This will sound odd to most of you, but it's a serious question. A friend on the Cardiac Athletes forum asked recently whether anyone with an ICD (pacemaker) has ever been jolted while swimming open water. ICDs are set to give you a shock if the pulse gets too slow or too squirrly. You know like, "CLEAR! ZAP!", except there's no one shouting "clear", just the unannounced zap. The jolt is like a punch in the chest and takes the wind out of you for a few seconds. He's a bit nervous about swimming in a lake with this thing. I have an artificial aortic valve, but not an ICD.
There are two questions here: 1. Does the AICD going off present an electrocution hazzard while swimming in any environment? 2. Is Open Water Swimming safe for the person with an AICD? I'm going to speak to #2. I also SCUBA dive. In the SCUBA world - the ultimate open water environment - people with fragile cardiac conditions are told not to dive. Drownings during cardiac events are one of the leading causes of SCUBA fatalities because the person loses the ability to control their actions. If something happens in a pool there are lifeguards nearby; if the person is alert they can also stop swimming and stand up; or they can even plan ahead and choose the lane by the wall for added safety. In Open Water, a person would probably drown if their AICD went off. I am not a cardiologist, but I do work as a hospital based PT with cardiac patients. I have witnessed an AICD going off and the person could barely walk - probably would have drowned in an open water environment. I'm a huge advocate for getting people exercising but Open Water just seems too dangerous.
There are two questions here: 1. Does the AICD going off present an electrocution hazzard while swimming in any environment? 2. Is Open Water Swimming safe for the person with an AICD? I'm going to speak to #2. I also SCUBA dive. In the SCUBA world - the ultimate open water environment - people with fragile cardiac conditions are told not to dive. Drownings during cardiac events are one of the leading causes of SCUBA fatalities because the person loses the ability to control their actions. If something happens in a pool there are lifeguards nearby; if the person is alert they can also stop swimming and stand up; or they can even plan ahead and choose the lane by the wall for added safety. In Open Water, a person would probably drown if their AICD went off. I am not a cardiologist, but I do work as a hospital based PT with cardiac patients. I have witnessed an AICD going off and the person could barely walk - probably would have drowned in an open water environment. I'm a huge advocate for getting people exercising but Open Water just seems too dangerous.
