Bad experience on a tour.

Hi: I want to share with you a bad experience I had last week.
My wife and I were on a guided tour through Italy. For those not familiar with this, over there guides provide their "flock" with radio receivers walky-talky like, so that the guide proceeds with his/her explanations and the group gets the info even if they get mixed, as they usually do,with another crowd of tourists. I was given one of these things, hung it round my neck and we proceeded on a short slope towards the ruins of Pompeii. After a few steps, I felt a very strong discomfort and had to stop, almost out of breath.I reacted quickly, shut off and pocketed the receiver and my PM soon returned to normal, and I was able to follow the guide. (Incidentally, we had to call off the rest of the Pompeii tour due to a heavy downpour that drenched us all).
Well, I don't know how radio waves can interfere with pacemakers, but they certainly did.
I leave to our experts in electricity and waves to give an explanation, if there is one.
All the best.

4 Comments

Tour

by LDianne - 2007-06-11 06:06:50

Thanks for posting this information. We are going to tour Europe this fall and Italy is one of the places we tour. I will remember your experience with radio waves. Hope the rest of your trip was uneventful.

Many electronic devices interfere with PM

by maestro - 2007-06-12 01:06:12

Vincens,

I posted articles about electronic music devices and store security gates interfering with PMs.

My doctor even warned me about cell phones near the PM.

For those dependent upon the PM, it is very important to protect ourselves from stray electronic and magnetic fields which interfer with our PMs.

Thanks for the story.

Interesting!

by herbie - 2007-06-12 08:06:42

Thanks for sharing your experience with us. I am going to Sorrento in two weeks and am planning to go on an organised tour to Pompeii - I shall definitely be wary of the walky-talkies!

I hope you enjoyed you enjoyed your holiday apart from that.

Maybe it was the batteries in the radio?

by pacergirl - 2007-06-12 11:06:22

Greetings Vicens,
First let me say... I hope you enjoyed the rest of the trip! We just returned from the UK and had a blast!

I'd like to ask about the battery in the device you were using because I have a MP3 player and was experiencing some problems too. Like you described... my pacemaker was not working right while listening to the player. When I moved the MP3 player to my pants pocket the pacemaker started to work correctly again. I'm thinking it may have been the batteries in the portable device that caused you the distress. Just a thought.... I could be way off the mark here...but I suspect it was the batteries. Happy travels! Pacergirl ;-)

You know you're wired when...

You prefer rechargeable batteries.

Member Quotes

At age 20, I will be getting a pacemaker in few weeks along with an SA node ablation. This opportunity may change a five year prognosis into a normal life span! I look forward to being a little old lady with a wicked cane!