What Causes Sharp Chest Pain While Having Medtronic Pacemaker?

Posted on Sun, 1 Feb 2015

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sun, 1 Feb 2015 Answered on

Tue, 17 Feb 2015 Last reviewed on

Question : I have a Medtronic pacemaker (model SEDR01) that I received in 2010 with no problems. Today, I started having a sharp pain in my heart area about every 1 1/2 minutes, then no pain, them 1 1/2 minutes later another sharp pain for a second. It is continuing to do this approximately every 1 1/2 minutes. It has been over an hour of this. Did I somehow disconnect a wire or is the device shorting out?

Answered by Dr. Benard Shehu (-5 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Your symptoms doesn't seems related to pacemaker problemd, but arrhythmias.

Detailed Answer:
Hi and thank you for asking!
I read your query and understood your concerns.

Your symptoms don’t seem related to pacemaker problems but more likely are related to cardiac arrhythmias. There's no sign of device shorting out or a disconnected wire.

However if the pain (or discomfort) persist, or become worse you should go to the ER to rule out any problem. The best way to reassure that everything is ok with your heart (and that pacemaker is working properly) is to do an ECG.

Hope this was of help!
Wish you health!
Dr. Benard

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar