Re: ICD FIRED 74 TIMES

[Guest guest]

I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE TO BEGIN OR WHAT TO SAY EXCEPT OH MY GOD!

As I sat reading your description of what you experienced my mind flew back to the time I was shocked over 54 times in less than 4 hours. Even though it is now years later there are times I still have nightmares about the fear. Whenever I see lightening I remember the incident like it was yesterday.

I guess I can say thank God that you are a strong individual and made it back for help. My experience happened in my own home, I can't imagine being in such a romote area and setting.

My experience was cause by a a faulty twisted lead wire and a tear in my patch. It left me with a great many health problem for it putting my system out of whack so many times, I still go to therapy and take pills for the anxiety.

Please know that you will be in my thoughts constantly. I hope you find answers to why you had such an experience. I am always available to talk if you should need someone.

You are an amazingly strong and wonderful person to be able to talk about your experience already. Im sorry if I am babbling but I just keep saying to myself on my God that poor man,

Love and Prayers

Sharon in Ohio

[Guest guest]

Clint...there are very few times in my life when I find myself speechless...but I swear it took me a good 10 minutes to catch my breath after reading your e-mail.

I am so sorry about your terrifying experience. I have never (consciously) had more than three therapies in a row, yet I very clearly remember the mind-numbing fear. Many of us loose sleep at the thought of enduring what you have lived through.

The turmoil of frustration and fear is life altering...please rely on those who love you and these wonderful people (in this group) who truly care. When we say "our thoughts and prayers are with you", its not empty speech... we all know that one day it may be our time to write for encouragement and empathy...and we hope to God that its there for us.

Please know that you and yours are TRULY in our prayers tonight...

[Guest guest]

You are one gutsy guy. My hat's off to you. Isn't it amazing what we can do

when we're dealing with survival!

Hal

ICD FIRED 74 TIMES

Name: Clint

Age: 39

Diagnosis: Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

Device: Medtronics ICD - Marquis DR 7274 - set at 30 joules

On the morning of August 21, 2004, I had decided to take my wife and

two boys camping at my deer lease in deep east Texas. We packed our

gear and necessities and headed out for what we expected to be an

enjoyable overnight family trip. We live in Houston and our deer

lease is approx 3 hours northeast of us by Jasper, Texas. My parents

live halfway between the two points in Buna, so we stopped there to

have lunch. My parents and nephew Zach said that they were going to

ride up to the lease also, so my wife and kids decided they would

ride with them. I told them that I was going to go ahead and get up

there, fill the feeders with corn and that I would meet them at the

campsite.

Our lease is in the middle of 10,000+ acres of forest land. There is

nothing around for miles, and no one to hear you if you holler for

help. My feeders sit about 500 yards away from the road, down a steep

hill and at the bottom of a ravine. To make matters worse, my feeder

site is approx 2 ½ miles from the campsite. I arrived at the feeders,

unloaded my four wheeler and headed down the hill, leaving my truck

parked on the road. I began to fill the feeders and as I went to put

the lid on the last one, I felt a jolt, saw a flash of light and fell

to the ground. My initial thought, was I had been struck by

lightning. I sat down and stayed there for 15 minutes before getting

up. I was a bit shaken, but otherwise fine, so I stood up to get out

of there. I took 2 steps and then I was hit again. This time I knew

what it was. My ICD was going off and I wasn't sure why. I didn't

recall my heart rate being high, but I lied down like I was

instructed to do in the case that it did fire. Only the ICD didn't

stop. It continued to shock me even though I was trying to lie

completely still. After what must have been the 30th shock, I called

my parents cell phone only to get voice mail. It's difficult to get

service where we were at because of lack of towers. I decided then

that I was either going to lie there and die or I was going to

somehow make it to my truck and drive to the camp for help. So, I

painstakingly began crawling up the hill on my hands and knees, with

my ICD shocking me on average, every minute. After about 30 minutes,

I made it to my truck. I knew that I couldn't drive with the trailer

still hitched to it, so I made my way around the back and unhitched

the trailer, grabbed a bottle of water from the cooler and got in the

truck. My ICD is still going off at this point. I drove the winding,

dirt road 2 ½ miles and saw the campsite and my parents van! As I

pulled up, I had to avoid running over the boys who were playing in

the road. Later on the boys would tell me they thought that I was

drunk because of the erratic driving. My mother and wife had taken a

walk and my dad began waving at me from our camp house. I tried to

signal to him that I needed help and he finally realized that

something was wrong. He ran to the truck and started looking for

wounds as I was bleeding profusely from my mouth after having bit my

tongue numerous times. He looked up at me and started to ask what was

wrong and the ICD fired again for what would be the last time. I've

never seen my father turn as pale as he did at that moment. He began

yelling for my mother and wife and then jumped in the van to go get

them. They were back in less than a minute and my wife grabbed the

phone and called 911. The ambulance arrived 8 minutes later, shot me

up with 6 ccs of some medication that slowed my heart rate and drove

me to the Newton, TX airport where life flight was waiting. I was

flown to Beaumont to be stabilized at 8:00 p.m. and then grounded due

to bad weather. The initial flight plan was to fly directly to

Methodist hospital in Houston. The Medtronics technician in Beaumont

evaluated my ICD and asked to shake my hand because she had never

seen anything like this. Around 2 a.m. Sunday morning we were cleared

too take off. I arrived at Methodist around 3 a.m. and was

immediately placed in I.C.U. My doctor arrived approx at 10 a.m. and

started to review the Medtronics graphs and notes. (NOTE: my doctor

is a world renowned electro-physiologist. This is not a man who

confuses easily!). We watched for an hour as he shook his head and

scribbled things down. Finally he came in the room and said that he

could see no real reason for the episode to have occurred. The

thought was that the ICD mistook a Sinus Tach for a V-Tach and fired

thinking it was correcting an abnormal beat. Well, since there was no

abnormal beat, the first shock set my heart out of rhythm, and then

continued to fire to correct the mistake. It took it 74 times to

reset my heart beat.

I was released from the hospital on Monday, August 23, 2004 with no

permanent heart damage, no medical reason for the incident and what

my family believes to be post traumatic stress disorder. I am taking

Tredozone to sleep and have not gotten over the fear that I was about

to die. I go back to the Dr. on 9/02/04 and hope to get more answers

then. I will update this later and let everyone know what we found

out.

Please visit the Zapper homepage at

http://www.ZapLife.org

[Guest guest]

hi clint,,,

\i have no words to describe my feelings as i read your post.

god bless you and i hope this is the end of trouble for you. i for

one, doubt i could have survived an ordeal such as that.

bobby in missippi

[Guest guest]

Wow, Clint. I am petrified thinking what you went thru. I am very impressed at how you handled it as well. I hope none of us ever have to go thru something like that. TURK

ICD FIRED 74 TIMES

Name: ClintAge: 39Diagnosis: Hypertrophic CardiomyopathyDevice: Medtronics ICD – Marquis DR 7274 – set at 30 joulesOn the morning of August 21, 2004, I had decided to take my wife and two boys camping at my deer lease in deep east Texas. We packed our gear and necessities and headed out for what we expected to be an enjoyable overnight family trip. We live in Houston and our deer lease is approx 3 hours northeast of us by Jasper, Texas. My parents live halfway between the two points in Buna, so we stopped there to have lunch. My parents and nephew Zach said that they were going to ride up to the lease also, so my wife and kids decided they would ride with them. I told them that I was going to go ahead and get up there, fill the feeders with corn and that I would meet them at the campsite. Our lease is in the middle of 10,000+ acres of forest land. There is nothing around for miles, and no one to hear you if you holler for help. My feeders sit about 500 yards away from the road, down a steep hill and at the bottom of a ravine. To make matters worse, my feeder site is approx 2 ½ miles from the campsite. I arrived at the feeders, unloaded my four wheeler and headed down the hill, leaving my truck parked on the road. I began to fill the feeders and as I went to put the lid on the last one, I felt a jolt, saw a flash of light and fell to the ground. My initial thought, was I had been struck by lightning. I sat down and stayed there for 15 minutes before getting up. I was a bit shaken, but otherwise fine, so I stood up to get out of there. I took 2 steps and then I was hit again. This time I knew what it was. My ICD was going off and I wasn't sure why. I didn't recall my heart rate being high, but I lied down like I was instructed to do in the case that it did fire. Only the ICD didn't stop. It continued to shock me even though I was trying to lie completely still. After what must have been the 30th shock, I called my parents cell phone only to get voice mail. It's difficult to get service where we were at because of lack of towers. I decided then that I was either going to lie there and die or I was going to somehow make it to my truck and drive to the camp for help. So, I painstakingly began crawling up the hill on my hands and knees, with my ICD shocking me on average, every minute. After about 30 minutes, I made it to my truck. I knew that I couldn't drive with the trailer still hitched to it, so I made my way around the back and unhitched the trailer, grabbed a bottle of water from the cooler and got in the truck. My ICD is still going off at this point. I drove the winding, dirt road 2 ½ miles and saw the campsite and my parents van! As I pulled up, I had to avoid running over the boys who were playing in the road. Later on the boys would tell me they thought that I was drunk because of the erratic driving. My mother and wife had taken a walk and my dad began waving at me from our camp house. I tried to signal to him that I needed help and he finally realized that something was wrong. He ran to the truck and started looking for wounds as I was bleeding profusely from my mouth after having bit my tongue numerous times. He looked up at me and started to ask what was wrong and the ICD fired again for what would be the last time. I've never seen my father turn as pale as he did at that moment. He began yelling for my mother and wife and then jumped in the van to go get them. They were back in less than a minute and my wife grabbed the phone and called 911. The ambulance arrived 8 minutes later, shot me up with 6 ccs of some medication that slowed my heart rate and drove me to the Newton, TX airport where life flight was waiting. I was flown to Beaumont to be stabilized at 8:00 p.m. and then grounded due to bad weather. The initial flight plan was to fly directly to Methodist hospital in Houston. The Medtronics technician in Beaumont evaluated my ICD and asked to shake my hand because she had never seen anything like this. Around 2 a.m. Sunday morning we were cleared too take off. I arrived at Methodist around 3 a.m. and was immediately placed in I.C.U. My doctor arrived approx at 10 a.m. and started to review the Medtronics graphs and notes. (NOTE: my doctor is a world renowned electro-physiologist. This is not a man who confuses easily!). We watched for an hour as he shook his head and scribbled things down. Finally he came in the room and said that he could see no real reason for the episode to have occurred. The thought was that the ICD mistook a Sinus Tach for a V-Tach and fired thinking it was correcting an abnormal beat. Well, since there was no abnormal beat, the first shock set my heart out of rhythm, and then continued to fire to correct the mistake. It took it 74 times to reset my heart beat. I was released from the hospital on Monday, August 23, 2004 with no permanent heart damage, no medical reason for the incident and what my family believes to be post traumatic stress disorder. I am taking Tredozone to sleep and have not gotten over the fear that I was about to die. I go back to the Dr. on 9/02/04 and hope to get more answers then. I will update this later and let everyone know what we found out.Please visit the Zapper homepage athttp://www.ZapLife.org

[Guest guest]

hi clint i'm sorry you have had so minny shocks in a row and the

though of

you defibrillator miss fireing is some that bothers us all the fear

of shock as

others have said ii cant image going thuogh that minny shocks in a

row although

i have had some back to back i sure bet you where scared and i can

understand

why sometimes the things we need most scare us the mosted shocks

hurt and

are scarey but sometimes they are needed maybe not wanted i bet

you'll find that

alot of people fear there device going off some people have never

had a shock

where as others have i hhope you find the support you need in

this group and

information and freinds to all i can say is sometimes life throws

a shock are

way but it take brave people to go though what you have i am

sorry this

happen to you but i am glad you okay now although posted shock fear

and or

thinking it's shocking when it's not ( i.e. phantom shocks ) some

times happen

from fear but not everyone exprincrie this but i will say i think

the fear

comes nattlry and the phantom shocks come from fear hold your head

high as you

are a strong great person and good luck

shocking life for shocking people

stacie ,21 jumpy(1998-2002) and lighingbolt ( 2002-present)

790 shocks

[Guest guest]

Hi Clint.

It is amazing what the human body and mind can handle when there is

no other choice. I got hit 21 times at home and the hospital and can

emphathize with you to some extent. However, until you have been

there you just can't imagine what it's like. I remember asking God

to take me after about 10 or 12 shocks. He didn't and here I am.

It took me many months to get over the incident. I still have an

occassional Phantom Shock. Post tramatic stress syndrome is no fun.

I walked around on egg shells just waiting for it to fire again. But

is hasn't, thanks to the Big Boss up above who didn't take me when I

asked.

My wife says IM to damn bull headed to die and that I just hang

around to give her trouble.

You're a hell of a man Clint. Just stay strong and you will get

through this. As one post said, it just takes time. Don't stop your

deer hunting or let that damn ICD incident rule you. I know it's

easier said than done but with stamina like yours, you can do it.

Need to talk, E mail me.

God bless and stay strong.

> Name: Clint

> Age: 39

> Diagnosis: Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

> Device: Medtronics ICD – Marquis DR 7274 – set at 30 joules

>

>

> On the morning of August 21, 2004, I had decided to take my wife

and

> two boys camping at my deer lease in deep east Texas. We packed our

> gear and necessities and headed out for what we expected to be an

> enjoyable overnight family trip. We live in Houston and our deer

> lease is approx 3 hours northeast of us by Jasper, Texas. My

parents

> live halfway between the two points in Buna, so we stopped there to

> have lunch. My parents and nephew Zach said that they were going to

> ride up to the lease also, so my wife and kids decided they would

> ride with them. I told them that I was going to go ahead and get up

> there, fill the feeders with corn and that I would meet them at the

> campsite.

>

> Our lease is in the middle of 10,000+ acres of forest land. There

is

> nothing around for miles, and no one to hear you if you holler for

> help. My feeders sit about 500 yards away from the road, down a

steep

> hill and at the bottom of a ravine. To make matters worse, my

feeder

> site is approx 2 ½ miles from the campsite. I arrived at the

feeders,

> unloaded my four wheeler and headed down the hill, leaving my truck

> parked on the road. I began to fill the feeders and as I went to

put

> the lid on the last one, I felt a jolt, saw a flash of light and

fell

> to the ground. My initial thought, was I had been struck by

> lightning. I sat down and stayed there for 15 minutes before

getting

> up. I was a bit shaken, but otherwise fine, so I stood up to get

out

> of there. I took 2 steps and then I was hit again. This time I knew

> what it was. My ICD was going off and I wasn't sure why. I didn't

> recall my heart rate being high, but I lied down like I was

> instructed to do in the case that it did fire. Only the ICD didn't

> stop. It continued to shock me even though I was trying to lie

> completely still. After what must have been the 30th shock, I

called

> my parents cell phone only to get voice mail. It's difficult to get

> service where we were at because of lack of towers. I decided then

> that I was either going to lie there and die or I was going to

> somehow make it to my truck and drive to the camp for help. So, I

> painstakingly began crawling up the hill on my hands and knees,

with

> my ICD shocking me on average, every minute. After about 30

minutes,

> I made it to my truck. I knew that I couldn't drive with the

trailer

> still hitched to it, so I made my way around the back and unhitched

> the trailer, grabbed a bottle of water from the cooler and got in

the

> truck. My ICD is still going off at this point. I drove the

winding,

> dirt road 2 ½ miles and saw the campsite and my parents van! As

I

> pulled up, I had to avoid running over the boys who were playing in

> the road. Later on the boys would tell me they thought that I was

> drunk because of the erratic driving. My mother and wife had taken

a

> walk and my dad began waving at me from our camp house. I tried to

> signal to him that I needed help and he finally realized that

> something was wrong. He ran to the truck and started looking for

> wounds as I was bleeding profusely from my mouth after having bit

my

> tongue numerous times. He looked up at me and started to ask what

was

> wrong and the ICD fired again for what would be the last time. I've

> never seen my father turn as pale as he did at that moment. He

began

> yelling for my mother and wife and then jumped in the van to go get

> them. They were back in less than a minute and my wife grabbed the

> phone and called 911. The ambulance arrived 8 minutes later, shot

me

> up with 6 ccs of some medication that slowed my heart rate and

drove

> me to the Newton, TX airport where life flight was waiting. I was

> flown to Beaumont to be stabilized at 8:00 p.m. and then grounded

due

> to bad weather. The initial flight plan was to fly directly to

> Methodist hospital in Houston. The Medtronics technician in

Beaumont

> evaluated my ICD and asked to shake my hand because she had never

> seen anything like this. Around 2 a.m. Sunday morning we were

cleared

> too take off. I arrived at Methodist around 3 a.m. and was

> immediately placed in I.C.U. My doctor arrived approx at 10 a.m.

and

> started to review the Medtronics graphs and notes. (NOTE: my doctor

> is a world renowned electro-physiologist. This is not a man who

> confuses easily!). We watched for an hour as he shook his head and

> scribbled things down. Finally he came in the room and said that he

> could see no real reason for the episode to have occurred. The

> thought was that the ICD mistook a Sinus Tach for a V-Tach and

fired

> thinking it was correcting an abnormal beat. Well, since there was

no

> abnormal beat, the first shock set my heart out of rhythm, and then

> continued to fire to correct the mistake. It took it 74 times to

> reset my heart beat.

>

> I was released from the hospital on Monday, August 23, 2004 with no

> permanent heart damage, no medical reason for the incident and what

> my family believes to be post traumatic stress disorder. I am

taking

> Tredozone to sleep and have not gotten over the fear that I was

about

> to die. I go back to the Dr. on 9/02/04 and hope to get more

answers

> then. I will update this later and let everyone know what we found

> out.

[Guest guest]

thank for the concern you are right the phantom shocks are hell went back to the

seen of the crime this weekend with my wife to try and Ess my mined but it

didn't help much but I am working on it thanks again

>>> stillakikn@... 08/30/04 08:47AM >>>

[Guest guest]

thanks for the consern and you are right the phantom shocks are hell but i am

working on it

>>> rcsejt@... 08/29/04 09:52AM >>>

[Guest guest]

Clint, I can only echo all the sentiments previously expressed... one

question comes to mind... how old is your ICD... I know my present

one as well as the last one implanted in Nov. of '98 had the ability

to determine between Sinus Tach and V-tach... is your unit capable of

doing this? ... I hope your EP is able to resolve whatever went wrong

and you never have to repeat your ordeal.

JES in NJ

> Name: Clint

> Age: 39

> Diagnosis: Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

> Device: Medtronics ICD – Marquis DR 7274 – set at 30 joules

The

> thought was that the ICD mistook a Sinus Tach for a V-Tach and

fired

> thinking it was correcting an abnormal beat. Well, since there was

no

> abnormal beat, the first shock set my heart out of rhythm, and then

> continued to fire to correct the mistake. It took it 74 times to

> reset my heart beat.

>

> I was released from the hospital on Monday, August 23, 2004 with no

> permanent heart damage, no medical reason for the incident and what

> my family believes to be post traumatic stress disorder. I am

taking

> Tredozone to sleep and have not gotten over the fear that I was

about

> to die. I go back to the Dr. on 9/02/04 and hope to get more

answers

> then. I will update this later and let everyone know what we found

> out.

[Guest guest]

had the first one put in 12/03 my body rejected it had second one in 06/04 it is

top of the line medtronic my Ep. is very good he is with the Baylor heart clinic

in houston,tx they are one of top researchers on (hcm) so I am very comfortable

with him . but it is scarey to see him outside the iccu for 1.5 hr. looking at

the printout from my icd and just shake his head and then put his head down on

the deck like he was in total shock no pun intended

>>> Naojeca@... 08/31/04 09:22AM >>>