Doing labour

Hard labor

by AgentX86 - 2019-05-02 13:21:09

There is nothing specific about a pacemaker that would prevent one from hard work (though it is a four letter word). However, the underlying reason that you have a pacemaker may be cause to be careful. When in doubt, ask your EP (and cardiologist,  if you have one). They should have told you of restrictions, if you have any. And, you should ask.

A couple of things.

by Theknotguy - 2019-05-02 16:54:18

AgentX86 has some valid points.  Like he said I'd check with the EP but sometimes they are conservative in their answers.  

First question in my mind is if you were doing that kind of labor before you got the pacemaker?  If you were accustomed to that kind of work then you should be good to go back to it.  But, read the caveats I've outlined below before you run out and do anything.  

Second question is how long have you had the pacemaker?  There is healing to the underlying tissue that goes on for nine months to a year depending upon how your pacemaker was implanted, where it's implanted, etc.  So doing that kind of hard work can cause underlying tissue damage and extend the time everything takes to heal.  I volunteer at a charity woodshop and went back at nine months.  It was another three to six months of additional healing because of the exercise I was doing.  I'd be OK that day but sometimes would spend the next four days with aspirin and hot and cold packs.  Sometimes it felt like my pacemaker was wrapped in sand paper after a woodworking session.  Starting at the two year mark and beyond I can do anything I want at the woodshop and it doesn't bother the pacemaker or leads.  It's now been six years and I can do what I want.   

I also talked with a guy with a pacemaker who was doing weight lifting.  Was doing OK but was pushing his weight limits trying for a personal best.  Has some funny reactions.  Went in for a pacemaker reading and ended up in the hospital because he had broken a lead.  Argument on his side was he was OK as long as he wasn't lifting weights but the doc didn't go for it and he got a lead replacement that day.  So the hard pounding of driving the post hole digger into the hole could break a lead.  Maybe not, but you need to take that into consideration.  Are you ready for another trip to the hospital?  I've used a heavy drill boring unit in hard clay soil and those things can really twist you around if you catch a rock the wrong way.  Not necessarily good for your leads.  

I was volunteering at the charity woodshop before I go the pacemaker so my body and muscles were used to that type of work.  However if I wasn't doing that type of work before I'd be reluctant to take up the heavy lifting and twisting.  Even now I'll do things differently.  I'll use a strap to move the sawdust barrels where I used to just muscle it before and I'm quick to use the lifting units rather than just toss a stack of wood onto the table saw.  I'm more likely to let the guys with the strong muscles and weak brains strut their stuff.  I don't do the production cuts any more where we're moving 1000 to 2000 pounds of wood at a time.  But I still do precision cuts.  

I'm the same age as you and applaud you for wanting to keep up the exercise.  With the pacemaker you now have to think ahead a little bit more.  Hope everything else is going well for you.  
 

posthole

by Dug - 2019-05-02 20:28:59

Thanks for the information I was told not to do any crazy heavy lifting for the lead could possibly come loose but I had my implant almost 5 months ago without any problems. So lol maybe I’ll try the post hole digging slowly.