Some of you remember from past posts that in late July we suffered the dreaded Chicago Flooded Basement at my house. We're gradually getting things back together - no serious damage, fortunately. Just a lot of cleaning and freshening up. Next weekend the rugs go back on the floor and we're about done. That should go fine. . . this weekend was the strange one.
One of the last things we wanted to do was to polish the paneling on the walls. The paneling is solid birchwood and runs from the floor up to 32" high, where there is a chair rail. Above the wood is the standard sheetrock and insulation. Well, the preliminary polishing was done and my wife asked me to go over the walls and doors one more time with a small, hand-held electric polisher. I started on the wall, working my way around the room. I was about half way finished (looked pretty good, too!) when I realized that my heart was racing! I was sweating profusely, even though it wasn't that hot down there. I immediately stopped what I was doing, got a big glass of cool water in case I was dehydrated, then went upstairs to "the cold room" - a small bedroom with a large air conditioner. I rested there for 10 or 15 minutes, and things settled down to normal.
As I pondered who to call, it dawned on me. I really didn't need to call anybody. My pacemaker has two types of "rate response." These are mechanisms by which the device senses what I'm doing and adjusts my heart rate accordingly. One of the two mechanisms is sensitive to bouncing, such as walking or running. It finally dawned on me that the pacemaker was reacting to the vibration of the polisher, transmitted through my arm, and interpreting the vibration as if I was running as fast as I could! So, the pacemaker did what it is supposed to do -- it revved up my heart rate to the max (150 BPM), even though I didn't need it. The result was the wierd overload and racing heart I felt. To test my theory, I went back downstairs and finished the job, using only my right hand to hold the polisher. No issues noted. It seemed worst when I held the polisher with only my left hand. It was there but not anywhere near as badly when I help the polisher with both hands, and the problem went away entirely when I used only my right hand. I guess the pacemaker, being so close to my left shoulder, was just too heavily affected to let things alone.
So - another lesson learned. Think three times about what I'm planning to do and how it may affect my body and all of its additional hardware.
One of the last things we wanted to do was to polish the paneling on the walls. The paneling is solid birchwood and runs from the floor up to 32" high, where there is a chair rail. Above the wood is the standard sheetrock and insulation. Well, the preliminary polishing was done and my wife asked me to go over the walls and doors one more time with a small, hand-held electric polisher. I started on the wall, working my way around the room. I was about half way finished (looked pretty good, too!) when I realized that my heart was racing! I was sweating profusely, even though it wasn't that hot down there. I immediately stopped what I was doing, got a big glass of cool water in case I was dehydrated, then went upstairs to "the cold room" - a small bedroom with a large air conditioner. I rested there for 10 or 15 minutes, and things settled down to normal.
As I pondered who to call, it dawned on me. I really didn't need to call anybody. My pacemaker has two types of "rate response." These are mechanisms by which the device senses what I'm doing and adjusts my heart rate accordingly. One of the two mechanisms is sensitive to bouncing, such as walking or running. It finally dawned on me that the pacemaker was reacting to the vibration of the polisher, transmitted through my arm, and interpreting the vibration as if I was running as fast as I could! So, the pacemaker did what it is supposed to do -- it revved up my heart rate to the max (150 BPM), even though I didn't need it. The result was the wierd overload and racing heart I felt. To test my theory, I went back downstairs and finished the job, using only my right hand to hold the polisher. No issues noted. It seemed worst when I held the polisher with only my left hand. It was there but not anywhere near as badly when I help the polisher with both hands, and the problem went away entirely when I used only my right hand. I guess the pacemaker, being so close to my left shoulder, was just too heavily affected to let things alone.
So - another lesson learned. Think three times about what I'm planning to do and how it may affect my body and all of its additional hardware.
