I am very pleased with the Alivecor monitor. It recorded sessions of:
Atrial Fibrillation RVR, Atrial Flutter, PACs, PVCs, V.-Tach/PVCs, and readings up to 214bpm -at which time I had to put it down! Alivecor's email support was very helpful as well.
Check into the user manual, (on the menu: HELP, User Manual)
There are several different ways to take readings and some have greater accuracy than others. The best one for me is Lead II, which is above the left knee combined with the fingers of the right hand. The Lead I which is both hands, gives me some wild readings which really threw me off sometimes. Lead I only records well for me when I am actually in Afib. Lead II nails it everytime regardless. Anterior Precordial Lead works as well though more awkward in public to use (center left on chest, above the breast). One great tip Alivecor gave me: use hand sanitizer (on any fabric that won't be damaged by such) on your knee and it will even read through pants! And it does!
One thing I've have learned, if I have a doubt - then I am NOT in AFib.... when I am sure without a doubt it is clear even without the device. The rest is what the Drs love to belittle..as. your "palpitations". I wonder if in our learned hypervigilance we are not better tuned to our hearts - and one day they will have an apparatus that can actually read what we are feeling!
In any case, I have been grateful to have these recordings to hand over to Doctors. Thank you Dr. Albert.
Written by
iris1205
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Before taking your first recording, read these instructions carefully and make sure you observe the following instructions each time you take a recording. Make sure the Heart Monitor is properly attached to your mobile device. NOTE: The monitor can be used up to a distance of 30cm (1 ft) from the mobile device, although, using the monitor at a distance from the mobile device may decrease the signal quality. Disconnect headphones, charger cables, or any other connected devices. Clean the two electrodes with alcohol--‐based sanitizer. Using your mobile device, launch the AliveECG app.
Lead I ECG, hold the system using two hands; the left hand should contact the electrode close to the top of the mobile device, and the right hand should contact he electrode closer to the bottom of the mobile device.
Lead II ECG, the left knee should contact the electrode closer to the top of the mobile device and the right hand should contact the electrode closer to the bottom of the mobile device.
Anterior Precordial Lead, the device can be placed on the lower left side of the chest, just below the pectoral muscle. The bottom of the mobile device should be pointing towards the center of the body.
(above the breast line) Iris.
Recording will begin automatically when both electrodes make contact with skin. The green bars in the upper right corner of the AliveECG app indicate when there is a connection between the electrodes and the user. NOTE: The ECG rhythms will record best when the Heart Monitor is held steady. It may be helpful to rest your arms on a flat surface to increase stability.
No not at all that is fine, as soon as i can afford it i will get one its £169. thank you for your help.
Hi Iris, As you know I've just bought one so this is really useful. I had no idea you could do all this. Going to try out the instructions later, working at the moment.
Now I feel guilty as I was given mine as part of the testing roll out and seldom use it since there is nothing odd to record most of the time. That and I find it very difficult to get a steady reading unless I use hand cleanser and sit with my arms flat on a desk. Otherwise it looks like a magnitude 9 earthquake! lol. It does seem to have got better and better as the upgrades have been loaded so maybe I'm just a bad subject.
I would caution against getting too fond of it as we AF people do seem to become obsessive about our condition. I used to end up taking my BP and HR every hour or more until the batteries ran out and I realised I actually felt better not thinking about it.Now I only ever do BP when my GP asks me for a seven day chart.
Would like to add my support to your comments Bob. It is easy (and understandable!) to become obsessed with checking and measuring and was certainly the case for me for months after my diagnosis. It was my cardio, of all people, that encouraged me not to do this. Like you, I only check BP for a week before an appointment and I can tell pretty quickly when I've gone into AF anyway although I do check my heart-rate at times once I'm in an episode. I swear that my last episode was prolonged by constantly being wired up to a monitor in CCU!
And that may be true for some and I find the opposite, I find it reassuring. I only monitor when I feel rough and I need to check my BP as if it drops too low I need to rest with feet up otherwise if I try work through it I become very ill and BP drops to dangerous levels. Otherwise I monitor occasionally.
Sorry if you thought I was having a go CDreamer. I promise you I wasn't, you will know from the site that people's responses to just about everything to do with AF varies widely and I was only saying that for me, Bob's comments rang true. We all need to do what works best for us and I respect your choices. Keep well. Marilyn.
Not at all Marilyn, I don't take offence easily. I just wanted to emphasise that we all have differing coping strategies and that we are the best experts on us. If it increases anxiety of course it isn't helpful, I'm an the opposite in that my anxiety increases when I don't knowledge as I like to know what is happening to me. Thank you for checking it out, best wishes.
I didn't want to spend £169 but thinking it could help me/work in my favour one day.
I too am in nsr the majority of the time (so grateful for the wonderful NSR!,) I almost never have any big runs of PACs, PVC's(not sure what's going on) or PAF on a holter monitor so thought I'd invest in this to either, a) prove what's going on when it does, or b) put my mind at rest.
As for being obsessed about this condition, I can say I'm more obsessed now I've found this site.
I feel like a time bomb, waiting for a stroke. I'm worried that I'm not on warfarin even though I am in NRS almost all of the time. As for the intermittent 'episodes', perhaps I'm having PVCs and PACs, not sure, hopefully this will tell me.
One thing for sure is that I'm grateful to still be alive every morning when I wake up.
This is in the USA but they will ship worldwide. Two electrical engineers designed this for their father who is a cardiologist. Search my other posts and you will find more information. I purchased one and it works. It is one sure way to know what your heart is doing when it is in A-Fib or otherwise. Because it has three leads, it apparently gives a better chart. Taking or sending a chart to your doctor is sometimes helpful and it can avoid going to the ER. Should you decide to purchase one, when you order, if you use the promo code iheartca they will give you a small discount. It is much cheaper than the Alivecor Heart Monitor and costs less than 100 pounds.
I used to use Heart Rate. When I was in major Afib, I knew as it would keep restarting as it couldn't obtain a clear constant pulse. I even learned to read ectopics and PACs on it, but they had to be very clear episodes.
I received my Alivecor monitor from amazon for my iphone 5 yesterday and I'm impressed with what it can record! I played about with it a bit yesterday and all my recordings were reassuring NSR.
Today I have caught a run of what I think are PVCs. If I'm right they are typical of my usual activity which is usually short lived, in bursts and not AF. The run looks like 10 pvcs before a normal beat returned. Do any of you who have PVC runs have that many together? 24 hour monitors have only picked up doubles and triples from me before.
I've forwarded the ECG for analysis to know for sure what they are.
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