Overseas Travel

Hi All,

I had my pacemaker fitted almost 7 weeks ago. Before this I had been planning a trip to Vietnam 2010 - Nothing booked so far... Being new to all of this I am a little apprehensive about travelling abroad and passing through airport security, not only due to the magnetic metal detectors, but the airport security staff handling the situation in the correct manner (language barrier difficulties).

I have searched this site already, but not found anything specific to what I am asking. Has anyone encountered any issues when travelling abroad (specifically to Vietnam/Far East) or have any advice. Also, are there any instances of PM settings being effected when passing through security detectors. I am worried that being in a foreign country, what could be done to check/fix settings?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

Gary

2 Comments

hello gary

by jessie - 2010-01-09 09:01:34

welcome to the p.m. club. i have travelled and so have a lot of others with my medtronic dual lead p.m. i tell them i have a p.m. i carry my card and have never been asked for it. i have never gone thru the magnetic metal detectors. i have a body search done. my p.m. is on my right clavicle area just above the breast tissue. i tell them where it is and they can see the scar and i request they not press on this area. now since the incident in detroit i imagine it will change and if it does it does. i am still not going thru a machine. also i live in the flight path to detroit metro on the canadian side of the river and if that plane had crashed it could have affected this whole area and so another close call in my life. i don't care what i have to do to get checked. i am with the american government on safety and so whatever it takes. in vietnam and other countries there is often an american hospital and at least an english speaking dr. it should not be a problem. i was in malaysia and they have excellent facilities in k.l. no sweat. welcome again regards jessie

Travel wherever you want!

by joni - 2010-01-09 11:01:45

Click on Travel & Work and you will find a lot that members have written about airport Security and metal detectors. There are some who go through the metal detectors and others who choose not to. I'm one of the people who avoids metal detectors and requests a pat-down. Since my pacemaker was implanted in September 2008, I've been to myriad countries on five continents, including Asia. For travel, I carry a card in several languages that gives information about my pacemaker for those at airport Security. If I'm going to a country that uses a language not on my card (e.g., China), I call a pacemaker rep and request the card's information be translated into the appropriate language for where I am going. This is always done quickly and I assume correctly as I've never had a problem with Security folks understanding what I give them. I also get a list of hospitals familiar with the pacemaker I have in the various countries I am going to in case any kind of pm problem occurs, but I've never had a problem. You're going to really enjoy Vietnam. It's a fascinating country.

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