nail salon power drills

Hello. I am new to the PM club and happy to have found this resource!

I had a Medtronic 2 lead PM implanted on Halloween (trick or treat?). I went for an acrylic nail  manicure and the power sander/drill seemed to have caused my heart to beat irreguarly, make my head swoon, and make me feel like fainting. After I stepped away, these symptoms went away but I still experienced mild palpitations for about an hour after. I read that these drills should be at least 12" away so that there is no EMI interference but arm's length is more than that. Any of you ladies out there have a problem with nail salons?

Thanks!


5 Comments

drills/snaders

by rk - 2019-11-17 16:03:02

Well I am a not a lady -- I am a guy and have a Medtronic 2 lead. As best man at a wedding I had a couple of acrylic nails put on & finished, no problem. Also occasionally I use electric drills, & a high speed dremel and a regular drill & high speed buffer, no effect. They are sometime less than arms lenght. Actually I never even considered they could be a problem. Writing this I got me to wandering if there is an enexpensive shield on the market for those that experience problems.

Good luck

 

Toothbrush

by Graham M - 2019-11-17 17:12:37

Hi Monique,

I haven't shared this before because it seemed strange, but I had a very similar experience (without the palpitations afterwards) when using an electric toothbrush for the first few weeks of my recovery.  It seems to have stopped now and I can use the toothbrush as normal.

Graham.

Should NOT be a problem, BUT...

by donr - 2019-11-17 17:31:13

...If you expected it to effect you from a discussion w/ someone, your mental fixation could cause it.

I went home next day after implant & started using industrial sized battery powered & corded drills, saws, etc w/o any difficulty.  As time went on, I got my PM closer & closer to the back end of those devices.  finally I realized I had my PM right on top of the back end of the drills - absolutely no effect.

Been 18 days, now, so you SHOULD be beyond having such troubles. You did not say how soon you went to have your nail job.  Remember you had a surgery & were kinda in La-La Land for about an hour.  That can make you feel a bit woozy fotr a couple days.  You were also sitting rather immobile for a short while in the salon.  Was it while they were doing your PM side hand?  Holding that one immobile for a while could do that to you.

Donr

Nail Salon Power Drills

by AgentX86 - 2019-11-17 19:38:12

The subject got my attention!  Maybe I don't really want to know but what are power drills used for in a nail salon?  <shudder>

Hand power tools, battery or corded,  should be no problem at all.  My EP told me a hard NO on riding mowers and  welding equipment (above some current that I can't rememer) and to be careful with hand operated gas powered yard tools.  As long as they were held at normal operating arms length, no problem.  The backpack blower mentioned recently probaly would get a NO from him. Everything else was fair game.  The PM tech warned me about rare earth magnets found in high priced earphones.  Even then it was about someone laying their head directly on the pacemaker while wearing them.  That's certainly not likely to happen <ouch!>.

Because I'm dependent, he didn't want me to take any chances, assuming that I could feel something untoward and being able to back off. 

agent

by Tracey_E - 2019-11-18 09:35:23

It's more like a dremel, they use it for acrylics.

You know you're wired when...

Your pacemaker receives radio frequencies.

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