Okay, well it wasn't my NEW ICD...it was my OLD ICD that I
have sitting on my desk!

This morning at 7:50am, the same sound it normally made for low battery (an alternating high/low tone), started
going off. I've had my new ICD for 2 weeks now, and this is the first time my old ICD made any sounds
that I'm aware of. It was also set to alert me at 8am, not 7:50...so why it went off at 7:50am this morning....
I have no idea.

I will say that it was a LOT louder outside of my chest than it was inside.

Well, good thing it was on the outside and you don't have to worry about replacing it.

I know!

When I first heard it, it sort of freaked me out, because I immediately thought "that's the sound of an ICD".
But I thought "surely that can't be my new one - I just got it!".

So I looked up at my desk and saw the old one sitting there, held it up to my ear and then also walked
out of the room to make sure it was indeed the old one -- and it was.

I've been told by my Dr. that the Boston Scientific has more of a beeping tone, while the Medtronic is
a high/low tone.

That's the one thing I wish about this Boston Scientific, that they could demonstrate the alert sounds to me
at my appointment, but they can't. You would think that if a 10-year old Medtronic device could do it, Boston
Scientific would have put this feature into their newest devices...but for whatever reason they did not.

Does the St. Jude have a tone?

Carl,

I don't know much about St. Jude...but I do know that some
of their ICDs have a vibration mode, instead of an audible alert.

You can probably find information on your exact model at their website:
http://www.sjmprofessional.com/Products/index.aspx

Carl, yes when they implanted me my Dr. told me about the vibrate feature. so if you get vibrated, call your Dr.
Roy

Hehehe, probably a time lag when they set the original time- maybe FC can jump in and let us know if they are set to atomic time or is the time set by the implanting physician. I can tell you this though, if it a Medtronic, I have been told that the new devices will be much louder then they the older ones so you should have no problem hearing the new one if needed!

Man, how come when I started beeping the darn thing was still in my chest. I always do things the hard way!

That is funny that they would take it out but it would still beep. Call your doc and see what he says.

I should imagine that it takes a while for the battery to fully deplete as the ICD is extracted before the battery "runs out"
Just my thought ,Take care Steve

That's what I would have thought too. Expect when the device was in my chest, it always went off at exactly 8pm. Now outside it is 10 minutes off. Strange....




Yep, that makes sense. Although I thought they turned the device completely off before they removed it....but that must have just been the detection and therapy that they turned off. And why was today (2 weeks after surgery), the first time I heard the low battery alarm go off? The audible alarm had been turned off about 3 weeks before I had it removed.

My guess is that maybe this alert was something else, like REALLY LOW battery...or end of battery life.

Oh mine was beeping when it was still in my chest too. It started about 6 weeks before the new one was implanted...luckily
I only had to deal with my built in alarm clock for 3-4 days, as it was over the weekend, but I went in first thing that Monday
and they turned off the audible alarm for me.

I guess when mine eventually starts making noises I will probably search the house trying to figure out where the noise is coming from before I realise it is me

I hope the St. Jude doesn't vibrate like a cell phone. I've had the cell phone scare the crud out of me when the ringer is turned off.

Which is probably one of the many reasons it's planted above the belt.

Just an update - it's still beeping! 7 months after removal!