Alivecor update

[Buffafly]

I have not seen it mentioned so I thought I would - if you use your Alivecor with an Android device eg Nexus, as I sometimes do, the app has been upgraded to show the HB fluctuation as well as the average rate eg 40Bfx/52BPM which I guess shows if your heartrate is uneven without actually being in AF. The feature is coming to ios gadgets later.

[farmerwalt]

Hi buffafly,

I was at a Arrhythmia Alliance meeting at the Scottish Parliament on 18th June and the AliveCor rep was there. He mentioned the updates on the Android devices app. It also includes a lot more record keeping facilities. I told him the one thing I miss is not being able to alter the vertical scaling now. When I first got my AliveCor you could adjust the scaling. I adjusted mine for taking the ecg's on my chest since it does not work on my fingers. That was using my iPhone. I am now using a Sony Android phone and the peaks are off-scale, but I can no longer adjust it. He also mentioned that it would be some time before the update was released for the iPhone. Apparently the Android system is much easier to program than the Apple system.

Walter

[Buffafly in reply to farmerwalt]

Yes, I've found lots of useful/fun things are not available on Apple devices. The Journal which now comes with the app could be a bit of a hypochondriac s dream! My iPhone has a facility to count your daily steps and charts for peak flow (very useful) as well as heart rate, blood pressure etc etc - if you can be bothered.

[BobD Volunteer in reply to Buffafly]

Why would one? Far too busy for all that. I wake up so I am well.lol

B

[farmerwalt in reply to BobD]

Yes, would echo your comments Bob. Just spent the weekend removing a bow window and the stone wall below it, so don't have much time for ecg's. However did check my INR because of what's happening on Tuesday

Walter

[angiek in reply to BobD]

I agree to a point- for some of us it is easy to become obsessed with monitoring our hearts. However in my case the Alivecor captured Atrial Flutter and SVT which the 2 x 24hr monitors from the hospital never had. I emailed the readings to my EP and he was very pleased that I had, printed them off and added to my file. At my next appointment these readings helped us make the decision for me to have an ablation for AF and AFl, for which I am now on the waiting list.

[angiek in reply to angiek]

Although as a p.s. I must say I now very rarely feel the need to use it- I know what my readings will look like when I am having an 'event'. I may use it again for a while after the ablation.

[BobD Volunteer in reply to angiek]

As a diagnostic tool I agree it is useful but far too many people get sucked into OCD and focus more on the machine and their strange heart beats than living life. Once you have a diagnosis then put it away and get on with living is my view.

Purely personal of course. We are what we are.

[Thomps95]

I'm pleased that heart rate variability (HRV) is coming to iOS as this is an important index of cardiac health (reduced HRV apparently a warning sign).

Re the vertical scaling, I wonder why they deleted that option? (I use my leg; scale seems wrong for my fingers for some reason)

As for counting steps ... it's the new black, everything seems to count your steps these days. I spent $160 on a Fitbit HR and wore it like a nerd for 2 weeks. Then I got bored and it's now sitting in a drawer

[Buffafly in reply to Thomps95]

I agree these apps/gadgets are useful and fun in short bursts eg to check if your peak flow is stable which I have to before my asthma checkups as I have a habit of losing paper records! but if you are well enough to be busy with other things you don't need them.

[fallingtopieces in reply to Thomps95]

Thats where my fitbit is.... in a bedside drawer!!

Pat

[porridgequeen]

What is the significance of the an uneven heart rate which is not AF?

[Thomps95 in reply to porridgequeen]

Heart rate variability HRV and Afib are totally different - HRV just refers to the normal fluctuations in heart rate from moment to moment that occur as you breathe in and breathe out. When you breathe in, your heart rate increases a bit; when you breathe out, it slows a bit. (respiration is the main source of HRV; there are others that are more complicated to explain)

Atrial fibrillation, on the other hand, is when things go out of whack entirely, and your heart beats are "irregularly irregular" (no systematic pattern).

So heart rate variability is systematic, natural variability that is in fact a sign of a healthy, responsive heart. If heart rate variability is too low, it means the heart is not highly responsive to respiration (for example), and suggests that your heart might not be healthy.

So bottom line: we want a healthy amount of systematic variability in our heart rate, which is totally normal when you are in sinus rhythm; but we don't want the atria to fibrillate and generate wild "irregularly irregular" beats.

Hope that helps a bit!

[Buffafly in reply to porridgequeen]

marksdailyapple.com/have-yo...

Interesting!

[porridgequeen]

Thank you Thomps, that is just what I wanted to hear.

[NiceNana]

So what value would you put on a healthy HRV, Tomps95? Is 50BFx when in sinus rhythm considered "normal"? I take it that when in AF, an increase in value is to be expected.