Magnet and pacer

Someone please help!!! My 7 year old son has had his current pacemaker for 6 years and is due for replacement soon because of cardiomyopthy. He now does call ins every month. Yesterday he had one, all was going well until...I placed his magnet on top of his pacer and he said it hurt. He said he could feel it all the way up in his neck(pacer is in his tummy) and it hurt bad. He asked me to remove it NOW. The technician said the call in looked good but she would report this to his Doc. Has anyone had this problem?? Should I report it to his Doc???

Please help,
concerned mom Heather

7 Comments

Magnet and pacer

by SMITTY - 2007-10-11 02:10:41



Hi Heather,

YES I have had the problem your son describes. Probably not as severe as his was, but then I'm a few years older and my pacemaker is under my collar bone and not in my tummy. I'll try to shed a little light on the subject.

Placing a magnet over the pacemaker puts the device in a fixed-rate (asynchronous) mode so that information stored in he pacemaker can be retrieved or changes in the pacemaker settings can be made. In the fixed-rate mode, a signal is sent to make the heart beat at a set rate that has no relationship to the patient's intrinsic cardiac activity. This mode carries the possibility of causing irregular heart beats should the pacemaker impulse conflict with a signal being generated by the hearts natural pacemaker.

In other words the heart is getting conflicting signals. These conflicting signals can cause for example (this happened to me) the ventricle to try to contract before the atrial completes it job of transferring blood to the ventricle. In this case premature contraction of the ventricle cause puts pressure on the still partially open valve between the atrial and ventricle and can cause pain. Not severe pain but enough to get my attention. But for a seven year old I'll not even try to guess the level of pain they may feel, plus it is pain in the heart area, which can make it even more pronounced for them. Fortunately, in my case the pain occurs for a second or two when the magnet is first placed over the pacemaker and while I may have a "different" feeling while the magnet is in place, about the only way I can describe it the feeling is different until they remove the magnet. To confuse the issue even further, the pain, discomfort or different feeling, whatever it is called, does not happen every time the magnet is placed on my pacemaker.

Should you report this to his doctor, I would say yes, if for no other reason than just to see what his reply will be? I do not think the pain your son felt represents a problem with his pacemaker, but then I have no way of really knowing and his doctor is the best person to give you these answers.

I wish him the best.

Smitty

Hi!

by tcrabtree85 - 2007-10-11 02:10:49

I don't know when your next doctor visit is scheduled for your son though I know that if I was feeling that way I would move up a apt. Just to know that things area ok especially if he has never felt that before. Something may be bothering him other than his pm itself.
Please keep us updated on how your son is doing. Take care Heather and if you ever need somebody to talk to just send a private message.

Tammy

Thanks

by Heather H - 2007-10-11 07:10:44

Tammy and Smitty thank you for your info. It really helps. We go next week to meet a surgeon. He has a knot on top of his pacer. They think it is maybe a cyst or fatty tumor but they are not sure. We will know soon. I believe I will report his pain with the magnet to his Doc.

Thanks talk to you soon.

Heather

Knot on top of the pacer?

by pacergirl - 2007-10-11 11:10:05

I have developed a knot on top of my pacer and I have been growing a little concerned because it is getting larger. I will be watching to see what the doc tells you.
Please keep us posted won't you?

Wishing you the best,

Pacergirl

Magnets

by peter - 2007-10-12 04:10:44

You are supposed to keep magnets and any item that may contain a magnet away from the pacemaker site. This is to prevent the magnetic reed inside the pacemaker from closing whilst the magnet is near the site.
All sorts of things contain magnets. Speakers always have magnets. So your mobile phone has a loudspeaker magnet apart from the radiation it produces and should not be placed in your shirt pocket over the pacemaker. You will have to make it clear to your son to keep clear of magnetic devices and magnets. Suggest a clearance of 9 inches. I suspect no harm will have been done so no need to worry. Hope hes feeling well know. Peter

magnets

by pacergirl - 2007-10-12 08:10:20

Hello Peter, those of us who do phone checks are instructed to place a special round magnet over the pacemaker during part of the checking process. We don't keep it there longer than 30 -45 seconds. It is part of the checking protocol. At least this is part of my phone check. For me...... I stay away from magnets as a general rule... Pacers.... magnets.... not a good mix
Good luck, pacergirl

pacergirl

by Heather H - 2007-10-12 10:10:44

You are the first person to say you also have a knot on your pacer!! I've placed 2 messages about this. When his knot came up it was the size of a quarter and red and painful. Now he has had 2 rounds of antibotics and the red is gone. The pain has decreased and is all better sometimes but the knot grew to the size of a half dollar and sticks out alot. (you can see it through his clothes) His Doc has no clue what it is. He has given me alot of maybes. Please keep in touch. My son seems to always have unique problems and often stumps his Doc.

talk to you soon,

Heather

You know you're wired when...

You have a T-shirt that reads “Wired4Sound”.

Member Quotes

I've seen many posts about people being concerned about exercise after having a device so thought I would let you know that yesterday I raced my first marathon since having my pacemaker fitted in fall 2004.