Travel by bus in real bad roads

Hi, I had my PM installed about 3 weeks ago. Have no problems till now. I would like to know if I can travel by bus or car for about 12 hours on real bad roads with lot of potholes etc. Will it affect the position of the PM or the leads. Thanks in advance.

4 Comments

driving on bumpy roads

by LuCas - 2014-07-09 11:07:06

Hello from Brazil,

I have a dual lead, St Jude Accent pacemaker. My wonderful friend, implanted one year ago.
Within one year, I've collected many stories to tell.
Let't put things step by step:

1) Will driving on bumpy roads affect your PM position in the body?
ANSWER: No.
Your pacemaker was placed under your skin and driving on bumpy road will not make the physical equipment (pacemaker) to move. After three weeks, you surely have already taken the stitches away (I've taken mine one week after surgery). However, because it is a recent surgery, you may feel uncomfortable and lowering the speed on bad roads will make you feel better. Cars are smaller than buses and, physically speaking, I mean, using the concepts of physics, it is sure that smaller objects like cars compared to buses will make passengers shake more that those who travel on comfortable buses with improved suspension systems. I would recommend you to take a seat in the middle of the bus because you will feel much less the shakes. If you seat on the seats at the front of the bus or at the rear, you will feel much more the bumps, for reasons that I will explain below.
Although I said NO for general answer, the only danger of physical PM dislocation is if you suffer an accident or need to brake suddenly and your seatbelt is right on top of the pacemaker position. In order to avoid that, put a cushion between the seatbelt and your pacemaker. The cushion will act like an airbag for protection.

2) Leads may move out of location while driving on bumpy roads.
ANSWER: In rare cases yes. It may cause your leads to move out of place. At the clinic that I have my heart checked, I met a man who had that problem and he had another surgery to put one of the leads in the right and proper position again. As far as I know, it is a rare event, but if the lead moved out of place in a bumpy road, it could more probably move out of place if the person fell off a tree or off a ladder. That would be an accident and a great impact on the heart.
The reality is that the tip of the lead is just like a tiny screw that is screwed in your heart tissue to be kept in place. Remember one important thing: the lead was made to be in movement, since your heart is constantly beating. When doctors place the lead in position, they make sure that it won't dislocate. So, don't think that your lead will come out of place just because you walk or run or do any other "shaking activity".

3) Shakes and bumps will make you feel uncomfortable?
ANSWER: Yes, (at least in my case). It is a matter of vibration. Modern pacemakers have movement sensors. They sense when you are walking briskly or running and tend to adjust the pacemaker signals to faster rythm. With three week surgery, you may not have had the time to make experiments with your pacemaker programming and sensitivity levels. Your EP may have programmed your PM to a general and "multipurpose" mode, the one that will meet most of your needs. In some cases, when veteran patients are more experienced with PM programming, they ask their EPs to make the pacemaker very sensitive because they need fast response because they practice sports very often and need the pacemaker respond accordingly. What is fun for some patients may be uncomfortable to others. I used to have a normal programming, asked the EP to make it very sensitive to movement and the result is that I ended up feeling my heart jump whenever I drove on bumby roads by car or with small buses. No difference with bigger and longer buses. So, I asked my EP to change and make the pacemaker less sensitive again. It was too much sensitive to my lifestyle. Now I feel ok, but, I try to avoid bumpy roads.
That is why certain pacemaker holders cannot operate certain machines especially hand drills and those concrete breakers. In that case, our hearts would speed up as if we were running the New York Marathon without moving our legs, just because the vibration, ok?

You will not feel anything if you have occasional bumps, but you will feel if the vibration is kept for longer periods of time.

My final suggestion: no one likes to drive or travel on bumpy roads, unless you are an off-road enthusiast. Try to avoid strong and continuous vibrations. That is the key. The bigger the vehicle, the less vibration you feel. Cars with good suspension system and good shock absorbers will make you feel in paradise. Don't speed up. Choose a speed that makes you feel more comfortable.
And that is especially true if YOU are the driver. With three week surgery you should definitely have hydraulic or electric steering system. You should not lift heavy weight with the arm on the side of the pacemaker and that is true for driving a car. Stop from time to time to rest during your drive.
In my specific case, I found out that a soft cushion under the buttocks and on the back absorb a lot of the road impacts and my driving has become very smooth.

I hope that I could be of any help to you.
Sincerly,
Lucio Castro

Thanks Lucio

by dmoo - 2014-07-10 12:07:10

Lucio, Thanks for the detailed and fast reply.

Nausea

by Nana215A - 2014-07-27 04:07:42

I have found that whenever I have to ride or drive on bumpy surfaces, I need to hold a hand over my pacer to keep it still or else I wind up feeling VERY nauseous. This began the first time riding in the car after my first implant. Thought it strange that I should suddenly be getting car/motion sickness after never having had it at all. Once I started holding a hand over the pacer (I am a female and have breasts and when riding over bumps, they tend to "move"), I didn't have the nausea problem anymore.

Nana

Bumpy Roads

by linforth - 2015-11-04 02:11:46

I have had this problem for two years now! Living in Kariba, Zimbabwe, some of our roads do leave a lot to be desired.
I have had my pacemaker reset 4 times, shock treatment twice, as i now have a racing heart as opposed to a slow one! Then an ablation to stop all the electrodes going mad.
A 2nd Angiogram to determine all the veins are clear and no blockages. Now it would seem that the pacemaker is too clever for our conditions. Each time we go over a bumpy road, i lose my breath and get so nauseous. It would seem that the pacemaker believes that I am running and sends messages to the heart to speed up! Oh so awful!
So now it looks as though I will have to have the pacemaker replaced as I keep having it reset and then go on a bumpy road and oh dear here we go again.

Anyone else experience this?

Sheila

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