Some of you may know I had a funny turn 2 weeks ago where I felt bit dizzy so I've had to wear a 7 day monitor, I'm still waiting for results of this, however Saturday and Sunday my palpation/missed beats were relentless all day, no dizziness but felt like a fish flopping about in my chest, so whilst happening I took a two minute kardia reading which came back as HR 95 and normal.
I rung the royal Brompton where I spoke to the on call cardiologist who asked me to email him the trace so he could look at it, he rung back about 5 mins later and said that I was having quite a few consecutive ectopics and that if they were from the top of heart then it's no problem, a beta blocker would help, however if from the bottom then it would be serious, he then asked me the questions, any chest pain?, Any dizziness or feeling faint??, All of which I didn't have, he then said I needed to go straight to my local a&e to get an ECG to determine where these ectopics were coming from, as the kardia is unable to tell him this information,
Off I go to a&e, it's rammed but as soon as I let them know the info I'm given a red card and sent straight through, sit down with nurse who wires me up to ECG.......nothing, not a single missed beat😩😩, bloods taken and sent out to sit in waiting room.
2 hours later Dr calls me through, looks at my kardia and says they aren't ventricular as they aren't broad, nothing to be concerned about off you go home,
I found it unusual how one Dr cannot tell if it's ventricular, but the other one can, I must say I was tending to go with the cardiologist on this one, so now need to get hold of someone at Brompton to try to get some info........all was going swimmingly as well, all my tests were fine, stress, echo, MRI....it's put me in a pretty low mood I'll be honest
Sorry to read that Juggsy. Life is complicated isn't it. Ectopics are a real pain sometimes and being told they are harmless doesn't always help. We AFers are our own worst enemies with our anxieties aren't we!
It was more the different opinions about them Bob, cardiologist from Brompton mentioned, VT, which is very serious and linked with sudden cardiac death, to then be sent on my way from local a&e without any concern has me very worried that something's being overlooked somewhere
Hi Juggsy, I think the first cardiologist was being super cautious, it would be bad if he said you were ok on the basis of a Kardia reading and it turned out there was something not right, so much better to have a full ECG taken. I spent/wasted a whole day in A&E because the ambulance crew thought my ECG looked wrong even though my AF stopped before they arrived 😬
That is stressful for you but I’m slightly confused by the first cardiologist saying that Kardia cannot show the difference between atrial and ventricular ectopics - it can. The education section of your Kardia app explains them and below is a trace of my PVC’s from way back.
I would have no clue on how to tell, the Dr in a&e said that they weren't broad enough for ventricular, however cardiologist in Brompton said kardia couldn't tell if from top of bottom, it's a worrying and stressful time at moment
Might it be helpful to post a short trace from your Kardia? There are some folks here who may be able to help - including occasionally, the inventor of the device.
Some of the devices available to use at home have become relatively sophisticated at recording a heart trace and providing some basic rhythm analysis. However, particularly with very slow heart rates (bradycardia) and very rapid heart rates (tachycardia) they can be inaccurate and unreliable and this is compounded if the underlying rhythm is very irregular. They emphatically don't provide a definitive clinical diagnosis!
In the particular case of ectopics determining whether these are atrial or ventricular in origin really requires a 12 Lead ECG. I think the cardiologist was absolutely right to be cautious given the duration of your symptoms and a full 12 Lead ECG could also have identified other underlying causes.
Even a full 12Lead ECG has to be assessed in the context of other clinical signs and symptoms and if deemed necessary other diagnostic tests.
I firmly believe in having a good working knowledge of my medical condition and I maintain a healthy scepticism of the medical profession. However most doctors do a pretty good job!!
Owning a Kardia does not make you a doctor and is not a diagnostic tool. Dr Google didn't go to medical school and some of the advice on line is downright dangerous. I make no apologies for being controversial!!
I've not seen anybody try to be a Dr, the kardia was read by a Dr who couldn't tell, however another two could, unfortunately the 12 lead ECG at hospital revealed nothing which made it useless to them so thankfully the kardia trace was taken,
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