresh incision directly. You may wish to ask a family member to help you to ensure that you adequately cover the incision before washing. Also note that if your incision was closed with Steri-Strips, you should not pull these off. They will come off on their own in time.
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- I have been sent home after an ablation procedure. What do I need to know or watch for?
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- You have had a heart procedure, but fortunately, by the time you go home, there are few problems that can be encountered. Most of the time, these problems are usually just a nuisance, such as discomfort or discoloration where the catheters (heart tubes) were placed in the leg or the neck. However, if leg swelling or increasing pain or discoloration occur, you should call our office immediately. New or different shortness of breath, dizzy spells, passing out or long lasting heart racing or palpitations should prompt you to call us as soon as possible. If you think that you are having a HEART ATTACK, you should not call us, but call 911 immediately!
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I have a question about my heart rhythm. Where can I get more information?
- We have listed on our website Links that will take you to some other websites that have information we have reviewed and find very useful. We would also be happy to schedule an appointment to meet with you to discuss further with you our thoughts and recommendations about your heart rhythm problem.
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My implantable defibrillator beeped. What do I do?
- Many of the defibrillators have internal alarms that can be triggered by various problems or conditions that the defibrillator will test for automatically each day. We program the alarms to go off once in the morning, generally between 9 and 10 AM The alarms DOES NOT always mean that there is a serious problem with your defibrillator. If you hear an alarm, you should call us.
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I forgot to take my heart pills. I am not sure if I took my heart pills. What should I do?
- Do not take an extra pill. At the next time you are supposed to take the heart rhythm pills, take your regular dose.
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I have been sick for a few days and have been unable to eat, or have been throwing up or have had diarrhea. Is there something I should do because I take heart rhythm pills?
- You should call the doctor that wrote the prescription for that pill. Some pills can have dangerous side effects when you have had long-lasting stomach upsets and you may need to have special instructions about what to do.
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My insurance plan or pharmacy wants to give me a generic form of a pill you prescribed. What should I do?
- We will specify on our prescription if it is OK for them to substitute one heart rhythm pill for another. There are some heart rhythm pills that should not be substituted because all of them are made differently even though they are supposed to do the same thing. That means that it may not be absorbed into your body the same way as the pill we prescribed and that may affect the way your heart rhythm is treated.
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I don't feel well. Which one of my doctors should I call?
- In general, we limit our involvement in your care to those aspects that directly involve your arrhythmia and its treatment. If you think that you are having a problem with your heart rhythm diagnosis or treatment, or if you have had a procedure that we performed and you think that your problem is related to that procedure, you should call us directly. If you have an implanted defibrillator or loop recorder, you should also call us directly for problems related to that device. Likewise, if you have a pacemaker which we implanted, you should call us for device related problems.
For all other medical problems, you should call your cardiologist if you think that it is a heart problem, or the physician who normally treats you for that problem if it is something other than a heart problem. Some of our patients have had a pacemaker implanted and followed by another physician, generally their cardiologist. If you are having a problem related to a pacemaker that we did not implant and for which we are NOT performing your routine followup, you should call the physician who performed your surgery or who is taking care of your pacemaker directly.
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