hi all . has anyone had trouble with the heart monitor??? i had a 7 day one . i took it back yesterday to the bri bristol.

[moggdog]

and if you have ever been to the bri . you wiil know that its surrounded by hills .and theres nowhere to park . so guess what happens next ??? .. thats right i walked up and down the bloody hills and as soon as i got home i had an attack. ok it wasnt a bad one . but i wore the monitor for a week and my heart never skipped a beat . how annoying? oh when i said trouble with monitor i meant . because of glue in pads it brought me out in nasty rash , and it was a very dirty second hand one . im just glad i didnt have an open wound . good old nhs

[BobD Volunteer]

Seem to remember that I had pink marks where the pads went. I often come out like that after dressings so try to avoid hospital tape.

BobD

[MammaCass in reply to BobD]

I had blisters under the pads after both monitors I used and they told me they gave me pads for sensitive skin!!!!

[moggdog in reply to MammaCass]

hi mamma . how did your visit to the b r i go

[MammaCass in reply to moggdog]

Appointment on the 29th of this month .... Fingers crossed

[moggdog in reply to BobD]

wasnt really botherd with the rash . it was the second hand mouldy monitor that i didnt like .

[moggdog in reply to BobD]

hi bob. did you have new or used monitor?

[migmog]

Oh no sounds ominous - due to being monitored for a week late November !! See what the outcome has instore.

Mags

[jeanjeannie50]

Moggdog - Sorry but I did have a little laugh when I read your post, because I understand what happened to you totally. I think it's called sods law!!! I guess many of us have had the same thing - I certainly have, infact I used to feel absolutely wonderful when wearing a monitor, thought I could climb a mountain! However I haven't had one for years now as it's so easy to see what's wrong with my heart How disgusting that you were given a dirty monitor, did you mention it to them when you took it back. Yes, those pads bring me out in a rash too and the stickiness left behind is so difficult to get off. Hope you are better now.

[Maitha]

So annoying I know that feeling to do your daily tasks attached to sticky second hand old monitor without any recorded episodes !

I had a month leave from my work last May and came with my family to UK to had EP study with doctor Schilling , after having a monitor for a week , with pink itchy marks no flutter recorded and all was good , so he didn't recommend any EP study or ablation and I went back to my country

After reaching my country by two weeks I had the worse attack ever and admitted to hospital for cardiversion , then contacted the UK doctor where he recommended the ablation

See how lucky I was lol in addition to the expenses

Anyway I believe that is god will to have my ablation here in my country

But now due to the need for another ablation as touch up I'm planning to go back to UK again

I tried few years to record my episodes for few years but failed till recorded in ER at last where diagnosed ad atrial flutter case

Check if they have something called event recorder which you can record only the symptoms whenever occur

I'm trying also to get the new apple device alivecor but still not available in my country yet , and had to order through the internet along with a doctor prescription , which I'm working on that right now for better diagnose

Hope

[kernow43]

I had my seven day monitor fitted yesterday, although have had various types over the past year or so, including being wired up in hospital for 24 or 36 hours. I can relate exactly to how you feel about nothing showing up. In fact I expect to have a good week now I've got this on, despite having had a lousy weekend, and it will probably kick off again next week after I take it back prior to my appointment with cardiologist.

[lizzily]

Hi Moggdog,

I had a dilapidated Cardio call monitor for 12 days from RD and E which beeped all by itself from time to time including at 3 am and 4 am one morning when it was sitting all by itself on my bedside table, and I wasn't even attached to it. I was so mad at being woken up twice I ended up dumping it in the dining room. When I phoned to check it was OK I was just told they can be a bit temperamental, so I persevered in spite of also getting a nasty itchy rash. I managed to record 3 little blips so I felt it was all worthwhile until I went back for the results and there weren't any. Yep, a faulty monitor and a b..... waste of time. 60 mile round trip for me to RD and E, but more luck second time around as I did catch one short episode. It's the only time I've ever wished an episode on myself. Good luck if you try again. Liz

[BobD Volunteer]

Forget the Alivecor as it is only a gimmick in my view. It doesn't produce a quality ECG just a single trace of blips. Both my doctor and I tried it and found neither of us had any sign of a P wave and she doesn't have AF! We also found that it was very difficult to get it to take a trace as any movement set off all sorts of mad lines. If you had one and were in any way a worrying kind it could drive you insane with worry. Maybe there are people who have found it good but on the strength of the tests we did my doctor and I both felt it was not really suitable to actually tell you anything and the trace not of medical quality.

I must of course add that maybe I have a dud one but the one I tried at HRC said I had no P wave either and I spent the day worrying I was in slow AF or something. The above test were against a 12 lead set at GPs by the way.

Personal opinions only of course.

Bob

[Dodie117]

I had a bad experience too. After a couple of months waiting I was given 24hr monitor. At the time I was having almost daily episodes so was pretty confident it would record it. The monitor stopped working at 10pm so nothing. Brought it back but they said 7 hrs was enough and would have to go through gp to get another go. Gp asked me to come in but no appointment for a week. Then a letter to hospital which got lost and finally another 24 hr monitor. This time it did record an episode and afib diagnosed. More problems and delays to get to see ep and my gp would not prescribe warfarin - by then daily episodes so I went to a&e. They caught a bad one and put me on bisoprolol and warfarin so took from June 2012 to feb 2013 to get treated. Since then treatment good but took a long time.

Good luck and have you been treated. Are you on warfarin. Marie

[moggdog in reply to Dodie117]

hi. no they took me off it.

[Dodie117 in reply to moggdog]

I think I would be worried about this more than anything. I had two episodes of losing partial sight a few years ago. Optician just thought it odd but that's all. In hindsight the cardiologist thinks i had two mini strokes.. This was about 3 years before diagnosis. At least if you are protected from stroke that's the main thing. Marie

[tk11]

It was from a seven day trace called king of hearts from Royal Brompton that my AF was first diagnosed. I had many 24hr tests showing nothing previously and I too had skin problems with the pads but small price to pay. I was also amazed at the downloading data over the phone!

[Cherjane]

I had more problems with the pads. They were able to see a pattern of Afib when I had a thirty day monitor.

[porsche]

I agree moggdog, who ever thought it would be a good idea to build the heart institute on a hill...madness, i usually worn out before i get to my appointment...so much to navigate..hill, shops, corridors, lift, more corridors & then there is clinic tucked in a corner! Those glue pads are horrible, next time let them know you are allergic & they will use different ones, it takes ages to heal & get rid of the glue!

I live in Bristol, do you?