After previous remarks re the wonders of diltiazem I was struck by Kismet! I had felt unwell all day, blamed on staying up late for election results, then I realised I had gone into AF for the first time this year. I got out my Alivecor and checked, HR 95 and I felt OK, very pleased. Slept OK too and was in SR by morning, more pleased. As I sat in bed reading the paper I suddenly had an attack of extreme dizziness and felt as if I was going to pass out. After a couple more I was back on the Alivecor and recorded pauses up to 4 seconds long. While I was dithering about what to do it stopped.
Saw my GP today, was trying to avoid producing Alivecor but when I could see she was heading down the reassurance route I had to. She completely panicked, can't read that, not arrhythmia, etc so I showed her the one I had done from my husband the same day and then switched back to asystole filling the screen, then she got it. I let her refer me to a cardiologist as he had promised to refer me to an EP if necessary.
Upset as I am this has returned I'm really thankful I bought the gadget after the first time it happened
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Buffafly
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This sounds like progress Buffafly after a scary moment and hopefully the reading you took will help to diagnose what the event might have been. It's very difficult to describe a wobble and I'm sure the ECG the Alivecor takes must be helpful to the expert eye.
Good that you were able to catch it on your monitor, Buffafly. I'm so glad I have my Alivecor, too to record and print anything untoward to show the expert, rather than saying that 'my heart felt funny a few times the other day'.
Hope it has settled down OK.
That's a very interesting post, thank you, and hope you get your issue sorted now you're on the right track. I find it amazing that we have to provide documentary evidence, and even then apparently have to press the point in order to get referred to a relevant specialist. I really wish I'd had an Alivecor when I had problems a couple of years ago. I spent about 9 months of being ill but never in front of a GP, and I was (I now realise) being over-reassured all the time. I've never really got back to myself after that . I used to be able to pick a dead sheep up off the ground but not any more.
I was very pleased that I bought mine. On the morning after my ablation I told my consultant EP that I had bought one and he said great because you can send me the PDFs and I can see what is going on. Two days after that I was in NSR in the morning and reverted to persistent AF late afternoon. I was able to send him prints of both and from that he sent referral to heart valve specialist straight away before he saw me a weeks later (and that appointment he brought forward by four weeks).
Go onto the website, alivecor.com and see if you can get some info about the different versions. I am in UK and got mine from Amazon. You need some sort of smartphone/device for it to work and you download the relevant software. So check before you buy that you have the right phone etc.
Yes, you can convert to PDF then print, I took a couple of 'good examples' to my cardiologist who was very pleased, saved him having to organise monitoring which as you probably know 'cures' arrhythmia s temporarily 😁
Hi Rosey, Alivecor is an American invention but you can buy it on Amazon. The latest model is always very expensive but I bought an out of date one for £36! It is meant to work with an iPhone (clipped on) but it also works with some Android phones and my Nexus 7 and seems to work fine even if the devices are not touching.
It gives you a rhythm strip only and you can ignore any other zigzags etc. I gave some tips on use on another post and those might help you decide if it is for you.
As Bob rightly says it is likely you will get obsessed by it but I found that wore off quite soon, not nearly so fun as Angry Birds!
It's worth noting that although you get the impression that you need to clip the Alivecor to your phone, you don't. As long as it's close enough for the signal to go between the phone and the device, then it'll work fine. I never clip mine on even though it does fit.
I thought that worth mentioning because I spend ages making sure I got the one that clipped on my particular iPhone only to find out that it didn't clip on that well and it was unnecessary.
Main thing is to make sure that an app is available for whatever device you are using iPhone, iPad, Android etc.
I thought the $74 USD was fairly reasonable. They use to charge a lot more than that but it was different device. Took it to my last EP visit . Showed him where it indicated AFIB. One of the readings didn't register due to the fact the my heart rate dropped below 50. The EP showed me it was still afib. Great device.
The general one is the 3rd generation model. Not sure what the developments were (I didn't bother to look because I only bought mine in February) except that I know it is lighter.
Hello, I don't have Alivecor, but I do have a pacemaker. Is the sort of information that you are getting on the Alivecor the same as those of us with a pacemaker will get when we have a download done at the clinic?
My husband has been to see the E.P. today armed with alivecor printouts from my device. The E.P. was happy to accept those and said he could clearly see A.F. As a result he is having the correct treatment after a short time of developing A.F. whereas my diagnosis and resultant treatment took 10 years as it was never caught on a 24hr monitor. I think it is an amazing diagnostic tool . X
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. I used to be able to pick a dead sheep up off the ground but not any more. 
Stuck in limbo (not a good feeling !!)
Wide QRS with sinus rhythm 
Anyone else ever feel like giving up? Had a bad day.
Back in AF 3 days after ablation!!!
