iPods?

I wonder if I could get some advice? I've had a pacemaker since September and knew I had to keep my iPod and wires at least 6 inches away from my pacemaker but in was on a long journey with a friend yesterday who was sitting on my right hand side. So opposite side from pm and played her iPod the whole way. I thought this would be fine but felt like crap for ages afterwards and pulse was irregular. At first I just thought it was the journey making me I'll but could it have been the iPod? And if so could I have damaged anything?

Thanks.

1 Comments

PM Interference

by SMITTY - 2012-01-08 10:01:00


Hi SarahB,

While it is most unlikely that an I-Pod would harm a PM, one thing I have learned is to never say never when it comes to PMs. If the I-Pod did interfere with your PM it would have probably felt like a very irregular heart beat and that feeling would have vanished when you moved away from the source of the interference with no harm to the PM or your heart.

Others have asked just what happens if some such device interferes with the PM. According to what I saw in an article from FDA one or more of the following will occur.

a - Stop the pacemaker from delivering the stimulating pulses that regulate the heart's rhythm

b - Cause the pacemaker to deliver the pulses irregularly

c - Cause the pacemaker to ignore the heart's own rhythm and deliver pulses at a fixed rate

The same things may happen if we STAND between the posts at a security gate, such as those found in many stores. The line of people stopped and I had this to happen to me once. While I recognized the problem at once, I'll admit it was a little disconcerting and I was greatly relieved when my heart beat returned to normal a few seconds after I stepped away from the gate.

I have thought about that incident a number of times since and think I know why the event got my attention so quickly. Like I said I thought I knew what was going on. Since things returned to normal as soon as I moved away, I am sure I knew what was happening. But it has also occurred to me that if my PM function was disturbed by such security gate, or something else and didn't return to normal operation immediately there is nothing I can do.

So my suggestion for me, you, or anyone, if our PM is disturbed by some mysterious energy field, move a few away from the location to see if things are back to normal in a few second. In the meantime, I guess I would be looking for my cell phone to dial 911 in the event I needed it if my heart felt like it was going to continue its Hopalong Cassidy bit.

Smitty

You know you're wired when...

Your old device becomes a paper weight for your desk.

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