Pacemaker Interference

I would like to point out to the person who replied that the electromagnetic field at the Hoover Dam would not interfere with your pacemaker that I believe that each individual is different and so are their pacemakers. I was told to be careful to avoid any strong electromagnetic fields and I have been very sensitive to the changes my pacemaker makes since my first implantation.

I was in Idaho and stopped to take some photographs. I have had 3 pacemakers now. I was aware of the difficulty with electromagnetic fields but did not even consider that taking photographs underneath multiple large power lines near a dam would cause me any difficulties. I was there for about 45 minutes.

About 4 hours after my photography stop, I began to feel very tired and weak with some intermittent dizziness. I thought that maybe I needed to eat. I stopped to eat and then I went on home and went to bed.

A day later I was feeling very, very poorly so called my cardiologist. I went in and had my my pacer interrogated and it was "turned off". Through much discussion about the last few days, we soon realized that it was indeed the strong electromagnetic field that caused me the problem.

This past weekend, I went to the Hoover Dam and was told that it was perfectly fine to go down inside the Dam and that there would be no problems. There were no signs in place anywhere that indicated that there may be any issues also.

As we climbed down the stairs to the entrance, I was feeling uncertain, so made the decision just before we went in that I would not do this as I did not want to take any risk. I certainly am saddened that I did not go but I am also feeling relieved to not have to experience the horrible feelings that I had when I did encounter a very strong magnetic field.

2 Comments

EM Interference

by donr - 2012-02-27 03:02:23

Hmmmmm! Very interesting!

You are right about us all being different! But our PM's of a given make should all act the same under influence of EM fields.

I looked it up & see you have a Medtronics PM - as do I. I have had an EM event w/ my Medtronic about two weeks after getting it back in 2003. I climbed a ladder up through the ceiling joists in my shop right past the 240V, 30 Amp cable feeding my water heater. My PM passed about 3 inches from the cable & I felt like it was turned off. Literally almost fell off the ladder! Went to cardio that day & nothing recorded in it. They told me it was temporarily turned off, but came back on as soon as I left the EM field.

I have, on several occasions, essentially lain down on my chest across the top of the green transformer box that services my house. It has a 13000 V input & 240 V output. Since it has a stepdown transformer in it, there are some pretty bodacious EM fields in that box. No response at all.

I am truly surprised at your reaction to your PM being turned off - especially that it took several hours for you to feel it.

We have had several interesting discussions here about EM interference. In general it takes a Heck of a strong EM field to affect a PM

I suspect that it was Electric Frank you read. I vaguely recall the comment. I thought he'd said that going into the Alternator room WOULD probably affect your PM. I don't recall where the post was, but cannot find it.

Frank will probably be by tonight & comment on your situation.

A couple questions on the event to prime the pump: 1) About how far from the overhead pwr lines were you? 25, 50, 75, 100 ft? 2) Do you have any idea what voltage the lines were? 3) How many power lines were there?

A comment on HV pwr lines: They are operating at very high voltages, perhaps over 100,000 volts, hence the amperage is quite low. This means there is a very strong electric field & a very weak magnetic component. I think that you would get greater interference from the magnetic component than from the electric component of the field.

Don

Here come Electric Frank

by ElectricFrank - 2012-02-27 10:02:17

I think I made a comment like that several years ago abut the Alternator room at Hoover Dam. What I based it on was that the last time I was in that room back in the 1970's the rotating machinery was still the original 1930's open frame alternators and exciter generators. The transformers out on the slab that step the alternator voltage up to the high line voltage were a mix of old and new. The issue is that power equipment of later design contains the magnetic field much better partly because of efficiency regulations. Anything lost to the outside doesn't make them money.

In the same time frame I toured the Glen Canyon Dam power station and they had all new style equipment.

Another issue I would be concerned about is being in the power room during lightning storms across the desert. During my tour at Glen Canyon I saw the ammeter on one of the alternator panels hit the peg followed by a lot of strange noises as the equipment went though disconnect, resync and picking up the load again. I asked the operator what happened and he said "Oh pretty standard when lightning hits a transmission line".

At that time I didn't have a pacer and kind of enjoyed watching all the stuff do its job, but since I have wondered what the fields were like in that room when the meter pegged. Since the 3 phases were greatly unbalanced they wouldn't have canceled each other.

I've been under HV lines in the desert plenty of times with no problem. I have felt the hair on my arm feel like it was standing up though.

frank

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