One month post ablation

[IanMK]

It's now one month since my ablation. Prior to the procedure and on a range of meds, I had a consistent, but incorrect, ECG rhythm according to my Kardia. My Fitbit was recording a pulse rate of half of that shown on the Kardia. I had been feeling reasonably well, with occasional palpitations and a tendency to become exhausted quickly, which I attributed to my medications.

Post ablation, I have been checking my Kardia and Fitbit (once!) daily to check for changes. My Fitbit has shown my resting heart rate first dropping from around 48 to 43 then increasing to 61. Looking at the trend, I expect it to stabilise at around 56.

I saw my EP earlier this week and told him what I had noticed and that I was still experiencing the same symptoms as before (although I wasn't expecting immediate improvements). He prescribed Amiodarone, which I queried because this is a medication that I wanted to avoid. I have not been 'pre-loaded' and it is a low dose (200mg). I have to admit: my palpitations have stopped and I am in NSR. Thanks doc!

[Hidden]

All sounds good Ian, I know what you mean about Amiodarone, even the name puts me off, but there is no doubt that it does a good job, but from what we hear, best avoided for long term medication if possible. Let's hope the good news continues...No.2 for me at the end of August!!

[Hidden]

On the Fitbit and Kardia front, I'd tend to feel that Kardia is designed for diagnosing the errant heart whilst Fitbit is an aid for the healthy one and may struggle with what is not a standard heartbeat. However, my Fitbit is so old it doesn't do heart rate analysis and I haven't got a Kardia so I'm not in much of position to make informed comment!

[IanMK in reply to Hidden]

I think you’re right - the Fitbit is optimised for a healthy heart. I believe the basic feature of counting the ‘major’ heartbeats is probably OK since it measures the pulsing of an artery. However, it tells me that my cardio fitness is excellent for a man of my age. I’m not sure why I’m visiting this forum, in that case 😳.

Regarding the Kardia Mobile, I believe it is an excellent piece of kit for recording an ECG and it only claims to diagnose AF. I wouldn’t like to depend on the automatic analysis, though.

[Hidden in reply to IanMK]

The clue, with Fitbit, is in the 'fit' bit.

You can pay up and have a Kardia reading analysed I gather.

I have an Omron HCG-801 ECG Monitor and a reading gets one of a few basic categories - stable waveform, fast, slow, irregular, fast and irregular, deviating waveform and so on.

[wilsond]

Hope it continues for you,and that everyything settles down.Best wishes

[Beta44]

Hopefully, and probably, the Amiodarone will be a temporary fix whilst your heart recovers fully from the ablation.

Peter