Heart thumps from ICD

Heart thumps from ICD

After my Jan 18, 2012 adjustment (second time to check out my ICD) of my new ICD I started getting heart thumps, usually two, at about 6:16 to 6:17 pm. The thumps did not happen daily, and there did not appear to be a pattern on which days the thumps happened at 6:16-6:17 pm.

On 8 Feb 2012 I had my ICD checked again, with nothing wrong being found. I think people thought I was crazy about feeling the thumps at about 6:16 pm.

I got on the internet and emailed an engineer from the company supplying my ICD. The engineer said: "There are automatic measurements performed daily, and in addition, there are certain algorithms that run tests every 24 hours. If these algorithms are turned on, they may be what is causing the daily symptoms around 6:17 pm."

Thus the thumps could be due to an algorithm forcing pacing. If the ICD is already pacing the heart then there may be no thump of the algorithm turning on; thus I do not feel the thumps if the ICD is already pacing the heart. I have about decided that the periodic thumps let me know the ICD is working, so I might not worry about getting them stopped by ICD adjustment.

I still have a periodic burning pain (0-2 on scale of 10) in the area of my ICD implant; the pain is believed to be due to nerve damage when the ICD was implanted.

Adrian R. Lawler,   (C) 2012 --