New to Pacemaker Club and General Questions

Hello

Towards the last part of September I had got up out of bed to use the restroom and could have sworn my left knee gave out as my Knee joints are bone to bone. Well I woke up three hours later on the the floor with a dent in my head and Carpet Rash. Dent in my head was from the chair leg I struck on the way down. Well after that I threwup and went back to bed. I was pretty sure I had a concussion. Well got up went to church, run sound board, folks in booth said I was acting weird and not myself so (Being a Volunteer Firefighter and EMT, I called our station told them what was going on they sent Ambulance to my church (free for me) and took me to Emergency. Told them what happened they think I fainted. Anyway put me on heart monitor, did C-Scan and ultrasound. And admitted me for overnight monitoring, Next morning the Cardiologist came down and said my heart had stopped several times during the night for around 2-8 seconds and he wanted to stick a loop (Looked like a thumb drive) implant so they could monitor my heart and said I might have Arterial Afib. Anyway I had told him atleast for the last couple of weeks when I was at the Firestation my heart rate would climb upto 198bpm, Tachacardi. And he said that was normal if I was under a lot of stress if I was getting over heated fighting fires, told him I was an engineer. Well he said lets go with the loop but have to be transported to Anchorage,AK about 50 miles from where I live. To the Providence Heart Center. Well went there via Ambulance again, stayed the night. When another Cardiologist was speaking to me I notice on the heart monitor my heart rate dropped to 30 bpm, they ran another EKG and decided then to go with single leed Pacemaker. So now I have a PM Implant. although I still have had some problems where i just either faint or I like go to sleep and people usually have a hard time waking me up and when they do I do not remember anything.. I have notice since I have the PM my activiity level has gone up. I do have some concerns. One of my Hobbies that I really enjoy is I am a Ham Radio operator and am concerned about RF possibly effecting my Pacemaker. Are there any Amateur Radio operators in the club that can give me some insite please. And how long does it take for the surgery to completely heal?

2 Comments

RF and PMs

by Theknotguy - 2014-12-04 09:12:55

I've been doing online research into RF and pacemakers. There is an urban legend going around about how a guy with a PM visits a Ham Radio Operator. The operator keys his shortwave morse code outfit and the PM guy hits the floor. Like I said, not true, Urban Legend. Also did some research into hacking pacemakers. Also not true.

What the research did show was that the radio transmitter would have to be two to three CENTIMETERS away from the PM before the transmission would have an effect. In other words, you'd need to place the antenna directly over the PM and have an extremely powerful transmitter to even affect the PM. Even then, the PM would go into what is called maintenance or test mode, drop down to its pre-programmed setting (mine is 60 BPM), then go back to its regular programming after the interference stopped. This is based on research done at the University of Michigan. I'll include the addresses of the online articles in this note so you can read for yourself. What they did find was the ability to manipulate EXTERNAL devices from a range of one to two meters.

I say extremely powerful transmitters because I travel almost daily underneath powerful TV transmission towers with absolutely no effect. When I was doing computer network installation we'd occasionally have to work with businesses close to the towers. The RF was strong enough to make visable "waves" on the screens of the terminals. i.e. it would look like waves on the sea shore when you looked at the terminals - all from TV RF transmission. My PM has never been bothered even when I pass directly next to the stations.

Most amateur stations won't have the wattage to come anywhere close to the RF generated by TV transmission towers. As I remember amateur stations are limited in the wattage they can use. So I don't feel you'll have any effect on your PM from your Ham radio station.

There was a posting on the forum from a member who's husband had a ham station. She indicated no problems with radio transmission. Don't know if she is still active on the forum. You can go to the upper right corner of the forum, click on the search key, and see if you can find the posting.

As for healing post PM implant. As I remember
it takes about 4 to 6 weeks for the scar to heal over. Depending upon what is going on with your heart, you may notice differences throughout am entire year. You may go through a post implant euphoric stage, then settle down to "normal" feelings. You may experience some weird feelings as your body adjusts to the PM too. All part of the normal post implant process.

You can also search for my previous post, "Hacking Pacemakers". It will go into detail about what my research uncovered.

Web addresses follow:
http://www.informationweek.com/healthcare/security-and-privacy/hackers-outsmart-pacemakers-fitbits-worried-yet/d/d-id/1113000
http://content.onlinejacc.org/article.aspx?articleid=1358197
http://www.criminaldefenselawyer.com/resources/criminal-defense/felony-offense/assault-deadly-weapon-ohio

Back in the 60's used to visit a ham radio operator - WB8BXD. Tried to learn morse code but ended up going into computers, networks, and servers. Hope you enjoy working with your station.

Hang in there. Life gets better!

PM Do's and Don'ts

by pwilke - 2014-12-13 09:12:18

Theknotguy thanks for your reply, good to no. A coulpe of other questions. I have one of the tens units for loosing belly fat and building up my chest also have a tens unit for muscal ackes and stuff can I still use these devices. Oh an on my Ham the power I generally use when I am making east coast contacts from Alaska is 1500 Watts....I would thing that it shouldn't bother me since the tower and antenna is 95' up onto of the tower....Although I haven't tried it yet...


Best Regrards,,

Patrick Wilke

You know you're wired when...

You’re officially battery-operated.

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