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Welding Forums - Welding of materials for manufacture & repair.
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Posted by Steve B on February 10, 2010, 1:28 pm
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When it does not apply to us individually, we tend not to read threads that
we know nothing about or have nothing to contribute to. Or at least I try,
and I think some people should try more. ;-)
It looks like I may have to get a pacemaker next week. I know this has been
discussed in the past, but I would like to hear from people here with
pacemakers, and how they have been affected. I know that some months have
passed since the thread was here, so there are months of experiences to be
reported and updated. I have been Googling, and it seems high magnetic
fields are the worst things, and I wonder about the ratings of these fields
when rated for
SMAW
GTAW
GMAW
and other things in the shop that can jump up and bite me.
I really don't know what the doctor will say when I ask them about
continuing welding, as they said NO POWER TOOLS (it was in caps there, too)
in the coumadin literature I got. Yeah, right, was my thought! I do have
to say that in the last 7.5 years since surgery, I have not had a bad cut,
but I have been very conscious when working with sharp stuff.
So, for those who'd like to chime in, I'd like to hear some things before I
head out for a stay at Shady Acres.
From what I've seen and heard, pacemakers are no big deal to install,
maintain, change, and they really make a difference on how one feels.
Stories about that aspect appreciated, too.
Steve
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Posted by RoyJ on February 10, 2010, 1:32 pm
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You might as well get a direct pipe to Don Foreman. He did all the
testing before he got his, wound up being the invited guest for a whole
room full of electronics engineers at one of the major pacemaker
manufacturers. Go Don!!
Steve B wrote:
> When it does not apply to us individually, we tend not to read threads that
> we know nothing about or have nothing to contribute to. Or at least I try,
> and I think some people should try more. ;-)
>
> It looks like I may have to get a pacemaker next week. I know this has been
> discussed in the past, but I would like to hear from people here with
> pacemakers, and how they have been affected. I know that some months have
> passed since the thread was here, so there are months of experiences to be
> reported and updated. I have been Googling, and it seems high magnetic
> fields are the worst things, and I wonder about the ratings of these fields
> when rated for
>
> SMAW
> GTAW
> GMAW
>
> and other things in the shop that can jump up and bite me.
>
> I really don't know what the doctor will say when I ask them about
> continuing welding, as they said NO POWER TOOLS (it was in caps there, too)
> in the coumadin literature I got. Yeah, right, was my thought! I do have
> to say that in the last 7.5 years since surgery, I have not had a bad cut,
> but I have been very conscious when working with sharp stuff.
>
> So, for those who'd like to chime in, I'd like to hear some things before I
> head out for a stay at Shady Acres.
>
> From what I've seen and heard, pacemakers are no big deal to install,
> maintain, change, and they really make a difference on how one feels.
> Stories about that aspect appreciated, too.
>
> Steve
>
>
>
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Posted by Pete C. on February 10, 2010, 8:29 pm
Please log in for more thread options
RoyJ wrote:
>
> You might as well get a direct pipe to Don Foreman. He did all the
> testing before he got his, wound up being the invited guest for a whole
> room full of electronics engineers at one of the major pacemaker
> manufacturers. Go Don!!
Just for reference he got an ICD - Implanted Cardiac Defibrillator, not
a pacemaker, a pretty substantial difference both in the function of the
unit and the possible "failure mode". His research measuring welding E /
M field strength will be entirely applicable, but the potential effect
on the device and risks will be different.
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Posted by Bob F on February 11, 2010, 7:20 pm
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Steve B wrote:
> When it does not apply to us individually, we tend not to read
> threads that we know nothing about or have nothing to contribute to. Or at
> least I try, and I think some people should try more. ;-)
>
> It looks like I may have to get a pacemaker next week. I know this
> has been discussed in the past, but I would like to hear from people
> here with pacemakers, and how they have been affected. I know that
> some months have passed since the thread was here, so there are
> months of experiences to be reported and updated. I have been
> Googling, and it seems high magnetic fields are the worst things, and
> I wonder about the ratings of these fields when rated for
>
> SMAW
> GTAW
> GMAW
>
> and other things in the shop that can jump up and bite me.
>
> I really don't know what the doctor will say when I ask them about
> continuing welding, as they said NO POWER TOOLS (it was in caps
> there, too) in the coumadin literature I got. Yeah, right, was my
> thought! I do have to say that in the last 7.5 years since surgery,
> I have not had a bad cut, but I have been very conscious when working
> with sharp stuff.
> So, for those who'd like to chime in, I'd like to hear some things
> before I head out for a stay at Shady Acres.
>
> From what I've seen and heard, pacemakers are no big deal to install,
> maintain, change, and they really make a difference on how one feels.
> Stories about that aspect appreciated, too.
To me, having someone slice open my chest, and shove the equivalent of 4-5
silver dollars into a pocket cut in my chest muscle was a bit of a big deal.
Having it replaced was not much less. It has made no difference in the way I
feel most of the time, but I didn't really care for what happened twice before
they put the first one in, and once when a lead on that one died. (Everything
starts spinning and I pass out, then wake up with someone screaming at me) The
hospital bills are huge if you don't have a good policy.
Mine only fires if my heartrate drops below 50 - almost never. I hate it when it
does start firing. Makes me feel like I'm ODed on caffine. All jittery, Yukkk.
Since mine is only for emergencies, I don't worry about using equipment too
much. When I told my doctor about the welder, he asked how big it was. I
checked, and he said 130 A shouldn't be a problem. I never asked about the 225
amp one I got since, but I've never had a problem. He did say the failure mode
from such things was to not fire for a moment, rather than to fire wildly or
just quit working. If you need it all the time, you might be more concerned than
I am about this.
The quick clincher when I was making the origional decision was when he said
they would take away my right to drive if I didn't get it.
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Posted by Ed Kolmogorov on February 14, 2010, 5:33 am
Please log in for more thread options
> When it does not apply to us individually, we tend not to read threads
> that we know nothing about or have nothing to contribute to. Or at least
> I try, and I think some people should try more. ;-)
>
> It looks like I may have to get a pacemaker next week. I know this has
> been discussed in the past, but I would like to hear from people here with
> pacemakers, and how they have been affected. I know that some months have
> passed since the thread was here, so there are months of experiences to be
> reported and updated. I have been Googling, and it seems high magnetic
> fields are the worst things, and I wonder about the ratings of these
> fields when rated for
>
> SMAW
> GTAW
> GMAW
>
> and other things in the shop that can jump up and bite me.
>
> I really don't know what the doctor will say when I ask them about
> continuing welding, as they said NO POWER TOOLS (it was in caps there,
> too) in the coumadin literature I got. Yeah, right, was my thought! I do
> have to say that in the last 7.5 years since surgery, I have not had a bad
> cut, but I have been very conscious when working with sharp stuff.
>
> So, for those who'd like to chime in, I'd like to hear some things before
> I head out for a stay at Shady Acres.
>
> From what I've seen and heard, pacemakers are no big deal to install,
> maintain, change, and they really make a difference on how one feels.
> Stories about that aspect appreciated, too.
>
> Steve
>
>
>
I had a Medtronic pacemaker fitted in 2007. Makes a big (positive)
difference to my life.
Not least it means I now don't have to take an anti-arhythmic drug with its
unpleasant side effects. Only drawback is when I press on it when leaning
over obstacles to get at parts when working on cars.
I still weld MIG, up to 160 amp. I wind the ground lead and torch lead
around each other as far as I can, to minimise emission. I sometimes strap a
piece of 16g mild steel sheet under my outer clothing over the implant but
don't always remember. I used this software (freeware)
http://www.femm.info/wiki/HomePage
to model the likely fields and compared it with the Medtronics specs - IIRC
it wasn't likely to cause a problem. I also investigated mu-metal to make a
shield but didn't follow it up.
The hospital technicians who download the implant every 6 months have not
picked up
any interference.
Once I asked them to look at the data for a specific time I had noted as a
welding time and they found nothing unusual.
Ed
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> we know nothing about or have nothing to contribute to. Or at least I try,
> and I think some people should try more. ;-)
>
> It looks like I may have to get a pacemaker next week. I know this has been
> discussed in the past, but I would like to hear from people here with
> pacemakers, and how they have been affected. I know that some months have
> passed since the thread was here, so there are months of experiences to be
> reported and updated. I have been Googling, and it seems high magnetic
> fields are the worst things, and I wonder about the ratings of these fields
> when rated for
>
> SMAW
> GTAW
> GMAW
>
> and other things in the shop that can jump up and bite me.
>
> I really don't know what the doctor will say when I ask them about
> continuing welding, as they said NO POWER TOOLS (it was in caps there, too)
> in the coumadin literature I got. Yeah, right, was my thought! I do have
> to say that in the last 7.5 years since surgery, I have not had a bad cut,
> but I have been very conscious when working with sharp stuff.
>
> So, for those who'd like to chime in, I'd like to hear some things before I
> head out for a stay at Shady Acres.
>
> From what I've seen and heard, pacemakers are no big deal to install,
> maintain, change, and they really make a difference on how one feels.
> Stories about that aspect appreciated, too.
>
> Steve
>
>
>