A man from North Yorkshire has been struggling with his health after what was meant to be a quick and easy surgery.
Tim Linton underwent a procedure to get a pacemaker fitted after suffering from atrial fibrillation for years.
That’s a heart condition that causes an irregular and often abnormally fast heart rate.
His original surgery was in May. But a procedure designed to improve his health ended up doing the opposite.
In July, Mr Linton suffered with pain in his left shoulder and was unable to move his arm. He rang 111 after constantly shaking and sweating.
As a result he was told he had an infection and was given a course of antibiotics.
But the pain flared up again. And three weeks after his last appointment, Mr Linton was admitted into a hospital in County Durham and got he had sepsis.
Doctors said that they suspected it to be due to the pacemaker.
He stayed in hospital for more than three weeks until the infection cleared.
On the 12 October, Mr Linton, who’s from Middlesbrough, woke with swollen and painful hands. His condition worsened and two days later he couldn’t walk.
He had sepsis again, doctors confirmed. Doctors again blamed the pacemaker, and this time planned a surgery to remove it.
Mr Linton said: “I knew it had something to do with the pacemaker and not my heart. I told them this back in August and it seemed liked no one believed me.”
He has since had the pacemaker removed and is now recovering from the surgery.
Consultant cardiologist Dr James Dundas told YorkMix: “In a sense he was accurate in saying that the issues happened due to the pacemaker.
“There is no damage to the arteries in the heart and it was the pacemaker, which was the foreign body that caused the sepsis, but now the foreign body has been removed the body should heal and he can be back to normal soon.”