Pacemaker- child or teenager. Any experience?

[skitt]

Exactly this. My 15 yr old may have to have one fitted. Any one have one themselves or have a child or teen with one? He's well in himself and asymptomatic but bradycardiac (bumping along around 30)

Anyone?

Hi, had my first pacemaker fitted at 11. It is a straightforward procedure and I was l up and about in no time. They need changed every 5-10 years and I can't go through the metal detector at the airport but no issues otherwise. I was self conscious about the scarring at first but it is does fade. I hope all goes well for your DS.

Thank you so much for replying. Can I ask whether it affected your choice of career, hobbies?

Not at all. I believe I can't use some welding equipment but that's it. I was also told I could t be a pilot/ join the military but rules may have changed in the last 30 years (and I wasn't that way inclined anyway!). For contact sports it may be advisable to wear a protective pad over the pacemaker. The only real impact to me is a 5 min hospital check every year and then the battery change every 5-10 yrs

Hi there did your child ever have this procedure? My 6yo has symptomatic bradycardia / type II AV heart block so we’ve been advised to implant a pacemaker which we are devastated by. It may well be temporary but we feel we’d rather monitor instead of make such a life altering decision such as this. We’ve had a second opinion in another country which advised against it, so we’re stuck in the middle! Perhaps it’s better to be safe than sorry just very hard to know what the right decision is. Thanks

Hi - no he didn't, as is totally asymptomatic, despite having dips of 28 bpm, I did loads of research on the pros and cons and went in fully prepared for him to have it as it seemed overwhelmingly positive and the drawbacks are so few in comparison to the benefits. If you'd like to DM me, please feel free to do so x