Life with a Pacemaker

A pacemaker is something which induces the heart beat of a person. We all have a natural one but there are people who suffer from having an irregular heart beat due to failure of their natural pacemaker which results for the heart beat to become either too slow or too fast. This is where an artificial one comes in.

There are different ways to induce ventricular beat by using an artificial device depending upon the situation. For people with a permanent disorder regarding their heart beat, a permanent device is placed in their left shoulder to send electric pulses to the heart. This electric pulse contracts the heart muscles thus making the heart beat regular. But at what cost does this medical solution come in?
When placing an artificial pacemaker, the patient undergoes a simple surgical procedure which lasts for about an hour. The doctor uses a local anaesthetic then makes an incision just below the collar bone of the patient on his or her left shoulder. Once the device is installed, the patient would then have to come back to his or her doctor for regular checkups.
Checkups are usually on a 6 month interval but this may vary depending upon the patient’s condition and availability of equipment. This is done to check on the device if it is functioning properly and to find the cause of the problem. The patient would also have to avoid any full contact sport such as food and would need to avoid places with strong magnetic fields as it can interrupt the device.