Battery drain questions...

Hello everyone,

As a relative "newbie"... I have a question about the batteries and how the charge in them gets used... I am pretty much clueless about the science so technical answers are likely to go way over my head!

I am under the impression if we walk through a security system, etc. and it affects our pacemaker ~ our pacemakers are designed to re-set themselves and return to "normal". We also have periodic checkups and sometimes the settings are changed. So my question is... when these things happen or the pacemaker is "re-set" or the settings changed by our EP. Does this use up battery life? Even a tiny bit? I guess I am thinking if there are normal activity things that eat up a tiny portion of the battery life I can avoid easily maybe I want to consider that. I would like mine to last as long as possible ~ at least at this point!

Thanks in advance.

Swedeheart

5 Comments

Battery Drain Queston

by SMITTY - 2008-04-12 05:04:57

Hi Swedeheart.

I don’t know that I can answer your question but I’ll take a run at it.

Let me start by asking you to think of your pacemaker case as having two pacemakers inside but only one can operate at a time. We will call these pacemakers PM “A” and PM “B.” For the sake of this discussion we will say both PM A and PM B use the same amount of battery power so it makes no difference so far as the battery life is concerned which PM is being used.

Now stretch this a little further and think of there being one switch with two positions in the pacemaker case. If the switch is in the right-hand position, PM “A” is operating and if the switch is in the left-hand position PM “B” is being used. As mentioned, PM A and PM B can never be service at the same time. PM “A” has been programmed to meet your specific needs and PM “B” operates on factory settings. While the factory settings will sustain life, more often than not we will not feel as well if we have to depend on the factory settings to control the operation of our PM for long periods of time.

We will also assume that the normal position of this switch is in right-hand position. The only time it is in the left-hand position is when some outside force moves it from right to let. This is what happens when we get a PM checkup or is possible when we go through some energy field like a security gate. During a PM checkup they put a magnet or some other device over our PM, and this causes the switch to move from right to left. In this position PM B is keeping our heart beating while the doctor/nurse/technician downloads any information our PM has recorded since the last checkup and they can also make any changes in the settings they determine we need. As soon as the magnet or other device is removed the switch returns to the right-hand position and we are again using PM A which has now been programmed to meet our specific needs.

Now that I have told you how to build the clock; I’ll try to tell you the time. This is essentially what happens when we walk through a security gate that affects our pacemaker. The energy field from the device causes our pacemaker switch to move from the right-hand position to the left-hand position and our PM is now operating on the factory or default settings. As soon as we leave that energy field the switch returns to the right-hand position and our PM returns to normal operation. If there was any change in the amount of battery power being used during this time, I am sure it would be so small it would never affect the life of our battery.

As for extending the life of your PM battery, I can think of nothing you can do. Looks like our batteries are designed to last about seven to 10 years and if we are lucky they go longer.

I hope this helps, or maybe someone else can do a better job of answering your question.

Good luck,

Smitty

Battery life

by ElectricFrank - 2008-04-12 09:04:41

To make it simple, battery life is used for two things. One is to operate the electronics in the pacemaker and is pretty much constant no matter what it is doing. The thing that uses battery life is the actual pacing energy that goes to stimulate the heart on each pulse. So a faster HR uses more energy than a slow rate, The number of chambers being paced uses more, and the voltage required to get your heart to beat affects life.
The only one of these that you have a small amount of control over is HR. You could spend all your time relaxed in a recliner keeping your HR low and it might extend pacer life by a few weeks.If you are like me and get out and hike it might shorten it by a few weeks. So like Smitty says you can't really do much about it.

frank

Thanks so much!

by Swedeheart - 2008-04-13 03:04:58

Wow!

Thanks Smitty and Frank! Those are great answers and very helpful. Smitty I appreciate the time and effort you put into your great explanation!

A couple weeks one way or another isn't going to change much... This is sorta off topic, but we once had a greeting card that played a christmas tune when opened. My husband took it apart and made a little device so it would activate each time our front door opened during the holiday season. Well, we put it up the second year as it was still working... and again the third year... that crazy thing went for more than 10 years! And it was just a cheapie card! So, if a cheap card can do that... our pacemakers should be able to do better! :)

It is reassuring to know that going through security areas, etc. isn't "using" up my battery life particularly! Thanks again for the great responses.

Swedeheart

Smitty--Re Battery Drain

by MHCHAMPION - 2008-04-13 09:04:09

Smitty,
Your explanation is so amazing and so understandable. How'd you get so smart? Meant as a compliment, my friend. :-)
Margaret

Battery Life

by maryanne - 2008-04-27 09:04:32

Yes Smitty had a very creative way of describing battery drain....in a nut shell....battery life depends on the amount of usage and how it is programmed. I for one seem to need to have my battery changed every 7 years...my sister went 20 years before she had to have hers changed...again it depends on how the battery is programmed. They now have a setting that is AARI...which really helps extend the life of the battery and also help minimize Atrial Fibrillation......again there are many variables to consider which directly impact the battery life. Good question

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