Simple question

magnet

by ROBO Pop - 2019-07-27 17:29:38

Yep that donut they lay over your shoulder is a magnet. The magnet causes a switch to activate on your device allowing communication and programming.

Just FYI, it takes a strong magnet to activate the switch. My wife tried stacking refrigerator magnets on my chest to shut me down, and 34 didn't do the trick.

Magnet Backed Name Tags?

by Marybird - 2019-07-28 13:34:04

....Interfering with pacemakers?  I'd have thought magnetic backed name tags wouldn't have caused any more problems, potentiallly, than 34 fridge magnets lined up over the pacer site (or maybe it's the 35th one that would wreak havoc), LOL. But I belong to a couple of groups and use magnet based name tags, and never gave a thought to whether or not wearing those would cause issues with the pacemaker-I usually forget the name tags anyway so haven't worn one since I got the pacer 6 weeks ago, but I just wondered about it.

So a dumb more or less related question from a newbie here.... in the event one encounters a situation causing interference with a pacemaker, such as too close contact with a strong magnet, delaying too long going through an entrance with metal detectors or antitheft devices-any of those things they warn you about in the "Living with Your Pacemaker" booklet they hand out with all your other pacemaker information, does that interference cause changes in the programming that are temporary or permanent, or do they cause damage to the pacemaker system itself?

Thanks, Mary

Magnetic

by Keithwhelpley - 2019-07-28 16:32:49

Marybird, I am going to a couple of appointments this week related to what I’m sure have been pacemaker-mediated tachycardia. Those are events that are created by pacemakers. Mine suddenly came up 15 months after implant.  Becsuse I have dual chamber pacemaker/ICD I am paced out of these before I get an ICD shock.

In researching, I found multiple articles that say placing magnets on the PM will stop the tachycardia and reset the PM function and put your heart into proper rhythm. That would be, of course, if your events are in fact cased by the PM. 

So the answer to your question is that a magnet should not undo your settings and once removed, your PM should resume programmed function. 

I will have more answers this week and will post what I find out 

Interrogation

by Cheryl B - 2019-07-28 20:57:57

Thank you Swangirl for clearing the "donut" issue up for me.  I wondered what the heck that thing was.  And I absolutely hate it when they turn it down so slow..........  Over the years of getting interrogated, I've had to tell more than one nurse to let me know what's happening. Kinda scarey to feel like I'm dropping off a cliff, too.