I Have To Ask About Pacemakers and Scoots

[skywarrior]

My wife has had a 3 pacemakers in 29 years and she rides a 2000 Fatboy. She rides 12 to 15k a year and has never felt any ill effect from the pacemaker.

Hates to have it changed every 12 to 15 years cause of the batteries.

 

[RickyBobby]

My wife has had a 3 pacemakers in 29 years and she rides a 2000 Fatboy. She rides 12 to 15k a year and has never felt any ill effect from the pacemaker.

Hates to have it changed every 12 to 15 years cause of the batteries.

WOW! Is that great news. She must have been in on the early models of them. My doctor has six of them in a shadow box on the wall. The early ones are as big as a pack of cigarettes. I am real fortunate that I have a new model made by St. Judes and it is only about the size of a big silver dollar and about a 1/4 inch thick. One week after install I went in for a check. They pull up a ton of info out of such a small package. Makes me wonder how small they can go. Right now my battery expected life is 5 1/2 years, but the nurse told me that the doctor usually cuts voltage down after six weeks, and that would extend me out to the average of 7 years. My thought on dieing were it would be nice to go to sleep and just not wake up, but this device has dashed thoughts of that now, since I got it because of low heart rate and pulse. uhggg.
My wife found a old radio that has AM and FM on it. I put batteries in it and it works. I tuned it to no station, but some static and walked around the house sticking it near electrical things. So far my biggest static noise is from the fluorescent lights in the kitchen. Not much going on around this computer. The next time she leaves the house I am firing up the Dyna and see what happens. I should be able to hear it, since my V&H pipes have the quiet baffles in them now and they are not quiet, but they are a lot less loud than the baffles that came with them.
If I get much RF noise from the bike, my next move is to either wrap the spark plug wires or get some of the silver threaded material. Guys, it looks like a couple more weeks and I will have the wind in my face once again. I will however discuss this with the doctor on my visit and see what he has to say.
I sure do thank you all for the input on this. It has boosted my spirits.

 

[HDDon]

Not sure if this will help you but I worked with researchers who had equipment that was very sensative to RF and we would make them a Faraday enclosure of fine mesh copper screen. The copper screening atenuated any type of interference to their equipment.

 

[Porter]

Not sure if this will help you but I worked with researchers who had equipment that was very sensative to RF and we would make them a Faraday enclosure of fine mesh copper screen. The copper screening atenuated any type of interference to their equipment.

That make me think about heated clothing.
I know that NSA wraps their buildings in copper mesh to block signals in or out. I wonder if wearing heated clothing (energized wire) would also help block EMF. Wouldn't work so well when it is hot out....

 

[bwalsh22]

RickBobby - I have a pacemaker/defibrillator by Boston Scientific. I have had it now for over a year and put on about 5000 miles since having it put in. I do not use any kind of shielding or anything and have asked my cardiologist about it. He did not want me riding but not because of my pacemaker. He gave me no concerns about interference or anything. Anyway, I have had my device, tested, checked and reprogrammed several times with no issues over the past year. Hardest thing for me is just keeping my cell phone out of my breast pocket on my jacket and stuff.

Ride safe and welcome to another club pacemaker club

 

[i8mich]

Have had mine for over a year now...No problems at all riding...I was told to not put a cell phone next to it.

 

[RickyBobby]

bwalsh22 and I8Mich, thanks for replying. Good to hear you are doing well and no problems.
This week makes my 5th week since installation. I went back one week after and a technician checked how it was working. She told me the doctor had the volts up higher than what I will probably end up with. My appointment with him is next week and I have questions to ask. I can see from your reports that I will be flying down the highway in no time. They told me to take it easy and not lift my arm for the six weeks. Since I did not know I even had a problem, I am following doctors orders on this one.
I am having a RF or EMF issue though. It is at work. I enter my work station, a office 8 X 12 and immediately start to feel weak and even sometimes dizzy. I located the source of the most serious emf and it is a conduit carrying 440 volts to the roof HVAC units. It is shielded only by the conduit. I work at night and lately after the others go home, I turn the unit off and prop open the door. This has made me feel better, but I cannot figure why it should bother me at all, unless it make the pacemaker not work when I am near it. I am interested to see next week if the programming has been affected. Mine is a St. Judes pacemaker and I saw by the bill the device alone was 40K. That is a chunk of change, plus add on hospital and doctors bills, it probably cost the price of, well say six Ultras or so.

 

[bwalsh22]

Sounds like you are healing well and glad to hear it. I can't say I have experience that, since I am in an office, with only cube walls and flourescent lights around me. Not sure how yours it setup, but it could be causing the pacemaker part to start doing stuff that it does not need to be doing.

Anyway, do take it easy, as I said I waited about 4 months before I even got on my scoot for any length of time and 5-6 before I took it out for more than an hour.

 

[biscuit]

I am having a RF or EMF issue though. It is at work. I enter my work station, a office 8 X 12 and immediately start to feel weak and even sometimes dizzy. I located the source of the most serious emf and it is a conduit carrying 440 volts to the roof HVAC units. It is shielded only by the conduit.

That's a weird one!Whilst my son has a Defibrillator fitted,one of it's 3 functions is to work as a full time Pacemaker if needed.So his requirements SHOULD be the same as yours.(should)

His guide book-for U.S conditions-states that normal low voltage domestic and commercial power sources are not considered a problem.Very high current can be an issue with things like Induction stoves,furnaces and kilns etc.I shouldn't imagine a 3 phase low voltage a/c system could draw enough current to affect you when you're some distance away.

Have you had an Electrician or Electrical Engineer test your office for Electro Magnetic fields or radiation?If not,i'd do so immediately.Surely your employer has an obligation under Workplace Health and Safety reqs to provide you with a safe place of work?Or pay for it yourself.This is your very existence you're talking about here.ESPECIALLY as you say you work alone at night!

Contact your manufacturer,get some expert advice and opinions,get some EMF/EMR tests done;you know the story.You can't take that Harley with you.:no

Take care.

 

[NEWHD74FAN]

As Biscuit said, you might have someone with knowledge check it out, it is your LIFE we are talking about. In the interim, remember to bring that small AM portable radio I stated in an earlier post into work and see just how much noise you are picking up from that 440VAC line...it could be generating a lot of EMI if that conduit is not GROUNDED. The other thing is, it will tell you where the "null" areas are so you can limit your exposure. May even want to rearrange your office furniture around your work area far away from the noise generator source. Remember that some motor generator is providing that 400VAC and if it is 3 phase there are multiple frequency harmonics that generate a maelstrom of noise, so be careful out there. JMO.