Industrial Elevators

Shouldn't be a problem

by Theknotguy - 2019-02-07 20:38:35

Shouldn't be a problem.  The only thing I can think is the industrial elevators may have more vibration and that may have set off the accelerometer in your pacemaker.  

I volunteer in a charity woodshop.  Run all the equipment.  Also get around the power boxes.  It's only 220 and I don't have any problems.  I'll go in and reset the circuit breakers if needed.  No problems.  Some of the equipment runs off 220 and I don't have any problems with them either.  

Occasionally I'll have to ride in the big trucks.  When they're unloaded they bounce around a lot and that kicks off the accelerometer in my pacemaker.  I always look funny riding shotgun while I'm holding onto my pacemaker so it doesn't kick up my heart rate.  I also had trouble on a bus once.  It ran on a diesel engine and there was a lot of vibration in one area and that bothered my pacemaker too.  

The best one was when I grabbed a sawz-all saw.  Completely forgot about my pacemaker and the vibration kicked off my pacemaker and kicked up my heart rate.  Had one of the guys in the shop come over.  "Are you OK", he asked.  "You had the strangest look on your face."  Told him I just discovered one of the things they don't tell you when you have a pacemaker.  

Hope everything else is going OK for you.  
 

Question

by benne81 - 2019-02-07 21:41:45

I don't know because I don't have rate response as in I can get my rate up on my own. Must have been the vibration maybe I dont know for sure what type of elevator it is but you could fit a car on it and it has big doors on both sides. All that happened was after I went to the basement level then back up after I stepped out after a few steps I was fine. I see my ep next month I will ask her

elevators

by Tracey_E - 2019-02-07 22:01:41

Probably not, but write down the day/time and they can tell you next time they do an interrogation. If it went into test mode even for a few seconds, it'll show up on the report. 

Test mode

by benne81 - 2019-02-07 23:21:24

What is test mode and does a pacing device get out of that mode on its own one interference is gone?

test mode

by Tracey_E - 2019-02-09 08:36:23

It is put in test mode every time it's interrogated, and yes it would automatically come out of it as soon as we get away from the magnet that caused it to switch. That's why we have to be very close to the source, if we are several feet away it won't be strong enough. Usually 6", which is why I suspect that is not what happened. 

no interference

by dwelch - 2019-02-12 02:38:51

the elevator is either pushed by a piston hydraulically from a hole in the ground or it is a cable type system with a motor.  neither of which is anywhere near your pacer several to hundreds of feet away, you would need to be inches away most likely.  so there is no electromagnetic fields to worry about. 

As mentioned by others, at best vibration, which you can get from any sized elevator or escalator, etc...

test mode is based on a magnet near the device closing a mechanical switch in your device very much like a relay which is a switch with a magnet but there is no magnet just the switch.  It is technically possible for that switch to stick, for those of us who had the old phone boxes with a magnet thats why after the magnet part of the test they do another minute without the magnet.   The magnet puts you in you battery test mode, the pacer is fixed at a rate that indicates your battery level.  If stuck you might struggle climbing stairs as your rate wont change but its not turning your pacer off or anything like that.

A large EM field can confuse the device, but this is like hugging a transformer kind of field.  EM fields decay at the rate of a sphere so the strength of the field drops by the square of the distance 2 feet is 4 times weaker than 1 foot, 4 feet is 16 times weaker than  than 1 foot.

With the right pully system / mechanical advantage you could easily lift an elevator with a car in it pulling on a rope with your arms.  Does not imply that they have a significantly more massive motor than smaller elevators, they do but also move the elevator slower. 

I think it would be a pretty easy class action suit if there were an elevator that had a field that put pacer/icd patients at risk, so it is unlikely there is a field strong enough for you to feel.  If you were in such a field you would "simply" need to move out of it/away from it and your pacer will return to normal.

So this might be mental fear, or it might be vibration induced rate response.  If it were me and I thought it might be the elevator,  I would go back in and ride the thing a zillion more times, get over the mental, and see if day after day it still causes something.  Would stand in a different corner each time, etc..Try it different times of the day.

I have had pacers for over 30 years, have been in rooms with fields almost strong enough, have walked next to power generators that were strong enough and field trips in college to a sub station which probably had fields strong enough.  Never felt a thing (was fear at work, mostly of the company not me, that lead to learning about this stuff, had had the other other exposure before knowing I should have been in a power plant nor sub station).  Now I would probably pass on a trip to a power plant now, nobody wants to drag my fat ass away from a field if I pass out, nor might not know to drag me out of said field.  And as much as I would like to learn, not going to take up welding, but will continue to ride elevators, freight or otherwise.  

I actually still have a phone check box, two of them.  they didnt ask for them back, one I did return they sent me another as my device wasnt supported by the merlin at home, and I declined the current box.  have not used them in years.  Anyway, for those of us who have used them its like a modem sound if you know what that means and you can hear a change in the pattern/noise being made when you get the magnet in the right place.  Point being even with a magnet large enough to get you into magnet/test mode just holding it right on your skin over the device doesnt put it in that mode you have to move it around and find the sweet spot that makes it work and hold it there.

I get printouts for all of my checkups but depending on the tech it depends on the level of detail/number of pages, the one I am looking at I cant tell if I have rate response and if it is on or not.