MTFCA Forum

Last week i went in for a cardiac stress test. The nurse hooked me up to all the sensors and looked at my EKG. Stress test cancelled. Turned out I have an arrhythmia. The upper chambers of my heart were working fine The lower chambers were beating on every other signal, pulse 38 bpm. Ignition problem.

So, yesterday I had a pacemaker installed. The literature that came with it warns of getting too close to a strong electro magnetic field. Since many of you are old farts like me I thought I'd ask of those of you who have a pacemaker, have you had any issues? I'd ask my doctor, who is really smart and capable, but young and knows zero about Model T's.

Any thoughts or experiences?

P.S. Suddenly I'm breathing much better, I'm not fatigued and my chest doesn't "flutter" any more!

Search some of the old discussions on this topic. In essence, the amount of magnetic force necessary to affect the pacemaker in Gauss units might only be achieved if you lay down with your chest on the magneto portion of the hogshead. In addition, were that to happen, it would turn off your pacemaker and your heart rhythm would return to the rhythm you had before the nurse hooked you up. Upon arising from the hogshead by a few inches, your pacemaker would resume working in it's current fashion

Dr Noel is right. I have one and have no problems working around any electrical stuff. I have been told you can weld as long as you avoid high amperages but haven't tried yet. But if you do get it near a magnet, it will turn back on as soon as the magnet is removed.

I have heard of people having problems with magnetic lapel badges, but that might be urban myth.

Thank you both for your responses! I feel better about it now.

Doug Partington just had one installed. I am having the same electrical issue you have, but I only misbeat 1 out of 4. Doc told me it has to be 30% missed beats before they will deal with it. Makes for a lot of tightness in the chest that they will not deal with it.

My wife has a very strong magnet she had to put to her chest to make sure her defibrillator is working correctly. I would have to put her inside the engine to replicate that amount of force. I think you are shielded well enough it should not be a problem.

As far as your pacemaker is concerned, I'd be far more concerned about an EMP coming from Korea than anything your little ol'
magneto can put out.

On the same subject (kind of), I always wondered how a T would fare during an EMP event...