Pacemakers and Musicians

Hello Everyone,

I just received my pacemaker on Friday July 3rd. I had dizzy spells and general spaciness. I had a tilt table done, and my heart stopped for sixteen seconds during the test. I was immediately given the pacemaker at that point.

I am an amateur musician, and I am wondering if there are any limitations on what equipment I can use. I play acoustic and electric guitar and bass. . Right now I don't own an amplifier, but was in the market when this occurred. Any limitations on things like microphones, pick-ups, monitors and speakers, size and type ( tube or transistors) ?

Any info will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

3 Comments

DONT WORRY

by pete - 2008-07-07 04:07:53

Just dont pick up speakers by holding them close to your chest. Keep speakers 8 inches away from your pacemaker. Try to avoid bluetooth devices. Everything else you mention is 100% safe but keep pickups 6 inches away as they contain magnets.Microphones also contain magnets but they are not as powerfull as speaker magnets. You are virtually limitation free as long as you take note of what I have said. Cheers Peter

Enjoy yourself

by ElectricFrank - 2008-07-08 12:07:42

The modern pacemaker isn't as sensitive as they used to be. The only item I would check out is any of the large speakers. They have massive magnets, but even here the newer high efficiency units keep the magnetic field contained. It doesn't help to put a big magnetic in the speaker and then let the field leak out.
One other thing to check on is movement or vibration. If your pacer has rate response turned on it will increase your HR in response to movement. If it isn't adjusted right (and it isn't yet) your movement could drive your HR higher than needed. The vibration of heavy bass could also fool the pacer into thinking you are very active and drive it up. I had an experience with mine sitting in a hot tub with the jets on my left shoulder. My HR hit 140 in seconds.
None of these effects are permanent. As soon as you move away from the problem source things will quickly return to normal, unless it scares you. I use this to test mine. I have a computer speaker that attracts paper clips so it has a pretty good field. I deliberately put it right over my pacer (with someone in the room) and it had no effect at all. I pace 1005 of the tme so I would have known. The Medtronic rep laughed at my experiment and said they just had to put out those dire warniings as a CYA.

enjoy making sounds!

frank

Thank You

by docrfd - 2008-07-14 12:07:23

Thanks for the comments and advice. Here is another question. What about attending concerts? I hope to see Sam Phillips ( New CD out, " Don't Do Anything"; it's great, buy today! - shameless plug) in a club setting. I also hope to see a music festival in Saratoga Springs NY featured Bob Dylan, Steve Earle, and others. I have good seats for that, but am concerned by the large amps they'll have. will this any effect on my pacemaker?

You know you're wired when...

You have a 25 year mortgage on your device.

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