Pulse monitor

[Mumnessa]

Hi can anyone recommend a monitor for checking Af, have Fitbit but would like a small monitor for reassurance.

[BobD Volunteer]

Kardia /Alivecor which links to a mobile phone app is the best if you want to know what is happening. Be careful that you do not become OCD about these sorts of devices which is actually not helpful .

[RiderontheStorm]

The coming Apple watch will be including this app.

I have a BP monitor from Costco ($38 USD) that takes your blood pressure and also tells you when you are in AF. I also have the new FB charge - when in AF will not show pulse FYI.

[lynneangela in reply to RiderontheStorm]

I have a blood presser monitor that shows my pulse and if it's in AF but also have the Fitbit charge and I didn't realise that when it doesn't give a reading its in AF which happens a lot even though I had cryroblation done 3 yrs ago. So thank you for your post about the no reading of a pulse on the Fitbit charge.

[fallingtopieces]

The ‘Kardia’ wins hands down as far as I’m concerned. You’ll be so impressed with it.

Pat

[CDreamer]

Kardia

[Hidden]

I have had an Omron HCG-801 for 8 years. It is an expensive but very sturdy piece of kit which still works fine. I have Windows XP software which is Windows 10 compatible and enables print outs of 30 second strips stored on the device. Apart from upfront costs the main drawback is having to take my shirt off in Caffè Nero to get the required chest recording.😟

The Kardia is much more fun, works with my i-Pad as well as android or other iOS devices. and can record up to 5 minute strips I believe. It's cheap, and it is easy to use anywhere. Downsides include potential to lose and damage such a small and vulnerable looking device. A monthly subscription of £10 is required to store traces for printing out. Longevity questionable.

[momist in reply to Hidden]

My Kardia seems to be safe enough in it's holder stuck to the back of the mobile phone. New holders are available for around a tenner, but when I changed my phone I just peeled it off the sticky pad, cleaned it off with 'Sticky Stuff Remover' and used some cheap sticky pads to put it on the new phone case. I always have a case on my phone of some type, so it's not actually stuck to the phone itself.

As for the monthly charges, it seems to me that's just buying specific cloud storage, and I already have lots of cloud storage with Dropbox, Google etc.. I email recordings into my Dropbox account, and there they are available on my tablet if I need to show them to the doctors, or on my PC if I need to print them off.

[Hidden in reply to momist]

Thank you momist and JustIntonation. I was able to email a PDF of the trace. I should have looked more carefully at the options. £120 a year saved.

[momist in reply to Hidden]

Hey Hidden , you could use that to pay for Spotify!

[CDreamer in reply to Hidden]

Kardia - I’ve never had to pay? I have traces going back to 2013 & print, email etc. Is this a new thi;g? I know you can ask for an assessment and there is a £5 for that,

[Hidden]

Yesterday in the chemist's (Boots) we spotted a blood pressure monitor for £99 which also looks for AF. The illustration on the back had two hearts, one with normal circulation and the other with AF. As we also have an Omron HCG-801 (and its eye wateringly expensive software) we gave it no more than a glance.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

This will have been the Boots Pharmaceuticals Advanced Blood Pressure Monitor with Atrial Fibrillation Alert. It's much cheaper than the Omron which takes a 28 second reading.

- not a recommendation, just an observation.

[Meeko]

Kardia linked to my smart phone

[Hidden]

I should mention that if you get a Kardia device and you wish to stay on the Basic (free) service after the introductory period (meaning that all you pay is the up front purchase price of the device) you can still upload the latest strip you've recorded. The perplexingly named "Email EKG" button allows you to sent the PDF via Gmail, Dropbox, Evernote, Android Beam, Bluetooth, HP Print Service Plugin, Google Drive and probably others depending on what you have installed on your device. I simply upload to a subfolder in my Dropbox every time I take a strip.

Of course you have to manage the files in some way if you do this but for someone with a little basic technology nous its not too difficult.

This means you can print out a copy of any strips of interest when you are going to visit your EP or cardiologist without the expense of paying for the monthly service to have Alivecor store your data. The files are just simple PDF files and the filename is a time and date stamp.

Also, to state the obvious, you can take a printout with you to A&E if you are concerned - in my experience it can streamline the admission process considerably if there is something in the trace (eg a finding of AF and a 200+ HR) that can give the Triage nurse the basis for an immediate decision even if they have never seen the device before.

[Buffafly in reply to Hidden]

I get the storage free because I was an early adopter! My Kardia lives in its box in my bedside drawer on the principle that anything that doesn't go on long enough for me to fetch it out isn't worth worrying about. You need a new battery eventually.

[Mumnessa]

thanks everyone for the advice most helpful

[UScore]

I'm guess I'm lucky in so far as it's really obvious when I'm in af. Happened the other day and I knew instantly. I can also tell the moment the flecanaide has done its job and I'm in sr.

Is it less clear for others? I used to consider getting a kardia but I don't really have a need for it.

There was once when I had really bad ectopics, that were on every other beat, and it was almost indistinguishable from af, but I could detect a regular beat if I took my pulse for long enough. But other than that, I think if I got a kardia I'd probably either have it unused in a drawer or start checking every missed beat and get obsessed with it!

[GrannyE]

I agree with the others that Kardia Alivecor is excellent but I too was wondering if there were an acurate wrist monitor that I could wear whilst doing excersise so as to see how my heart is responding. I too do not pay because I am a very early user. I agree with Bob that it is easy to use them too much. To use the Alivecor I have to wake my mobile and be still for 30secs which not always possible. To have something on the wrist would be easier provided it was not bulky and not interfere with my golf.