Welders with heart problems / di fibulator

Any one been told to stop welding due to difibulator installed. Just returned from Drs. Told to stop welding tig and mig.
I'am knocked out over this...............any for real people that have one installed and still weld mig and tig.

Help................Barresse'

 

I was told to stop, but I figure if I stop I'll die anway. Just do'nt tell your daughters what the doc says because they will have people nark on you every time the Elec. meter starts turning. Most of my welding is stick welding anyway, I do'nt think my doc knows what that is because he did'nt mention it.

 

How long do you want to live...

Gamble.. You'll never know.

 

Get the info on the unit that you will be getting then look it up on the internet re welding etc. From what I determined it depends on the specs of your welders and especially recommends not to d**** the cables over your body. The big h***le is if the defib operates falsely you will still have your drivers licence suspended for 6 months or more. That's how it works in Canada anyway. After 3 years after a heart attack I'm still pondering whether to have it done.

 

I know I'd hate it if a Doc told me I couldn't weld anymore but I've been knocked on my **** with my tig (accidently using my body as the ground), not sure I'd take the chance if I had a defib go off cause I did it again. I'd hate to stop welding but I think I'd hate to die more!

 

I don't have one, but Dad does. His Dr. even told him he couldn't lean over a running engine, as well as no welding.

I can imagine all that electric fields running around could play havoc with a defib.

Just a few links I found this morning
http://www.medtronic.com/rhythms/downloads/3071ENp6_Saws_online.pdf
http://www.pacemakerclub.com/public/jpage/1/p/story/a/storypage/sid/11594/content.do
http://www.bostonscientific.com/tem...A_Closer_Look/pdfs/ACL_Arc_Welding_080408.pdf

Best wishes, if you were closer I'd do all your welding for you.

 

My buddy got told that. My son will probably have to do his welding for him when he needs something done.

 

Turned one down when I found out with defib it is not adviseable to even adj a carb.No motors,WTF.

 

Probably something to it, you know as well as anybody the strong magnetic field when TIG welding (at least with my machine). Probably the high-freq stuff.
Is welding your living or personal. If personal i'd gather the stuff and become an expert at gas welding. Now that is old school and works same as TIG, 'cept you don't need to water cool the torch. Good luck, oj

 

Well guys, I am not an expert by any means, but I am a paramedic. The tuning cars issue has more to do with electromagnet inteference of them, They use a magnet to turn them on and off. Welding too makes the magnetic field that could shut the unit off as well, but more importantly receiving a shock from welding is almost the same as being defibrillated. If it or the defib go off at the wrong time in the cardiac cycle, it can be very dangerous. But it can be just as dagerous to a guy who doesn't have a defib device installed. I am not sure if you will ever get Doctors and Welding equipment manufacturers come to gether to fix the problems between these two item, or at least find out if an extra hazard really exists. Not sure.....

 

I think it is more about them playing CYA and what COULD happen than what will, but in this day and age whith every ambulance chasin attorney hanging out at the ER for new cases, I guess I don't blame them

 

my cousin had an implanted defibrillator put in, got it seriously ****ed up welding... he had the readout from the hospital from when it went off, looked like a seismograph during an earthquake... ended up in the OR about 2 hours after it happened getting a new one put in. not funny ****

 

Looks like it's time to get a nice O/A set up!

 

I had researched this question a while back. Do a search on welding and pacemakers. I came away with the conclusion that if you follow the rules, you'll be ok. Most important, as I remember, Don't lay the cables on your body, keep them as far away as possible. Avoid welding inside a metallic area ( truck body, tank, etc.). keep your ground close to where you are welding. Be sure to do a search to find out anything particular to your condition.

 

CAREFULL WHAT YOU MAY SUGGEST!! this is some serious ****!!! My uncle is a Cardiologist and says this is nothing to be played with!!. Not only can it play havoc with the unit itself, but can actually stop the unit resulting in death. You can live a long happy life (of course with some sacrifices) and not take a major risk by doing something crazy like this!

Buzz

 

Ever see your cell phone freak out from tig welding, or even mig welding certain things? What does that tell us...

 

Same thing with a Palm Pilot. I set mine on top of my welder and ****ed it up for good from the magnetic field.

I'd say both the magnetism and the threat of the current going through you are both very real hazards.

Is the problem that it will set off the defibrillator, or that it will render it useless...?

What if you have the defibrillator moved to your nut sack...? I know that's one place I'm most careful not to strike an arc on.



JOE

 

Man, a guy only does that once

 

Ever been hit with plug wire jolt while adjusting carb,how about coil? How about jolt from house wiring.Not some thing to guess about or give a therory about unless you know or have a defib. My choice or your choice.Plenty of info on web.Got to nail the Cardiologist down for some straight answers,if they can give you any. Good luck,I choose to last as long as I can and still do as I choose.

 

Damn, I never took this that serious. Its time to teach the Grandkids to weld. Hope you guys dont laugh at my build, it might not be up to par.

 

Well - - I've been a certified Mig/Tig welder for 45 yrs. and had a heart attack,triple by-p*** and a ICD [Implantable Cardio Defibrillator - pacemaker] three yrs. ago. Was told about the welding and large machine warnings and how the EMF's could upset the implant,but didn't pay much attention to it. I was in close proximetry between a tig machine and the work and my implant went off - Doc said it was the EMF's, they sent a signal to the implant that my heart was acting up and it shocked me. It may not ruin the pacemaker but re-programe it to settings other than what you need - rendering it useless or sending a shock when none was needed which could send the heart into some rhythm that is bad. Better safe than DEAD ! The worst about this is - I really like to weld.

 

As someone that's take hits from everything you've listed (and some unlisted ones)... I even have an EE degree and on this one I'd yield my electrical-know-it-all-ness to what the docs would have to say, even knowing the mathematics that relate electrcity to magnetism (and I even enjoyed those cl***es, some of those were the ones where you get to play with the BIG toys).

Just because things SHOULDN'T effect it don't mean they won't, who knows, the engineer that designed that part of the circuit may have tied one on the night before and isn't doin' his best work. (speaking as an engineer who HAS tied one on the night before and HASN'T done his best work)

 

Well said.

 

I know a guy, through the internet, who had sudden cardiac arrest and had to have a defibrillator implanted. The doc came in to talk about the restrictions, and said "well, as long as you're not a welder or [something else I can't remember], you won't really have anything to worry about. What do you do for a living?"
The guy said, "Uh, I guess I was a welder..."
No stick/TIG/MIG and can't be within 10 feet of a vehicle with a magneto, but apparently working on an engine with a regular ignition system is supposed to be OK. Maybe it varies by manufacturer and model of ICD?

 

I found the following info on line:
http://files.aws.org/technical/facts/FACT-16.PDF

 

Neat trick is to use rare earth magnets to hold patch panels,then tack weld in place patch. Problem if the magnets are too close to the tack weld, tig welder will take the sticky right out of the magnet. shocked me and my ***t. welder first time that happened.Use o/a instead is also my advise.

 

ykes !

Pretty scary--- stuff what about some sort of blocking type clothing? lead shirts got to be kind of heavy but some sort of rubberised canvas type insulated shirt heavy leathers????

 

but apparently working on an engine with a regular ignition system is supposed to be OK. Maybe it varies by manufacturer and model of ICD?[/QUOTE]

It's not the ignition system per say - It's the EMF's that happen just above and in direct line to a electrical rotating force - such as in a alternator or a magneto - - - it is said to stay out of the direct line of the field,such as above a alternator or to the side of a magneto.

 

My dad has a defibullator implanted, and was told he had to basically get away from welding and the EMF field under the hoods of most cars.

His thing was that if it went off, and the docs read that it happened, he'd lose his driver's license for 6 months while they monitored to see if it went off again!.

 

I have never thought about this before. I will see if I can talk my boss into doing some studies on ICDs and welding. I have read some of the added info that others have suggested, primarily the stuff from Medtronic since I work with their products the most. Medtronic's info looked as though they were saying that these electrical fields do not really harm the device. Here is what likely is the problem. These devices monitor what is basically your EKG from within the heart. The device then uses this info from the EKG to determine if it needs to pace or even shock the heart to restart it. Just like the electrical fields generated by the welders or other sources, the EKG is an electrical field generated by the heart cells when the heart beats. The peak voltage measured in the heart is about 5 millivolts which can easily be lost in the noise of fields produced by welding. From the experiences I have had measuring cellular currents, I don't think I would mess too much with this, take the recommended precautions, know what things to look for if it is not functioning properly, and always let someone know what you are doing.