Young Adults - Anyone had luck with the vital beat protection product?

G'day all,

I'm a 23yr old with 2 pacemakers (must've forgot to remove the old one during my surgery!) and I've lived a solid life of sports, however aside from my full-time role, I box a significant amount and spar. Thing is however, I used to have my pacemaker implanted under my ribs so it was very well protected so I never had issues, until I got the new one which is implanted up on my chest area quite significantly exposed.

Since the new implant for the past year or so, I quit the sparring and only coach and hold pads for fighters, however I've been itching to get back into the ring and was wondering if anyone has used the vital beat for protection and if they're any good?

Also g'day to everyone!

2 Comments

vital beat

by Tracey_E - 2024-07-10 09:57:34

Welcome! Glad you found us. 

I have not worn one but have seen them in person and they are extremely well and thoughfully made. They were designed by a patient. Or maybe the mom of a patient? sorry, memory is foggy, but definitely someone with firsthand experience living with a pacer. 

Not to be a downer, but you might want to check with your doctor. Sparring is on the very short list of things not recommended for us, protection or not. 

That said, my doctors have always told me to live my life and do what I want, so I've never held back. I once asked what would happen if I broke a lead, he shrugged and said we'd fix it. Good enough for me! I've since learned that that is not a common attitude. I've been paced 30 years and am just now having to deal with lead replacement, so despite all my years of pushing limits my leads lasted twice as long as the average lead life. OTOH we have folks who break leads that are well under 15 years old. 

What it comes down to is the risk you are willing to live with. There are no studies on what is safe, no statistics, it's all educated guesses. For me, I grew up with a long list of restrictions because they didn't pace kids in the 70's. Once I was paced, and suddenly had tons of energy and permission to do what I wanted, I may have gone a little crazy lol. The joy of trying new things and not being the poor girl with the heart condition outweighed the fear of a broken lead. 

Sorry for the ramble! If you were my kid, I'd say understand the risks and if you still want to spar, buy the shirt and go spar. Your doctor may or may not be on board with that. 

Two pacemaker as well

by LCHK - 2024-07-25 22:58:41

Hi sedii

I am 28 and also have 2 pacemaker, one is in the abdominal area and one is on the chest. I guess your doctor just didn't want to make another incision to take the old one out.

Regarding to vital beats, I also use it and they even made a customized shirt for me. That said, I just it when I am backpacking and carrying heaving backpack, and I have not done any sport that would risk gitting it right on my chest. 

I enjoy trekking and have done something that my cardiologist would not really recommend (i.e. driving a motorcycle and scuba diving). At the end of the day...there is risk but we could never quantify it....but I think I would avoid getting hit right on my implant site by some well trained boxer as even a pacemaker-free person could faint from it. 

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